Conflictsthattookplacealmostthree centuriesapart – respectivelyinlatemedievalSpainandnineteenth-century South Africa – are described in some detail. The Spanish example offers insight into the effect of the conflictduringtheQonquista,followedbyaperiodofArabruleintheIberianpeninsula,which was terminated by the Reconquista of southern Spain by the Christians. The focus in this regard is the violence and counter violence manifested in the formative stages of the Great Mosque at Córdoba and its transformation into the church of Santa Maria. The behaviour of the Muslims and Christians at the sacred site at Córdoba during the conquest and the reconquest, through many centuries, became a theatre in which conflictingreligiousemotionswerearousedandeventuallyresultedinthepartialdestruction of a magnificentMuslimedifice.WhathappenedatCórdobaisanobjectlessontoallmulticultural societies in which the dominant group avenges itself upon the cultural artefacts of a subjected group. This is a common occurrence in the history of architecture, and fitsthebasicpremiseofRenéGirard’s theory of “mimetic desire” that states that one group desires what another desires. As the envy becomes more intense, “mimetic rivalry” with a model results: admiration is transformed into violent conflictthatisonlydiffusedifascapegoatisfound.InamodificationofGirard’sthesisitispostulatedthat in the end the model – taken to be a building or monument – is most often demolished or vandalised as if serving as the scapegoat for the aggressor’s animosity. In more benign cases desire results in the appropriation of the model, but with modificationstoitsidentity. Alternatively,anew model,coexisting with the original, is created by the vanquished to rival the existing model, as happened at the site of Blood River, Natal. In colonial South Africa a monument was erected in 1947 and a more elaborate version of a combat “laager” inaugurated in 1977 to commemorate the battle which took place there on 16 December 1838 between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus, in which the former were victorious. In response, the Zulus established the Ncome Monument and Museum to the east of the Voortrekkers’ monument, officiallyopenedinNovember1999,whichoffersareinterpretationofthe1838battle,celebrates Zulu culture in general and calls for the development of empathy across the cultural and ethnic divide of the former combatants. Ironically, the layout suggests the historical Zulu combat formation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001308 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Mare, EA |
| Publisher | South African Journal of Art History |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | South African Journal of Art History |
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