Memorialising Ephemeral Events:
Preserving cultural heritage in the dynamic landscape of the Bangwaketse tribe in Kanye, Botswana
The project’s inception is that of Mahlatse’s own memory. It begins with a project investigating the rite of passage of the BaPedi people. His interests began with the desire to find out how to memorialise that specific ephemeral event to preserve the cultural heritage of his own indigenous people.
The site of interest is situated in the village of Kanye, in Botswana. Mahlatse’s research looks at how Bangwaketse people preserve their cultural heritage through events and rituals. However, due to the rapid urbanization and the constantly changing landscape of Kanye, these cultural events have been changing over time and some are no longer even practiced.
On the investigated sites, there are two important events, Mophato- initiation of the chief’s regiments and Dikgafela – celebration of the harvest, that have helped preserve the cultural heritage of the Bangwaketse.
Seeing how these events have changed over time and how that has impacted the cultural heritage of Bangwaketse, Mahlatse’s proposal is a design of a landscape of memory through a series of adaptable pavilions that will be used to reimagine how these cultural events can be practiced in today’s landscape of Kanye as well as allow for change in the future as the cultural events changes and so does the landscape that takes place in. These are memorials that will be assembled yearly for the events and disassembled thereafter and be used for other development programs.
The traditional perspective on memorialisation and memorial landscapes needs to be questioned to challenge the conventional approaches. Mahlatse’s project offers new opportunities for investigating how intangible heritage can be protected and valued, offering new opportunities for engaging with cultural heritage. A design for a landscape of memory, particularly memorialising cultural heritage, should be designed to be adaptive, responsive, and multi-functional. Culture is not a linear process, it is continuously negotiated and reframed, so should be the designed landscape of memory.
