Indigenising the gun – rock art depictions of firearms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Recent studies in southern African rock art demonstrate that we cannot take for granted that human figures holding guns in painted images are in fact depictions of Europeans. The acquisition of firearms by various ‘Bushmen’ groups in the Eastern Cape Province as well as their history of painting, makes it more than likely that in many cases the artists were really depicting themselves, not colonists. Yet one cannot claim that these artists viewed firearms in the same manner as the Europeans who initially introduced them. This is based on the well-attested practice that in colonial contexts the colonised often repurposed the material culture of the colonisers, thereby giving it new meaning in the process. As firearms became adopted by ‘Bushmen’ and entangled within their world view it is likely they were awarded spiritual attributes, making them worthy of inclusion in their sacred art.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous
• guns
• firearms
• Bushman
• colonial

Acknowledgments

This research has been funded by the National Research Foundation in conjunction with the Khoisan Resistance Project. I would especially like to thank Sam Challis of the Rock Art Research Institute for his supervision as well as Geoff Blundell of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Museum. Additional thanks to Stephen Townley Bassett, Peter Mitchell, Alice Mullen, Harry Fanning, Matt Wisdom, Andrew Skinner, and to David Lewis-Williams, David Pearce and Alex Schoeman.

Notes

1. I use the terms ‘gun’, ‘firearm’ and ‘musket’ interchangeably throughout this paper for referring specifically to flintlock muskets.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation South Africa African Origins Platform [150925143023]; National Research Foundation South Africa African Origins Platform [82595].

Notes on contributors

Brent Sinclair-Thomson

Brent Sinclair-Thomson is a PhD candidate at the Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, with a special interest in rock art and war magic and how the interaction between different ethnic groups are manifested and reflected in the rock art media. Email: [email protected]