Indigenising the gun – rock art depictions of firearms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Recent studies in southern African rock art demonstrate that we cannot take for granted that human figures holding guns in painted images are in fact depictions of Europeans. The acquisition of firearms by various ‘Bushmen’ groups in the Eastern Cape Province as well as their history of painting, makes it more than likely that in many cases the artists were really depicting themselves, not colonists. Yet one cannot claim that these artists viewed firearms in the same manner as the Europeans who initially introduced them. This is based on the well-attested practice that in colonial contexts the colonised often repurposed the material culture of the colonisers, thereby giving it new meaning in the process. As firearms became adopted by ‘Bushmen’ and entangled within their world view it is likely they were awarded spiritual attributes, making them worthy of inclusion in their sacred art.

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