Death, Memory, and Reclaiming Ancestors’ Bodies: The Regeneration of African Agency in South Africa, 1902 to the Present

In April 2015, anger erupted after a plaque at the grave of Sarah Baartman in South Africa was defaced with white paint. The vandalism of the memorial occurred in the wake of the removal of the Cecil John Rhodes statue on April 9, 2015 from the University of Cape Town after students protested its affronting presence on the campus.  Baartman’s grave is symbolic of a reclamation of a African past for the country, while Rhodes' memorial was indicative of the continuation of white oppression.  Both figures represent the extreme counterpart of the other on the historical continuum.  

These two cases have garnered a large amount of attention, but there are many further cases where indigenous groups have been struggling to obtain ancestors’ remains for proper burial. Central to these quests for the return of ancestors’ body parts is not only confronting the injustices of the past, but a reassessment of history. This exhumation of history is especially apparent in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which invoked memories of abuse, torture and death, and was itself a ceremony to “restore the dignity of victims” and to offer a form of closure for those whose loved-ones were missing or whose whereabouts were unknown. Death therefore has paradoxically become both the representation of the rebirth of the “new” South Africa and a reflection of the continuation of the injustices of the past.    

Through the lenses of high-profile deaths, burial sites, and memorialization, this paper will examine the role of South African struggles to confront, shape, and reconstitute (nationalist) history through the reclamation of ancestors bodies and exhibitions and give insight into the complex landscape of colonial and post-colonial politics.