Memory, landscape and event: How Ndebele labour tenants interpret and reclaim the past

Abstract

The article discusses the roots of memory of former Ndebele labour tenants, and how these memories manifest in landscape, object and event. Recognising the role of history that bound most of the Ndundza community into labour tenancy, the author unpacks the manner in which they articulate the past through their physical and intangible environments. A range of factors Influence the quality of memory, as is illustrated through the narratives of some of these labour tenants. The Ndebele also display unique ways of remembering past chronologies and they are able to weave these into both everyday and traumatic events. The application of memory becomes contested in current land claims, and memory might be sacrificed in the process.