Motse wa ba dimo [ancestral home]

Abstract

The spa al history of South Africa has always favoured the white minority and as a result of this imbalance, very li le spa al inves ga on and knowledge crea on into subject ma ers that are primarily black exist. It is therefore the inten on of this research report to expand the spa al conversa on around iden ty, culture and tradi on; par cularly in rela on to African spirituality. Ingoma can be described as the collec ve tle a ributed to the ritual, spiritual and healing fraternity of izangoma (tradi onal healers). The subject ma er of the research report is the evolu on of ingoma. The research delves into the changes that the tradi onal prac ce, par cularly that which the knowledge transfer aspect known as ukuthwasa (ini a on as a rite of passage) has undergone due to the infl uence of historical white rule and mul -cultural society and urbaniza on. As a point of departure the report describes the capacity of the belief system to adequately defi ne the perspec ve and life view encapsulated by ingoma. The fi rst essay is eff ec vely a crash course summary of the tenta ve categories of ancestors and healers prevalent in the prac ce. The purpose of this essay is to highlight the esteemed role once played by the ancestors and how isangoma are eff ec vely conduits through which the ancestors communicate with their living rela ves. The fi ndings allow us to draw interes ng spa al rela onships between the ancestors, isangoma and space. The la er part of the essay familiarises the reader with the concept of ukuthwasa. This study inves gates how esoteric knowledge is passed on from one genera on of izangoma to the next produces very interes ng understandings of appren ceships that are anchored both in the world of the living and the world of the ancestors. The essay in the subsequent chapter grapples with understanding the changes that shake the tradi ons of ingoma and force the culture to adapt to an environment illsuited and inadequate for ritual ancestral praise. The essay focuses on the spa al changes that ingoma has undergone due to the somewhat forceful transplanta on into the urban township environment and thus demonstrates that a lack of spa al agency as well as ingoma’s encounter with a foreign culture brings about ingenuity and desperate adapta ons to the spa al needs of the practice. The fourth chapter extends the inves ga on into the changes that occur due to encounters with urbanity from the specifi c perspec ve of policy, mu (herbal medicine) sale and professional regula on. The next sec on introduces the grounding of ingoma. This is a spa al inves ga on into situa ng the spiritual prac ce within an urban context and consequently, the selec on of a site. This is the beginning of the spa al manifesta on of the prac ce and culminates in a comprehensive site analysis focused on understanding and exploi ng the natural a ributes of the site. The fi nal sec on of the report is tled Manifes ng motse. The word motse [Sesotho] means se lement, which eff ec vely describes the home as a part of the community and not as a standalone en ty. This fi nal sec on sees the inves ga on reaching its apex as we synthesize the research into a comprehensive brief and program informed directly by the case studies and interviews conducted. Encoding ritual, the unseen ancestors and materials that refl ect a past remembered and a future imagined are the spa al concepts that we focus on as they refl ect the paradoxical intersec onality of life – death, the esoteric and the norma ve. In essence, the research report is a refl ec on of a young black aspiring architect in search of his spa al iden ty, through inves ga ng the ques on – Where am I in this somewhat narrow vision of what architecture is espoused to be? iv