Monuments and Memory in Africa - Reflections on Coloniality and Decoloniality

This book investigates how monuments have been used in Africa as tools of oppression and domination, from the colonial period up to the present day.

List of contents

Introduction: Monuments and Memory in Africa: Reflections on Coloniality and Decoloniality 1. The Ideology of Epistemicide 2. Genophilia - Genosites in Cape Town 3. Monuments and Invisibility Reclaiming Spaces of Colonial Transcendence 4. Irreconcilable Differences: The Statue Debate and Transitional Justice Discourse 5. Monumental Transformations and the Re-Membering of Meaning 6. (Im)possible monuments? Gukurahundi and the politics of memorialization in Zimbabwe 7. Colonial and Apartheid Legacy: Social, Economic and Political Inequality in South Africa 8. The Destruction of Historical Monuments and the Danger of Sanitising History

About the author

John Sodiq Sanni is Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Madalitso Zililo Phiri is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Witwatersrand's South Africa United Kingdom Bilateral Chair in Political Theory (Political Studies), and A.G. Leventis visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge's Centre of African Studies, United Kingdom.

Summary

This book investigates how monuments have been used in Africa as tools of oppression and domination, from the colonial period up to the present day.

Product details

• Authors: John Sodiq Phiri Sanni
• Assisted by: Madalitso Zililo Phiri (Editor), John Sodiq Sanni (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 01.01.2026
• EAN: 9781032559124
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3255912-4
• No. of pages: 168
• Series: Routledge Contemporary Africa
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; Ethnic Studies, Cultural Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, HISTORY / Africa / General, Africa, ARCHITECTURE / History / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Colonialism & imperialism, History of Architecture, Colonialism and imperialism, African History, National liberation & independence, post-colonialism, National liberation and independence, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / African Studies, Ethnic studies / Ethnicity