‘Sotho-Tswana’ Difala vessels in selected South African museums: challenges in descriptions and catalogues Mathodi Freddie Motsamayi [204510658] Supervisor: Professor Ian Calder [80107] Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD (Art History) November 2018 Centre for Visual Art School of Arts University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Campus Prefatory note • ‘Pottery’ and ‘ceramics’ as used throughout the thesis indicate clay vessels. • Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafȇla is sometimes spelt with a diacritic mark. I do the same throughout this thesis. • Dimensions of artefacts are in centimetres. • Foreign words and South African indigenous languages are written in italics. • I emphasise the importance of the orthographics of Sesotho sa Lebowa in my thesis, to distinguish between the parental forms of Sotho-Tswana generally (there are three forms, Sotho sa Borwa [Southern Sotho], Sesotho sa Lebowa [Northern Sotho] and Setswana [Western Sotho]). An example of differences is found in the Sotho-Tswana word, Sefalana (singular; Difala, plural -dung-vessels) in sa Lebowa; in Setswana it is also Difala; however, in Namibia it is Sihala. I note that in Southern Sotho (Sotho sa Borwa) groups the dung-vessel form (Sefala) is not found. • Illustrations are numbered consecutively and referred to as ‘Figures’ in the text. • Some of Luvenḓa or Tshivenḓa speakers use a diacritic mark when writing, as for example in Luvenḓa or Tshivenḓa. I use this diacritic mark where necessary in this thesis. • The Harvard short-form of referencing as outlined in the CVA Academic Style Guide for Postgraduate Texts is applied. • The indigenous language preferred in this thesis is Northern Sotho (known as Sesotho sa lebowa, sometimes referred to as Sepedi, a dialect of Northern Sotho language spoken in the Sekhukhune District Municipality by Bapedi people). • The term Sotho-Tswana as used in this thesis refers specifically to the Bakoni people (also known as Bakone). Thus, I will use Bakoni throughout the thesis (as for example in ‘Bakoni Malapa Northern Sotho Open-Air Museum’). I do so cautiously because the Bakoni people are not ‘originally’ Sotho-Tswana as opposed to the Bakgatla, Bathlaping, Batlôkwa and Bapedi who are Sotho-Tswana peoples. • The terms Difala (Difalana) vessels (plural) and the singular Sefala (Sefalana) are used interchangeably in this thesis. i • The vessels collected among Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafȇla are referred to as Sefalana as this is the common or original museum description at IzikoSHC. Vessels made by Northern Sotho are referred to as Sefala and Sefalana as, I found, is the practice in Polokwane museums. • Titles of consulted reference works are written in italics in the body of the thesis and the bibliography. • Titles of cultural works, artworks and artefacts are enhanced in bold typeface. • To keep captions and text together in sections of the illustrated catalogue the font is in Times New Roman. The names of all persons mentioned in this thesis are prefaced by their honorific titles, for example Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr. and Professor. In Northern Sotho language - Sesotho sa lebowa - senior women are addressed by prefix and noun, for example Mma (mother), (in other regions Mmȇ with diacritic is used), Koko (grandmother). In Tshivenḓa, the honorific prefix Vho- is used to address Vhavenḓa senior women. In my thesis I use Mma consistently for heterogeneous Northern Sotho speakers in Limpopo Province. • Unless stated otherwise in the text, illustrative materials and/or photographs were produced by the candidate. ii Acronyms and Abbreviations • BakoniMNSOAM = Bakoni Malapa Northern Sotho Open-Air Museum • BLM = Blouberg Local Municipality • BM = British Museum • CVA = Centre for Visual Art • FIG = Figure • FIGS = Figures • GIS = Geographic Information System • ICOM = International Council of Museums • IKS = Indigenous Knowledge Systems • IzikoSHC = Iziko Social History Centre, Iziko Museums, Cape Town • MM = Mathodi Motsamayi • NCECA = National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts • NRF = National Research Foundation • PolokwaneCHM = Polokwane Cultural History Museum • SAMA = South African Museums Association • SES = Soil Ecology Society • UCT = University of Cape Town • UKZN = University of KwaZulu-Natal • USA = United States of America • UW-Madison = University of Wisconsin-Madison iii Declaration I hereby declare that, to the best of my knowledge, this thesis: 1. Is my own work and that all sources used in this thesis have been fully acknowledged. 2. Has not been submitted for any degree at any other institution of higher learning for the purpose of obtaining an academic qualification. ----------------------------------------- Date: Candidate: Mathodi Freddie Motsamayi ----------------------------------------- Date: Supervisor: Ian Calder (Professor) iv Awards and Grants • 2018, I was awarded a Multicultural Fellowship from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), United States of America (USA). • 2017, I was awarded an honorarium to give a lecture in March 2018 at the 52nd Annual Conference organised by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). • 2013-2016, I received National Research Foundation (NRF) financial support for an Innovation Doctoral Scholarship award. • 2016, I was awarded a travel award by the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) in the USA for the purpose of functioning at the university as a visiting fellow/honorary associate. • 2015, I was a recipient of the Parkinson Student Travel Award from Soil Ecology Society (SES) to attend the Soil Ecology Meeting in Colorado Springs, USA. • 2015, I was awarded NRF Partial Travel Grant to cover some of expenses related to a meeting of the Soil Ecology Society in Colorado, USA. • 2014, I was awarded NRF International Travel Grant to present a paper at the Fifth Annual International Conference on Visual and Performing Arts, 2-5 June 2014, Athens, Greece. • 2014, I received NRF Local Travel Grant to facilitate my research and fieldwork in South African museums (in Western Cape and Limpopo Province) during 2014. • 2013-2015, I received UKZN PhD fee remission for the period of 3 years of my PhD studies. • 2013, I received UKZN School of Arts bursary for PhD studies. • 2013-2015, I received financial assistance from the Centre for Visual Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal through the Rita Strong Legacy Award towards this degree. I confirm that the content and conclusions of, as well as opinions expressed in, this thesis are my personal submissions and not necessarily to be attributed to the sponsors mentioned above. v Acknowledgements and Thanks Acknowledgements to institutions • I am grateful to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), United States of America (USA) for affording me the opportunity to attend the 52nd Annual Conference in the United States, this led to the publication of my article about South African ceramics in the NCECA Journal 2018 and helped me to broaden my international networks in the field of ceramic arts. • I am grateful to the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) in the United States of America for the purpose of functioning at the university as a visiting fellow/honorary associate in 2016. • I would like to acknowledge the Soil Ecology Society in USA for inviting me to attend a Biennial Meeting of the Soil Ecology Society and present a paper in Colorado Springs, in 2015. Thanks I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Ian Calder for supervision. I sincerely thank Mrs Attie Zaverdinos for helping me to edit my thesis – and with such precision. Academics abroad I thank especially Professor John Dighton, director of Rutgers University Pinelands Field Station and faculty member of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources of Rutgers University, who facilitated my visit to the United States to meet ecologists and soil scientists through a Soil Ecology Society meeting in 2015 in Colorado Springs. vi I would also like to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to Professor of African and African Diaspora Arts, Henry Drewal at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who created a conducive environment and organised a special lecture for me to deliver and who played a key role in helping me to connect with his colleagues during my visit in the department in 2016. I also thank staff members at Chazen Museum of Art at the University for the tour within their museum. I value the collegiality of Professor Gerit Grimm from the Ceramics program, by inviting me to present a lecture for her students and to attend an exhibition on 105 years of ceramic making at UW-Madison, and who subsequently introduced me to the NCECA Annual Conference - National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts – that I later took part in - Pittsburgh – Pennsylvania in 2018. I appreciate my associates at the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016 for affording me the opportunity to appear as a guest lecturer on several occasions. I also appreciate the collegiality I have received from other academics affiliated to the Center for Culture, History, and Environment, The Nelson Institute, University