Patriarchy, Memory, Architecture

Investigating How Patriarchy Exists in Memory and Architecture

Mvuyelwa Mbotheni

BArch Hons 2022

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Dr. Finzi Saidi
Unit Leader: Mathebe Aphane
Unit Tutor: Bonolo Masango
Unit Tutor: Nomalanga Mahlangu

UNIT 15X
Landscapes of Memory

My project investigates how patriarchy exists in space and memory. Patriarchy is defined as an institutionalised social system in which men dominate over others, but can also refer to dominance over women specifically; it can also extend to a variety of manifestations in which men have social privileges over others to cause exploitation or oppression; such as through male dominance of moral authority and control over property.

While investigating Vilakazi Street, the Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Memorial, patriarchy is explored in how it exists in the way we memorialise our struggle heroes and heroines using the example of the mother and father of the nation Winnie Mandela and Nelson Mandela.

Through the design of a public plaza at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in the name of Winnie Mandela, the final design solution aims at counteracting the masculine architecture of the memorial by producing an inclusive intervention which is dedicated to the memory of Winnie Mandela as the Mother of the Nation who put others first as she fought for the liberation of South Africa.

Keywords:
Patriarchy, Place Making, Culture, Social Inclusion