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Group Portrait South Africa: Nine Family Histories' H-SAfrica Nesbitt on Faber, 'Group Portrait South Africa: Nine Family Histories' Review published on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 Paul Faber, ed. Group Portrait South Africa: Nine Family Histories. Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2003. 240 pp. $59.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7957-0139-9. Reviewed by Francis Nesbitt (Department of Africana Studies, San Diego State University) Published on H-SAfrica (November, 2005) Seeing/Being Seen in Contemporary South Africa Group Portrait South Africa is a compilation of life histories, photographs and images of household items of nine South African families collected for an exhibition held at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam from 4 October 2002 to 21 September 2003.[1] The book under review was published to create a long-lasting record of the event. The presentations trace the evolution of each family from the nineteenth century to the present focusing on one or two representatives per generation. The book and exhibition were compiled by Paul Faber, Africa curator of the Royal Topical Institute at the Tropenmuseum, assisted by a team of forty researchers, artists, writers and photographers in South Africa. The project was inspired by the "space" created by a free and democratic South Africa where an appreciation has arisen for the "cultural richness of this fascinating society" (p. 8). The editors claim that in the new South Africa, there is "space again for the individual, for the personal dimension, for little stories" (p. 8). The goal of the book and exhibition was to "do justice to the complexities and contradictions inherent in South Africa" without "the burden of political correctness" (p. 8). The book seeks to highlight the differences flattened by "official history," presumably what they consider to be the ANC version of history. The editors tell us that cultural, economic, social and geographical diversity determined the selection of families (p. 8). This diversity frame is offered as an alternative to the liberation frame of the Left and comes with a strong dose of cultural relativism. Group Portrait includes some remarkable stories that are accompanied by carefully selected images of homes, personal objects and old photographs from family albums. It presents stories of both victims and perpetrators. The accompanying website indicates that Paul Faber traveled to South Africa five times to select "suitable" families, writers, and photographers. Faber and his team in Amsterdam retained full editorial control. The purpose of the exhibition was to reach the Dutch public by giving them a diversity of perspectives and therefore the option to identify with individual stories or histories (p. 9). How different was this exhibition from the famous 1883 World Exhibition in Amsterdam that reconstructed a village complete with birds, cows, dogs, and dozens of villagers from Surinam and "Dutch East Indies?" Thousands of people from all over Europe attended the 1883 exhibition. Scholars took the opportunity to measure the skulls of the captives and make detailed studies of their bodies. Months before the Group Portrait South Africa exhibition in Amsterdam in 2002, human Citation: H-Net Reviews. Nesbitt on Faber, 'Group Portrait South Africa: Nine Family Histories'. H-SAfrica. 02-18-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/10670/reviews/11055/nesbitt-faber-group-portrait-south-africa-nine-family-histories Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-SAfrica rights activists protested outside a museum in Belgium that brought a group of Mbuti families to give authenticity to their exhibition. More recently German anti-racism activists were outraged at an African Village installation at the Augsburg Zoo. Given the highly controversial nature of ethnographic exhibitions in Europe and the colonial history of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, one must ask how different this particular exhibition is from the colonial exhibitions of the nineteenth century. There are three broad themes that tie the nine family stories together: land, memory and identity. These themes are inseparable in many of the stories. Since 1994 the ANC-controlled government's Land Reform programs have encouraged groups to rethink their relationship with the land. Families that lost their property under the 1913 Natives' Land Act, the Group Areas Act of 1950 and other apartheid legislation are digging up historical records to prove land claims before the courts. This effort inevitably raises questions of identity. Attempts are made to police the boundaries of the group. The borders attempt to establish clear distinctions between insiders and outsiders. This identity politics is also related to spatial distribution of power. This process of identity reconstitution in and through historical ties with the land stands out as the core organizing principle of this book. The first full-page photograph in the collection shows Zizwezonke "Khekhekhe" Mthethwa in the classic "witchdoctor" pose with a leopard skin draped over his shoulder, a feather on his forehead and a green mamba snake's head gripped firmly in his uneven front teeth (p. 16). He seems to be playing the body of the serpent like a saxophone. He also has a shiny spear and the obligatory flywhisk tucked under his right elbow. The caption that accompanies the picture reads: "My ancestors come to me in dreams and tell me where the snakes are waiting for me. It is always different snakes, and they cooperate when I use them in ceremonies. I've been bitten many times, but my body is strong and the poison no longer affects me" (p. 17). Khekhekhe began performing for tourists and others in search of "old" Africa in the early 1950s. He traces his ascendance in the community to his performance before Dutch-born Hendrik Verwoerd in 1950 when he was Minister for Native Affairs. Verwoerd later formulated and implemented "separate development" policies and became the prime minister of South Africa in 1958. Today, Zizwezonke "Khekhekhe" Mthethwa is described as KwaZulu Natal's preeminent traditional healer who combines attributes of bothinyanga (doctor) and isangoma (diviner). His large compound is the first stop for hundreds of foreign tourists in search of "traditional" Zulu dances, storytellers and dwellings. Khekhekhe is rooted in Mthethwa land. "I was born here," he boasts, adding, "My father's home is where my maize plot is today, so I built mine just above his" (p. 15). His father does not appear in an ancestral shrine Khekhekhe built for his forbears; years ago, he disowned his father for abandoning the old ways and becoming a Christian. Those honored in the shrine include his grandfather and Dingiswayo, founder of the Zulu Kingdom and Shaka Zulu's mentor. Khekhekhe claims Shaka grew to manhood among the Mthethwa people. This "self-appointed upholder of 'ancient pre-Zulu traditions'" (p. 14) claims that it was the Mthethwa, Dingiswayo, not Shaka, who organized the Zulu armies that Shaka later led in resistance to colonialism. Khekhekhe's view is based on his knowledge of Mthethwa oral history and is supported by historians and Africanists. He is responsible for a quixotic revival of pre-Zulu traditions. His reconstruction, however, is accompanied by strange influences that reflect South Africa's eclectic history. Khekhekhe, for instance, takes great pride in his snake-handling skills that he attributes to a gift from his ancestors. He is "the country's sole snake diviner" and his talents as a snake handler, diviner and medicine man attract both local clients in need ofmuti and tourists in search of "traditional" Africa. The Mthethwa had no tradition of snake divining yet this has become a central Citation: H-Net Reviews. Nesbitt on Faber, 'Group Portrait South Africa: Nine Family Histories'. H-SAfrica. 02-18-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/10670/reviews/11055/nesbitt-faber-group-portrait-south-africa-nine-family-histories Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-SAfrica feature of the ceremonies devised by Khekhekhe to honor his ancestors. The Steyn family selection examines the journey of a prominent Afrikaner family that traces its roots to Martinus Steyn, the last president of the so-called Orange Free State. The life stories revolve around a farm that has remained in the family since the nineteenth century and has become something of a museum of Afrikaner nationalism. The Steyns are the only family in the collection that managed to keep their land through the twentieth century. In the Steyn stories recounted in this book, we are treated to family lore about their beloved farm and the time they were visited by a member of the English royal family. There is no discussion of their role in apartheid or their position on the current government. Instead, the family projects fantasies of power with images and stories of war, domination and privilege. The dominant image in the book is a David Goldblatt two-page spread of border war veteran Colin Steyn and his son Colin in Boer uniforms dating from the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. In the background there is a nineteenth-century Boer army camp reconstructed by Colin Steyn, complete with flags, guns and lookout towers. Other images emphasize dominance and power. Colin Steyn sitting on a captured Angolan tank after the battle of Cuvelai, 7 January 1984. Colin Steyn in his courtroom looking menacing in his prosecutor's robes. President Martinus Steyn in an official portrait taken at his inauguration in 1897. Yvonne Steyn sitting under a gigantic tree that she planted herself. These images of dominance are accompanied by triumphant stories of presidents, generals, judges and wars. The war veteran Colin Steyn relates how participating in wars with South Africa's neighbors in the 1980s traumatized him. He returned from the border wars of the 1980s with terrible stories and souvenirs from the bodies of dead Africans.
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