Naka tša go rwešwa

Originally created in Partnership with the Goethe Institute – South Africa

Created and performed by Humphrey Maleka

In 1855, Dr David Livingston, a Scottish missionary and explorer, was the first European to “discover” one of the world’s largest and most magnificent waterfalls in the world -   Victoria Falls which he named them after Queen Victoria. At the time, the falls were known to various local tribes as Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning "the storm that thunders" or Chongwe meaning “The Place of the Rainbow"

How is it possible to “discover” a place where thousands of people had already lived, traded, built kingdoms and developed complex systems long before Europeans touched African soil.

This work was inspired by the word “Discoveries”; discoveries by foreign people discovering things in Africa.  After making a discovery, foreigners named or imposed their names, upon people, places and things forcefully, through trickery and brutally, without considering the value and respect given to them by the native inhabitants.

Performances

Bambu - Rome, Pesaro, Trento, Gorizio, Lecce, Genova, Pocari, 2025

GoetheonMain - Johannesburg, 2010

Emerging Modernities - Cape Town 2010