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Summary:

Activist-turned-historian Lucy Campbell leads walking tours in Cape Town, South Africa, exposing the city’s painful colonial legacy and its continuing impact on marginalized communities. Her tours critique official narratives, highlighting the exploitation of Indigenous and enslaved populations. She challenges the glorification of colonial figures and the erasure of historical injustices in museums and monuments, advocating for a more accessible and truthful representation of Cape Town’s past. She links the past to current issues such as land ownership inequality and systemic marginalization.

News Article:

Cape Town Walking Tours Unearth Harsh Realities of Colonial Past

Cape Town, South Africa – A local historian is offering a unique perspective on Cape Town’s history, far removed from the typical tourist fare. Lucy Campbell, a former activist, leads walking tours that delve into the brutal realities of the city’s colonial past and its enduring consequences.

Campbell’s tours, which she has been running for 17 years, begin at the Castle of Good Hope, a stark symbol of Dutch East India Company (VOC) rule. She doesn’t just recount historical dates; she challenges the romanticized narratives often presented, focusing on the displacement and enslavement of the Khoi people and other Indigenous groups. She says that there has been genocide and dispossession of Khoi people.

“This castle speaks to the first economic explosion in Cape Town,” Campbell says. “It’s an architectural crime scene.”

Campbell also focuses on the story of Krotoa, an important figure who was known for being an interpreter.

The tours take aim at official tributes, which Campbell says fail to accurately represent the pain of those enslaved. She points out the stark contrast between monuments to colonial figures and the often-overlooked memorials dedicated to enslaved people. One of her biggest targets is the Slave Lodge, a former holding place, that according to Campbell, doesn’t focus enough on the voices of those who were enslaved.

Campbell’s tours also connect historical injustices to contemporary issues, like land ownership inequality. Her goal is to give a fuller picture of Cape Town’s past so that the marginalization can come to an end.

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