Paper short abstract:

Due to social media, images are more influential than before which increases the need to research movements that shake down the foundations of the historical visualisation of southern Africa by its constituents. This paper's aim is to analyse seeing patterns that puts African interests centre point.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is dedicated to current societal identity debates, whose origins can be traced back to the colonial photography genre and the visualisation of non-white Africans. Colonial photography laid the foundation for racist and racial depiction patterns of certain peoples of the earth and what their ´supposed´ traits and looks were. This paper is about the historical and traditional muting of sub-Saharan Africa through stereotypical images. Despite past and current social and political developments since Africa´s decolonisation, a visual world order narrative that perpetuates a stereotypical image of Africa is still is in place. The long-term effects of colonial stereotyping and othering are visible in attempts of identity-finding processes and the creation of a collective memories. With the power centres and their origins coming from the global north they need readdressing and formally colonised societies shall be independent of those historical connections. The focus is on Namibian and South-African visual narratives that have and are creating their own narratives by taking control of their visual heritage. The country selection is based on a combination of successful anti-colonial movements in the visual, cultural and art sectors which I have coined counter-colonial visualisations. One contemporary example of a change of agency towards the visualisation of colonial pasts is the toppling of colonial statues. Another are works of art that use European colonial archival sources to then Africanise/de-Europeanise them. Instead of reacting to the visual narrative of the global north, a southern-African narrative is created and new cultural structures made.