Njabulo Chipangura
Biographic Data
| ID | 177181 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Njabulo Chipangura |
| GIVEN NAMES | Njabulo |
| FAMILY NAME | Chipangura |
| SIGNATURE | CHIPANGURA N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0094-9569 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 30 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Conducting Provenance Research at Cambridge’s University Museums: Interview with Eva Namusoke
The collection and dislocation of objects and ancestors of the ‘other’ from Africa to imperial centres in Europe changed and affected how they were understood by originating communities. Colonial v
Provenance Research in Museums: Principles, Practices and Possibilities
Provenance research is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with the interrogation and reconstruction of the ownership, custody and contextual histories of objects, collections and ancestra
Truth-telling as a form of decolonial care: Stories from a collaborative object biography research with the Ndau community of Eastern Zimbabwe
Bring the Objects out of the Basement!”: The Wellcome African Collection at Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum (MM), like most museums caring for works from Africa, includes objects with some provenance, but many others that have no collection information at all. MM holdings include more than 300 anthropological objects from Africa that came from the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (WHMM) dispersal in 1982. The museum is part of the University of Manchester and contains approximately 15,000 African cultural heritage objects that were …
Expanding museums’ horizons through partnerships and collaboration
Over the past two decades, our world has undergone rapid changes driven by significant challenges such as financial crises, pandemics, wars and escalating regional tensions between countries. These
Community Collaborations and Social Biographies of Museum Collections from Colonial Contexts: Meanings of Zulu Beadwork
In this article, we look at collections of Zulu beadwork at Manchester Museum and Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History tracing their provenances and social biographies. We present these two institutions as colonial museums founded on similar ideals of presenting objects as cultures of the “other” in absence of object and community agency. In rethinking colonial contexts associated with processes of collecting beadwork, we look at how these…
Mixed memories: Rethinking the loss and transformation of the colonial heritage archive in the aftermath of the Jagger Library inferno and Rhodes Must Fall Movement
In this article we look at how colonial heritage as an archive is being curated, and in some cases obliterated within selective priorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe that are informed by decolonial thinking and politics. We draw on the idea of archivability by referring to an inferno that destroyed part of the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town and contestations associated with the presence and management of Cecil John Rhodes grave. …
Decolonising the archaeology of indigenous artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper, I will look at how I utilised archaeological ethnography as a methodology to study ancient and contemporary indigenous gold mining practices in Eastern Zimbabwe. Subsequently, I will present an archaeological field research that I undertook at Nyahokwe and Saungweme sites between 2016 and 2017 and move on to show how material culture recovered was collaboratively interpreted in conversations with contemporary indigenous gold miners…
The Benin tusk and Zulu beadwork: Practicing decolonial work at Manchester Museum through shared authority
The museum world is currently grappling with questions of how to decolonize anthropological collections and many of these debates are epistemologically oriented. In pursuit of colonial ordering, material culture was extracted from colonized societies, deprived of its contextual meaning, and scrutinized through the lens of colonial knowledge. This article considers how an empirical decolonial practice can be applied drawing on from the current wor…
Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe
The Mutare Museum in Eastern Zimbabwe reorganized an ethnographic collection in one of its galleries in 2016. This article will look at the processes by which traditional drums as part of this collection were reconfigured and ascribed new meanings derived from their everyday ritual uses amongst the eastern Shona community. As one of the curators involved in the researching that led to the co‐production of the exhibition I will demonstrate how we …
Artisanal and small-scale mining (chikorokoza) of gold in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics
"Artisanal and small-scale mining (chikorokoza) of gold in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe: archaeological, ethnographic and historical characteristics." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 55(2), p. 295
Community museums and rethinking the colonial frame of national museums in Zimbabwe
In this paper, we present the Marange Community Museum as an empirical example of how decoloniality can be approached within the museum practice. We argue that the Marange community made use of indigenous ontologies and epistemologies in establishing their museum where rituals and cultural objects are connected in use and in an ongoing dialogue. Ritual processes associated with burials of chiefs and rain petitioning ceremonies are discussed in th…
The Politicisation of Liberation-Struggle Exhumations in Eastern Zimbabwe: Spiritual Evocation, Patriotism and Professionalism
In recent years, there has been an increase in the exhumation and reburial of remains of liberation-war fighters in Zimbabwe. Since 2011, the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe (FHTZ), an organisation established by war veterans aligned to the ruling party, ZANU(PF), has taken a lead in these exhumation projects. Drawing on my experience of working with FHTZ as an archaeologist then employed by the government under the parastatal National Museums an…
Contemporary Gold Mining in Eastern Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics
This paper is based on the dataset that I collected during my doctoral research in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2015 and 2018. The dataset represents an investigation of pre-colonial and contemporary gold mining practices in this area and covers the period from AD 1300–2018 from an anthropological and archaeological perspective. The fieldwork conducted consists of archaeological excavations and surface collections that I carried out at three selected…
We are one big happy family”: The social organisation of artisanal and small scale gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
Contested archaeological approaches to mass grave exhumations in Zimbabwe
Within the last 50 years, present day Zimbabwe, (Figure 1), formerly Rhodesia, a Southern African country, has gone through various pogroms resulting in the death of over 50,000 people in total both within and outside the country. The massacres consist of the Liberation War (1966–1979); political violence characterized by every election since 1980; the Matabeleland Democide (1982–1987); and the diamond conflict in Marange, Eastern Zimbabwe (2006–…
The archaeology of contemporary artisanal gold mining at Mutanda Site, Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper I seek to redefine how we might go about doing archaeology in a way that effectively decolonizes it by collaborating with local communities in research projects. My emphasis is on mining archaeology in precolonial and contemporary settings with a view to contributing to documenting and understanding indigenous African gold mining practices. I achieve this through an empirical illustration of a collaborative archaeological excavation…
Towards the decriminalisation of artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
Working with Contested Ethnographic Collections to Change “Old Museum” Perspectives: Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe, 2015-2017
In this article, I will examine the history of collecting ethnographic objects at Mutare Museum, moving between the colonial and postcolonial periods in order to show how these time scales structured the ways in which exhibitions are presented. I argue that by removing ethnographic objects from their cultural setting and inserting them into the visual system of the museum, their dynamic web of physical and social meanings was broken. Whilst I ack…
Archaeological Technologies of Gold Mining and Processing and their Relationship to Contemporary Chikorokoza: The Case of Mutanda Site, Mutare, Zimbabwe
Community museums and rethinking the colonial frame of national museums in Zimbabwe
In this paper, we present the Marange Community Museum as an empirical example of how decoloniality can be approached within the museum practice. We argue that the Marange community made use of indigenous ontologies and epistemologies in establishing their museum where rituals and cultural objects are connected in use and in an ongoing dialogue. Ritual processes associated with burials of chiefs and rain petitioning ceremonies are discussed in th…
The Benin tusk and Zulu beadwork: Practicing decolonial work at Manchester Museum through shared authority
The museum world is currently grappling with questions of how to decolonize anthropological collections and many of these debates are epistemologically oriented. In pursuit of colonial ordering, material culture was extracted from colonized societies, deprived of its contextual meaning, and scrutinized through the lens of colonial knowledge. This article considers how an empirical decolonial practice can be applied drawing on from the current wor…
We are one big happy family”: The social organisation of artisanal and small scale gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
The archaeology of contemporary artisanal gold mining at Mutanda Site, Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper I seek to redefine how we might go about doing archaeology in a way that effectively decolonizes it by collaborating with local communities in research projects. My emphasis is on mining archaeology in precolonial and contemporary settings with a view to contributing to documenting and understanding indigenous African gold mining practices. I achieve this through an empirical illustration of a collaborative archaeological excavation…
Decolonising the archaeology of indigenous artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper, I will look at how I utilised archaeological ethnography as a methodology to study ancient and contemporary indigenous gold mining practices in Eastern Zimbabwe. Subsequently, I will present an archaeological field research that I undertook at Nyahokwe and Saungweme sites between 2016 and 2017 and move on to show how material culture recovered was collaboratively interpreted in conversations with contemporary indigenous gold miners…
Towards the decriminalisation of artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
Truth-telling as a form of decolonial care: Stories from a collaborative object biography research with the Ndau community of Eastern Zimbabwe
Bring the Objects out of the Basement!”: The Wellcome African Collection at Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum (MM), like most museums caring for works from Africa, includes objects with some provenance, but many others that have no collection information at all. MM holdings include more than 300 anthropological objects from Africa that came from the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (WHMM) dispersal in 1982. The museum is part of the University of Manchester and contains approximately 15,000 African cultural heritage objects that were …
Archaeological Technologies of Gold Mining and Processing and their Relationship to Contemporary Chikorokoza: The Case of Mutanda Site, Mutare, Zimbabwe
Towards the decriminalisation of artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
Working with Contested Ethnographic Collections to Change “Old Museum” Perspectives: Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe, 2015-2017
In this article, I will examine the history of collecting ethnographic objects at Mutare Museum, moving between the colonial and postcolonial periods in order to show how these time scales structured the ways in which exhibitions are presented. I argue that by removing ethnographic objects from their cultural setting and inserting them into the visual system of the museum, their dynamic web of physical and social meanings was broken. Whilst I ack…
Contemporary Gold Mining in Eastern Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics
This paper is based on the dataset that I collected during my doctoral research in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2015 and 2018. The dataset represents an investigation of pre-colonial and contemporary gold mining practices in this area and covers the period from AD 1300–2018 from an anthropological and archaeological perspective. The fieldwork conducted consists of archaeological excavations and surface collections that I carried out at three selected…
We are one big happy family”: The social organisation of artisanal and small scale gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
Contested archaeological approaches to mass grave exhumations in Zimbabwe
Within the last 50 years, present day Zimbabwe, (Figure 1), formerly Rhodesia, a Southern African country, has gone through various pogroms resulting in the death of over 50,000 people in total both within and outside the country. The massacres consist of the Liberation War (1966–1979); political violence characterized by every election since 1980; the Matabeleland Democide (1982–1987); and the diamond conflict in Marange, Eastern Zimbabwe (2006–…
The archaeology of contemporary artisanal gold mining at Mutanda Site, Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper I seek to redefine how we might go about doing archaeology in a way that effectively decolonizes it by collaborating with local communities in research projects. My emphasis is on mining archaeology in precolonial and contemporary settings with a view to contributing to documenting and understanding indigenous African gold mining practices. I achieve this through an empirical illustration of a collaborative archaeological excavation…
Co‐curation and New Museology in Reorganizing the Beit Gallery at the Mutare Museum, Eastern Zimbabwe
The Mutare Museum in Eastern Zimbabwe reorganized an ethnographic collection in one of its galleries in 2016. This article will look at the processes by which traditional drums as part of this collection were reconfigured and ascribed new meanings derived from their everyday ritual uses amongst the eastern Shona community. As one of the curators involved in the researching that led to the co‐production of the exhibition I will demonstrate how we …
Artisanal and small-scale mining (chikorokoza) of gold in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Characteristics
"Artisanal and small-scale mining (chikorokoza) of gold in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe: archaeological, ethnographic and historical characteristics." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 55(2), p. 295
Community museums and rethinking the colonial frame of national museums in Zimbabwe
In this paper, we present the Marange Community Museum as an empirical example of how decoloniality can be approached within the museum practice. We argue that the Marange community made use of indigenous ontologies and epistemologies in establishing their museum where rituals and cultural objects are connected in use and in an ongoing dialogue. Ritual processes associated with burials of chiefs and rain petitioning ceremonies are discussed in th…
The Politicisation of Liberation-Struggle Exhumations in Eastern Zimbabwe: Spiritual Evocation, Patriotism and Professionalism
In recent years, there has been an increase in the exhumation and reburial of remains of liberation-war fighters in Zimbabwe. Since 2011, the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe (FHTZ), an organisation established by war veterans aligned to the ruling party, ZANU(PF), has taken a lead in these exhumation projects. Drawing on my experience of working with FHTZ as an archaeologist then employed by the government under the parastatal National Museums an…
Decolonising the archaeology of indigenous artisanal gold mining in Eastern Zimbabwe
In this paper, I will look at how I utilised archaeological ethnography as a methodology to study ancient and contemporary indigenous gold mining practices in Eastern Zimbabwe. Subsequently, I will present an archaeological field research that I undertook at Nyahokwe and Saungweme sites between 2016 and 2017 and move on to show how material culture recovered was collaboratively interpreted in conversations with contemporary indigenous gold miners…
The Benin tusk and Zulu beadwork: Practicing decolonial work at Manchester Museum through shared authority
The museum world is currently grappling with questions of how to decolonize anthropological collections and many of these debates are epistemologically oriented. In pursuit of colonial ordering, material culture was extracted from colonized societies, deprived of its contextual meaning, and scrutinized through the lens of colonial knowledge. This article considers how an empirical decolonial practice can be applied drawing on from the current wor…
Expanding museums’ horizons through partnerships and collaboration
Over the past two decades, our world has undergone rapid changes driven by significant challenges such as financial crises, pandemics, wars and escalating regional tensions between countries. These
Community Collaborations and Social Biographies of Museum Collections from Colonial Contexts: Meanings of Zulu Beadwork
In this article, we look at collections of Zulu beadwork at Manchester Museum and Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History tracing their provenances and social biographies. We present these two institutions as colonial museums founded on similar ideals of presenting objects as cultures of the “other” in absence of object and community agency. In rethinking colonial contexts associated with processes of collecting beadwork, we look at how these…
Mixed memories: Rethinking the loss and transformation of the colonial heritage archive in the aftermath of the Jagger Library inferno and Rhodes Must Fall Movement
In this article we look at how colonial heritage as an archive is being curated, and in some cases obliterated within selective priorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe that are informed by decolonial thinking and politics. We draw on the idea of archivability by referring to an inferno that destroyed part of the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town and contestations associated with the presence and management of Cecil John Rhodes grave. …
Conducting Provenance Research at Cambridge’s University Museums: Interview with Eva Namusoke
The collection and dislocation of objects and ancestors of the ‘other’ from Africa to imperial centres in Europe changed and affected how they were understood by originating communities. Colonial v
Provenance Research in Museums: Principles, Practices and Possibilities
Provenance research is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with the interrogation and reconstruction of the ownership, custody and contextual histories of objects, collections and ancestra
Truth-telling as a form of decolonial care: Stories from a collaborative object biography research with the Ndau community of Eastern Zimbabwe
Bring the Objects out of the Basement!”: The Wellcome African Collection at Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum (MM), like most museums caring for works from Africa, includes objects with some provenance, but many others that have no collection information at all. MM holdings include more than 300 anthropological objects from Africa that came from the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (WHMM) dispersal in 1982. The museum is part of the University of Manchester and contains approximately 15,000 African cultural heritage objects that were …
Archaeology (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · History (11 works) · Anthropology (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (8 works) · Ethnography (8 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (7 works) · Art (7 works) · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation (7 works)