What really happened in Blood River?

What really happened in Blood River?

Yesterday, Tuesday July 5, we went to two different museums to get two different perspectives on the actual happenings of the Blood River battle between the Boers and the Zulu.

The first museum we went to was the one erected by the White Boers. I knew something was interesting when there were mostly pictures of old White men in their traditional uniforms, and when the museum representative introduced us to the movie by saying “just remember that all these people wanted was a place to farm.”

Immediately, I thought about the Manifest Destiny in the United States that led to the Mexican-American War, only because the Americans thoughts that they were destined to rule the land from one ocean to the next.

They showed us a documentary that tried to recap the historical happenings of the Blood River battle. Their perspective was justified and made seem the only accurate because of written primary documents. While those documents are valid, and should be considered in the construction of a historical account; one must not be so stuck in traditional methodologies of historical analysis just because “the other side” (the Zulu) did not have the “proper” tools to contribute to history. The Zulu did not have the same methods of retelling history, they relied on oral traditions to remember what once happened.

As a Chicana/o Studies major, we are constantly engaging in reconstructing history. History is written by the “victors,” suggesting that the history we know is often Euro and androcentric (written by white men) to justify their actions.

It is important than, to critically engage in the history that we are being taught. It is often claimed to be objective and unbiased. But the differences in the retelling of history tells us that historical accounts can and are contested. Which is an important facet of being in South Africa. We are learning about the history of Apartheid by visiting different places and speaking to different people. Everyone has their own opinion and perspective. They are all valid. Together we can construct a more holistic understanding of the world and the history.