ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by situating the place of black women in contemporary South Africa in relation to earlier colonial texts and discourses that defined subjugated peoples as ‘other’ or inferior in relation to the dominant group. Scholars such as Sabine Marschall, Annie Coombes, and Gary Baines have contributed significantly to the analysis of the complex and contested commemorative politics and practices in South Africa since 1994. By framing the interrelated aspects of patriarchy and colonialism as the basis for the ongoing subjugation of black women, artists such as Mary Sibande and Sethembile Msezane call into question South Africa’s articulation of itself as an integrated, cosmopolitan, postcolonial, post-apartheid Rainbow Nation. Commemoration is an important aspect of how a nation articulates itself visibly, particularly in post-conflict situations in which formerly oppressed peoples seek acknowledgement of their disavowed memories and experiences and in deconstructing previously dominant narratives and histories.
