"Finding UCT"

Last Thursday was my last class for African Studies and my professor saved this lecture until we all had a better feel for UCT as an institution and were able to apply some of the concepts that we had learned throughout the course to a topic with which we were intimately familiar. The lecture was about UCT, the university that has been my host for the last three months. Interestingly, in a UCT sort of way, a power line had been cut that day and the pictures of UCT that he was going to show us in the past couldn't be presented. But, it all turned out well because we instead got to take a field trip and experience the campus instead! So here are some of the things that I learned and some of my thoughts in conjunction.

There are two main legacies which shape UCT right now, a colonial legacy and an Apartheid legacy. To me these two are still apparent in many of the policies and administrative decisions of the university as well as student to student interactions and identity.

Firstly the university as it stands now, with main campus at the foot of devil’s peak, is mostly thanks to a man called Cecil Rhodes. This man was a major big wig British imperialist. He owned at one point a diamond company that marketed about 90% of the available diamonds in the world. In addition, he was the prime minister for the Cape Colony for a time and had two African nations named after him: Northern and South Rhodesia, which later became Zambia and Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, it is not so much important what he did in his life, but rather to know that over the course of his life he was hugely successful and acquired lots of land at the base of devil’s peak. During his lifetime, he established a zoo in what is now Rhondebosch and this space is actually adjacent to the university. We went there today were it is in a semi-derelict condition. There are interesting parallels between the zoo, his memorial, and the university which say a lot about Cecil Rhodes and the foundation of the university. The zoo was founded in such a way that is brought pieces of the Mediterranean, Africa, and Europe together. Much of the vegetation was English and Mediterranean but the centerpiece was the lion’s den, which is still in prime condition. Actually, our professor told us that a few years ago the den was used as a theater to watch plays. It is a very interesting concept.

Anyways there are some very interesting parallels between the zoo, the university and his Memorial which are constructed on pieces of his former estate. These architectural elements show Rhodes’ character and some of the foundations of the university. Each space has an axial plane that goes up the mountain with u-shaped terraces overlooking the city. At the highest terrace point there is the pinnacle, in the zoo it is the lion’s den, at UCT it is Jameson hall (meant to look like the Jefferson library minus the rotunda only because they ran out of money) and at Rhodes’ memorial it is Rhodes’s himself. At these points, there is a clear and beautiful panoramic of the city. It was Rhodes’ way of looking over Africa but not really ever being a part of Africa. It was actually his intention for this space to be a buffer zone between Europe and Africa. It was a European Africa and a African Europe. This is seen in some of the trees he brought into the space as well as some of the animals in the zoo. In addition, Africans were able to attend the University but it was meant to be a modern Oxford or Cambridge complete with ivy.

In modern days, this sort of Western gaze (if you want to call it that) envisioned by Rhode’s, manifests itself in many ways at UCT. Firstly, all the buildings on upper campus must be structurally able to grow ivy on the outside. Secondly, UCT buys more than 60% of South Africa’s total internet in order to be globally competitive. Actually, there was an article out the other day, where UCT was so proud to be 197 on a list of 200 best schools in the world. I just think it is interesting that they still look to Europe and America to see what is “good” and then copy it, but not effectively. We have all heard about the carrier pigeon by now and its ability to beat the download speed of South African internet. Sometimes, I wish that they would focus first on being their own and doing what they value well. But, to each their own.

The second legacy of UCT, I have noticed, is the post-apartheid legacy. It seems obvious that Apartheid has effects on the institutions around, but really it has taken me the entirety of the semester to be able to articulate exactly how it is manifested. For this same class, I did a project at the end of the semester on collective student identity. Basically, we were just trying to see if UCT had a collective student identity. We kind of explored the subgroups of UCT, like the international students, how religion affected groups, etc. This all stemmed from the observation that people seemed to group together. People would hang out in particular group based on some citizenship trait, whether it be major, society religion, or race. It seemed that people would separate themselves and only be involved in their own spheres. In my mind’s eye, this is a remnant of Apartheid. It seems to me that a policy of rule for 40+ years that forces people to be separate and only align based on certain attributes leaves a mark. Really, this generation of students is only the first one’s since the fall of Apartheid and the legacies and customs are still imprinted on the minds. They are raised in families where people associate with certain people because at one point they were forced to associate with them. Anyways, it was an interesting concept. But then, there was one other key point. There was a drive by shooting just down the street from the university where a first-year medical student was shot in broad daylight. The UCT community united to become a force to be reckoned with. They marched, no matter what group, whether you knew him or not, in order to combat violence in the community. It reminds me of the fall of Apartheid. People lived vastly separate lives, but when tragedy strikes one of their own, off to the streets to make it right.

This school is rooted in some very African circumstances that shape and define the university. It is great to be in a position where I can observe and notice the complexity and intricacy of the place I have been for 3 months. I hope that this article shines a light to you about the place that I have been and may sort of allow you to understand the sorts of vestiges that are a part of this university. It seems like any institution operates in this way and by knowing the past of this university it makes me understand, cope, and relate to the university much easier. Here’s to legacy!