Fundishwa

Bernth Lindfors's edited collection Africans on Stage illuminates the complexities of race in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Simultaneously, humans of Sub-Saharan African descent- on the continent and in the diaspora- were subjects of study and discourse and objects of spectacle and commerce. The essays in Africans on Stage affirm our earlier assertion of Africa as a construct and "Africanness" as an invention. Lindfors describes the human exhibitions as "commodity spectacle[s] for mass consumption", and, in doing so, he suggests we consider Africa and Africans as objects or ideas to be consumed. The "show" of spectacle, then, is inseparable from the "business" of spectacle. The humans employed or coerced into the exhibition industry or ethnological show business were consumed by onlookers eager to gaze upon the Other, the exotic, the savage; these audiences ingested a narrative of Africa and Africans created by Europeans, Euro-Canadians, and Euro-Americans. 

Spectacle itself is not problematic. Spectacle is an integral component of world cultures and spiritual practices. The problem is one of power. Who controls the gaze? 

Another example of Africa on exhibit

Shanty Town for Accommodation in Bloemfontein

Shanty Town offers alternative accommodation in Bloemfontein. Named after traditional housing in South Africa, shacks or shanties, Shanty Town offers you the chance to experience living in an informal settlement with modern day luxuries.

A traditional shanty is built from old corrugated iron sheets and any other waterproof material they can find to construct a small house. An outside toilet (also called a long drop) and a drum for cooking purposes forms part of this lifestyle.

You can stay in a shanty without worrying about crime or your safety, as it is situated in the heart of Emoya Game Reserve. All units are self-catering with the luxury of electricity, under floor heating and a shower in the bathroom.