Killing Rhodes: decolonization and memorial practices in post-apartheid South Africa

ABSTRACT This article investigates the conflicted relationship that exists between practices of memorial commemoration and contemporary calls for the decolonization of public space. Drawing on the example of the Rhodes Must Fall movement that originated in Cape Town, South Africa, this article demonstrates how the spatiality of commemoration is affected by decolonizing interrogations of memorial structures. Within a postcolonial context, commemorations of Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902), the iconic British businessman and politician who was well known for his race-based prejudices and who played such an important role in the history of South Africa, have become sites where lingering colonial and racist discourses are unearthed and explored. As such, the practices and spaces of memorialization have come under severe criticism for the distorted historical narratives they have long upheld. This article demonstrates how decolonizing practices and ideologies affect public perceptions of those commemorative structures that have long served to memorialize Rhodes.