Nthabiseng Mokoena (archaeologist)

Nthabiseng Mokoena is an archaeologist and academic who is a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho. As of 2021 she was the only woman in Lesotho to work as an archaeologist.

For the intersex activist, see Nthabiseng Mokoena.
Nthabiseng Mokoena
CitizenshipLesotho
Alma materUniversity of the Witwatersrand
OccupationArchaeologist
EmployerNational University of Lesotho
Known forOnly female archaeologist in Lesotho

Career

Mokoena's career began when she was working as a Field Technician in Lesotho on the Metolong Cultural Resource Management project.[1][2][3] However, she has been interested in the past from a young age and says that it was the "powerful experience" of finding out her own family history which inspires her still.[4] After working on the Metolong research project she began to study at the University of the Witwatersrand - first for a Masters degree, then later for a PhD.[1] Her doctoral research explored connections between Iran Age farming communities recognised from the archaeological record and Bantu-speaking communities today.[1] Her fieldwork took place at Thaba Bosiu and explored the place and its role in nation-building by analysing the four phases of community there: hunter-gatherer; Nguni 'Bafokeng' communities; Basotho communities today; alongside the European communities dating to the 1800s.[4]

Community engagement is an important aspect of Mokoena's archaeological practice and she is seen as a ground-breaking figure in the field of community archaeology, as well as archaeology in Lesotho more generally.[1][3] Her practice includes working with local communities to examine the rock art in Matatiele in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, which in turn led to those communities producing recommendations that included their views and protected their sacred places.[5] Mokoena's community work also involves ethnographic research, which informs wider understanding of how communities connect to and understand 'heritage' and 'their heritage.[6] At Masakala there was a distinction between public heritage and material culture, which was 'national' and so belonged to the community, and a private cultural heritage of initiation practices, which was private and secretive and so also belonged to the community.[6] In Matatiele, Mokoena's research also highlights the complex relationships communities have with their local heritage.[7] She also demonstrated that official heritage management plans do not value, nor take into account, indigenous beliefs; these beliefs must be at the forefront of any strategy in order for people locally to feel valued and involved.[7] She has also noted that heritage centres are not a solution for every community, their cost can outweigh their reach and they may become 'white elephants'.[8]

Mokoena intends to extend the School of Archaeology at the National University of Lesotho, as well as extending its study to primary and secondary school students in the country.[4]

In addition to her research, she has also held roles on the council of the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA).[9]

Publications
  • 'Community involvement and heritage management in rural South Africa', Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage (2017).[10]

References
  1. "Nthabiseng Mokoena | TrowelBlazers". Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  2. King, Rachel; Arthur, Charles (2014-04-03). "Development-led archaeology and ethics in Lesotho". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 49 (2): 166–183. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2014.904980. ISSN 0067-270X.
  3. Challis, Sam (2018-06-01). "Collections, Collecting and Collectives: Gathering Heritage Data with Communities in the Mountains of Matatiele and Lesotho, Southern Africa". African Archaeological Review. 35 (2): 257–268. doi:10.1007/s10437-018-9299-x. ISSN 1572-9842.
  4. "Can Archaeology achieve Social Justice? | Canon Collins Educational and Legal Assistance Trust". www.canoncollins.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  5. Bam-Hutchison, June; Ackermann, Rebecca; Humphreys, Robyn. "Archaeology is changing, slowly. But it's still too tied up in colonial practices". The Conversation. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  6. King, Rachel (2019-06-18). Outlaws, Anxiety, and Disorder in Southern Africa: Material Histories of the Maloti-Drakensberg. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-18412-4.
  7. Schmidt, Peter R. (2019-12-13). Participatory Archaeology and Heritage Studies: Perspectives from Africa. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-02088-6.
  8. Makuvaza, Simon (2017-11-23). Aspects of Management Planning for Cultural World Heritage Sites: Principles, Approaches and Practices. Springer. p. 126. ISBN 978-3-319-69856-4.
  9. "Back Matter". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 72 (206). 2017. ISSN 0038-1969.
  10. Mokoena, Nthabiseng (2017-09-02). "Community involvement and heritage management in rural South Africa". Journal of Community Archaeology & Heritage. 4 (3): 189–202. doi:10.1080/20518196.2017.1357233. ISSN 2051-8196.
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