Chapters in Books (DES)

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Reading between the lines
(National Museum of Namibia, 2001) Gwasira, Goodman
I .arge artifacts such as buildings, statues and open spaces are patterned through time in particularpolitical, social and economic circumstances. The dialectics of power, domination and resistance that characterised the period in which the artifacts were fashiontd can be understood by reading the artifacts as silent text􀇑. If we dedpl1er the grammar, metaphors rmd the symbolism that is embedded in the large artifacts then we can understand their meaning. By developing tools that can enable us to understand the spatial setting, time and social contexts of monuments, i t becomes possible to unravel lhe puzzle of their extralinguistic character. This paper discusses some of the issues that appear to be communicated through the symbolism of three statues from the University of Cape Town (U.CL).