On the Matter of Historical Distortion and Cultural Hegemony Memorandum for Public Circulation
By Fumene George Tsibani:
It is observed that the prevailing historiography concerning the AmaXhosa has, for a considerable period, been subject to distortion and diminution. Such distortion arises not from inadvertence, but from the perpetuation of quasi-mythical narratives advanced by the intellectual and institutional apparatus of the Global North—namely, the Royal Monarchies, their allied elites, and those beneficiaries who sustain their position.
These narratives have been institutionalised through legislative instruments styled as Traditional Governance and Leadership Acts, both within post-colonial Africa generally and within post-apartheid South Africa particularly. In the language of Antonio Gramsci, this constitutes cultural hegemony:...