(Post-)colonialism as ideology and power’s grip on material culture: the Shangani Battle Site/Pupu Memorial in Zimbabwe

Journal article

Chris Gosden advanced the very influential idea that colonialism is the grip which material culture has on people. Using the case study of the Shangani Battle Memorial site, Zimbabwe, in this paper we flip this idea. We explore and demonstrate how colonial and post-colonial material culture used to memorialise battles was influenced by who had power and control over ideology in colonial and post-colonial times. In 1893, a battle was fought at Shangani River between King Lobengula’s forces and the British during the Anglo-Ndebele War. The British contingent lost Alan Wilson and 33 others. The colonial government subsequently erected a memorial to commemorate and honour the British soldiers who lost their lives at Shangani. The victorious African forces and their commanders were marginalised from official memories. After Zimbabwe’s independence, the post-colonial government kept colonial monuments but was slow to honour the marginalised Africans soldiers. Recently, the Zimbabwean government has invested resources in building a memorial to honour the African victors and foster the reinterpretation of the Shangani Battle site on ideological grounds. We argue that the memorial is configured in, and by, structures of colonial and, more importantly, local postcolonial meanings. However, the ‘incorporation of memory’ through African agencies still retains elements of colonial enterprise and shows that ideology and power can grip the material rather than the material gripping the (post)colonialist’s mind.

Authors: Mukwende, T; Clack, T; Chirikure, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Journal: Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 477-494
• Publication date: 2025-06-18
• Acceptance date: 2025-05-28
• DOI: 10.1080/0067270x.2025.2517455
• EISSN: 1945-5534
• ISSN: 0067-270X
• Language: English
• Keywords: Anglo-Ndebele War; colonialism; ideology; memorials; monuments; power; Shangani Battle site