lesotho: voices distant but clear an exhibition proposal
TRANSCRIPT
Lesotho: Voices Distant but Clear
An Exhibition Proposal
Kenneth Tucceri
A Capstone in the Field of Museum Studies
for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies
Harvard University
Extension School
March 2021
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Author’s Statement
Nna ke Sir Neo Nkune. Ke lutse Ha Nkune le batho ba Lesotho, kapa Basotho, likhoeli tse 27. Ke
ne ke Moithaopi oa Peace Corps. “I am Sir Neo Nkune. I lived in Ha Nkune with the people of
Lesotho, or Basotho, for 27 months. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer.” While living in the rural,
mountainous district of Thaba Tseka in the Kingdom of Lesotho, teaching at a small school—Ha
Makōkō Primary School—immersion was paramount to the achievement of my goals.
Integration is part of the Peace Corps ethos. Keep an open mind to cultural differences and never
stop rising every morning with the ambition to pursue knowledge. That is how I tried to live
every day, with successes and failures; confusions and clarities; soaring optimism and humbling
self-doubt. Succeeding in cross-cultural competency is a difficult task. It takes resilience and an
enduring curiosity. It takes patience and effort. The lows are low. But the highs are elating,
gratifying, and rewarding.
As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, effectively communicating the many impactful
experiences I encountered has been a challenge since returning back to the U.S. in January 2020.
It is difficult to explain the many dynamic moments. Experiences such as riding in an
overcrowded taxi as the only non-African. Or eating ceremonial food—and sipping homemade
beer—with members of the community that you have grown to know deeply. Moments in the
classroom when you realize you have effectively provided clarity to one of the many illogical
elements of the English language. And, of course, casually sharing stories and memories with the
people of Lesotho, or Basotho, as they affectionately refer to themselves as. My failing efforts to
successfully communicate these memories are a source of frustration. The recounting of my
recollections—personal, beautiful, permanent in my mind—come out flat and underwhelming
when I attempt to recreate them.
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Born from this frustration is the idea to research methodologies that are effective in
representing a narrative-driven, sensory-laden experience to individuals who are not able to
spend 27 months immersed in a foreign culture. The result is an exhibition proposal titled
“Lesotho: Voices Distant but Clear.” The proposal will be supported by the 27 months of Peace
Corps service in Lesotho from September 2017 to November 2019. In doing so, similar tools that
the Peace Corps Volunteer is encouraged to involve in their experiences—immersion,
integration, collaboration, and an unwavering curiosity—will be considered to assist in creating
an authentic exhibition framework for Lesotho’s narratives and histories. Through this, if
successful, at the conclusion of their experience, the visitor can confidently say: Ee, ke tseba
Lesotho! “Yes, I know Lesotho!”
I would like to thank the community of Ha Nkune, in Lesotho, and the surrounding
villages in Thaba Tseka, for providing me with the most dynamic and memorable two years of
my life. I thank the leadership of the 65th Public Affairs Detachment, Massachusetts Army
National Guard, for allowing me to take leave of my military responsibilities to complete my
Peace Corps service, and their continued support. I thank Peter Sollogub who provided me with
valuable guidance while completing this research. Lastly, I thank Kathy Burton Jones for her
support and patience in assisting me in reacclimating into academia, after my time abroad, and
for her invaluable assistance throughout the museum studies degree program.
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Dedicated to the Memory of
Malebajoa Marriam Mokoaleli
23 July 1974 - 2 October 2020
A colleague, counterpart, teacher, and friend
Robala ka Khotso Motsoalle oa Ka
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Table of Contents
Author’s Statement .......................................................................................................................... i
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
The Exhibition Overview ................................................................................................................ 2
Visitor Engagement ............................................................................................................ 2
The Big Idea ........................................................................................................................ 9
Collaboration..................................................................................................................... 11
Goals ................................................................................................................................. 16
Performance Objectives .................................................................................................... 30
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 41
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 45
Appendix B .................................................................................................................................. 48
Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 58
v
List of Figures
Fig. 1. Conceptual Floor Plan ....................................................................................................... 47
Fig. 2. Ha Baroana Cave Painting ................................................................................................. 48
Fig. 3. Lesotho Physical Map ....................................................................................................... 49
Fig. 4. Hat ..................................................................................................................................... 50
Fig. 5. Flag of Lesotho .................................................................................................................. 51
Fig. 6. Coin ................................................................................................................................... 52
Fig. 7. Rondavel ............................................................................................................................ 53
Fig. 8. Aloe Polyphylla ................................................................................................................. 54
Fig. 9. The Spiral Aloe .................................................................................................................. 55
Fig. 10. Kharetsa ........................................................................................................................... 56
Fig. 11. Moshoeshoe I ................................................................................................................... 57
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Introduction
The purpose of this research is to create a museum exhibition proposal featuring the culture of
Lesotho. Many museum goers may not have the opportunity to travel or live abroad and be
immersed in a foreign culture with core differences to their own way of life. Their interactions
and information on distant cultures may be, if firsthand, brief and tourist centric. These
experiences can do little to challenge biases, stigmas, and confusion in interpreting foreign
cultural behaviors. Similar errors of cultural interpretation can also be found in the museum
experience. Contemporarily, museums are increasing their efforts to address these biases in
different ways. Danielle Rice, the former executive director of the Delaware Art Museum, states,
“Museum educators can play an active role in contradicting what anthropologists call
‘phenomenal absolutism,’ the tendency most people have to assume that everyone else sees and
thinks exactly the same way they do” (“The Cross-Cultural Mediator” 41). This exhibition
proposal will pursue a framework to overcome cultural subjectivity and address institutional
methodologies that lack inclusion and collaboration. The focus of this approach suggests
methods that prioritize first-person narratives to create original primary-source information for
responsible and authentic cultural representation in an immersive learning environment. In
pursuing such methods, the desired result is to present background research and techniques to
effectively exhibit foreign cultures and their distinct narratives while mitigating behaviors that
can misrepresent the subject culture—in this instance, southern Africa’s Kingdom of Lesotho.
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The Exhibition Overview
Visitor Engagement
Those who travel can be searching for something to awaken their emotions—an object or
interaction that evokes a ritualistic feeling—within an authentic experience. Considering this
intent in tourism, anthropologist Nelson Graburn states, “tourism involves for the participants a
separation from normal ‘instrumental’ life and the business of making a living, and offers entry
into another kind of moral state in which mental, expressive, and cultural needs come to the
fore.” Graburn speaks of modal tourism (routine vacations) and rite-of-passage tourism
(significant of major life changes; often prolonged). According to Graburn, the latter form of
tourism can be interpreted as a search for authenticity (“The Anthropology of Tourism” 11-13).
In describing the search for authentic intentions in tourism, sociologist Ning Wang uses the term
intra-personal authenticity, or self-making, stating that “individuals cannot realize their authentic
selves in everyday life” so they turn to tourism and adventure for authenticity and truth (363).
Supporting this, in the words of the English writer Samuel Johnson, “The use of traveling is to
regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they
are” (“Imagination and Reality”). In this, the tourist is seeking something real, primary, and
uncompromised by interpretation. A true and immersive experience that challenges their biases
and can profoundly influence their life and outlook.
Seeking these authentic, primary-source experiences is a motive for the museum goer as
well. Regarding authenticity in a museum context, Dr. Laura N.K. Van Broekhoven, the director
of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, states:
While the tourist industry creates opportunities for individuals to encounter their
authentic selves, ethnographic museums are in the business of creating opportunities for
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their visitors to encounter authentic (or authenticated) objects placed in a context of
staged authenticity within a heterotopic space. (Geurds 159)
This staged authenticity for museum objects can extend to immersive museum components
designed to engage the visitor in creative ways to assist the visitor in understanding concepts of
culture and history. The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s interactive
component “Follow the Green Book” is an example of an exhibit that provides an authentic
perspective. The component allows the visitor to take part in travel stories and experiences
related to the Green Book, a wayfinding guide used by African Americans during the Jim Crow
era to help them identify friendly businesses. The component places the participant of this
exhibit behind the steering wheel of a replica 1949 Buick sedan dashboard. On a screen, formed
like the windshield, creating a street-view simulation, stories of the Green Book are presented.
As the participant navigates the component, differing situations and stories are encountered,
emulating the first-person experience of the segregation-era traveler. This approach creates
immersion and empathy as the visitor travels through U.S. cities encountering problems, and
finding solutions, that were possible to an African American traveler. The participatory
disposition of the museum visitor, in how they are guided to interact with the exhibition, enables
them to gain authentic understandings of the experience and helps them to see things are they
truly were (“National Museum of African American History”).
Like “Follow the Green Book” the recommended methods of this exhibition proposal
intend to promote an atmosphere equipped to challenge difficult biases by prioritizing
authenticity and first-person information like the rite-of-passage tourist. While “Follow the
Green Book” illustrates the participatory framework the proposal intends to mimic, the following
exhibition is an example on the critical priority of presenting authentic representation. New
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York’s Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition “African American Portraits: Photographs From the
1940s and 1950s,” an exhibition of photographs which ran from June 26 to November 6, 2018,
highlights the empowerment this proposal strives to represent. In a review of the Metropolitan
Museum’s exhibition, Allie Spensley of The Wall Street Journal wrote:
This connection between self-representation and self-empowerment is the central (and
compelling) argument that the photographs are meant to support. The exhibition was
inspired in part by Frederick Douglass’s 1861 lecture “Pictures and Progress.” As the
wall text explains, Douglass—believed to have been the most photographed American in
the 19th century … urged his listeners to “make ourselves objective to ourselves,”
because without honest self-representation there could be no freedom. Primed by
Douglass's words, we can see how these images push against the airless weight of
stereotype, confronting viewers with the individuality of their black subjects and
reshaping a shared identity. …
The more complete Frederick Douglass quote referenced above is, “[The] highest attainments of
human excellence arise out of the power that we possess of making ourselves objective to
ourselves” (Martin Jr. 171). For Basotho to properly represent themselves within the museum
framework, the inclusion of self-empowerment and the resulting candid representation will
enable Basotho to authentically present their voices and narratives.
From the correct representation of Basotho, the visitor can appropriately encounter
presented narratives within immersive settings. As a result, visitors can achieve the desired
objective freedom necessary to experience the exhibition’s content with a natural competence. In
fostering this desired environment, the visitor can share the emotions—and thus, the benefits—
similar to the experience seeker or modal tourist. Anthropologist Victor Turner speaks of an
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achieved mind state he terms as communitas, in which tourists and experience seekers possess an
effective state of objectivity. Communitas occurs when a person, contextually, feels free to break
from their normal social structures. From this state of being, they are able to communicate and
interact with people with an unrestricted objectivity. During communitas hierarchies can wane,
and the lack of normative roles can increase a person’s immediacy to play or innovate.
Loosening these restrictions can create a paradigm of antistructure in which people can embrace
their individuality outside of societies rigid social structures (46).
In an environment that considers authenticity for the visitor, through an objective
presentation of Lesotho, bridging the gaps of cultures in a museum context can manifest through
a framework that promotes societal antistructure. With these methods of visitor engagement—
considering the visitor as seekers of authenticity—the presentation of information will also
remain consistent to that of the genuine tourist experience. For this to be done, primary-source
information would be gathered and used to ensure proper and effective self-representation. To
encourage this, Basotho would be the exhibition’s virtual tour guide, or docent, to inspire the
museum goer by using the power of the first-person perspective. Interviews and footage obtained
for such an exhibition would be curated to offer the visitor an opportunity to interact with the
stories of Basotho by Basotho. Rice, in support of this approach, observes:
Teaching is only as good as the learning that it inspires. An effective docent is not judged
by the information she is able to master, but rather by her ability to inspire her audience
to understand what she is communicating … Traditional tours may need to be examined
and revised so that a more inclusive, more multi-cultural focus can be introduced.
(“The Hidden Theme”)
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Concerning the power of first-person perspective to exhibit authentic narratives, museum
educator Leslie Bedford notes that, “Research supports the importance of first person over third”
(106). Bedford continues:
A narrative has to be true to its medium. For exhibition makers, that means engaging all
our senses including the somatic or physical, speaking to our emotions, using the specific
to generate connections to the familiar and universal, and telling us something about
someone we are going to care about. Something happens in the imagination in the face of
a real story; it creates a new one. (64)
Within the exhibition, first-person narratives would be the written, heard, and seen sources of
information. The application of the pronouns “I” and “we”— when spoken or written on a label
or wall text—will ensure the speaker’s voice remains their own and retains the necessary
authentic presentation. Within the framework of empowering the Basotho as the virtual tour
guide, the educational experience is designed to be more profound, inspiring, and reverential.
In categorically thinking of museum visitors’ motives, Graburn lists three kinds of
experiential needs. These needs are associational (a social event), educational (a pursuit of
knowledge), and reverential. In dealing with the culture of Lesotho in a genuine context, the
reverential is of special interest. Of the reverential, Graburn declares:
This designates the visitor's need for a personal experience with something higher, more
sacred, and out-of-the-ordinary than home and work are able to supply. Although
museums are public spaces, the experience within them can be a solitary one of
contemplation, meditation, and rest from the cares of the world. The museum may
provide a place of peace and fantasy, where one can be alone with one's thoughts and
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make of the objects and exhibits what one will. (“The Museum and the Visitor
Experience” 3)
Within the exhibition’s design, through the personability inherent in the first-person perspective,
the visitor will be enabled to be receptive to the transfer of emotions Basotho feel about their
culture—not exclusively the accumulation of facts. To further this, the rite-of-passage tourist,
along with the seeker of the reverential, often aspire to engage in a prolonged undertaking within
their host culture; similar to the opportunities of the foreigner on a pilgrimage (or similar
journey), or Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), is afforded. Inspiration from the Peace Corps’
framework can be applied to a museum setting to achieve these ambitions during a museum visit.
According to the Peace Corps:
The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse
themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the
most pressing challenges of our generation. (“About”)
While serving in their host nation, the PCV is encouraged to take part in sustainable and
informed behaviors within their communities. The Peace Corps addresses this in various ways.
One method is developing the ethos of a global change agent. According to the Peace Corps:
A change agent is someone who generates ideas, promotes new practices, models healthy
behaviors, draws attention to opportunities, and encourages networks to help people
move forward in reaching their goals. Change agents do not impose their ideas on others,
but rather help people see possibilities they might otherwise miss. (“Roles of the
Volunteer in Development” 70)
This proposal is recommending, through the Peace Corps model, methods and considerations for
the visitor to have increased success as a museum goer. Within the responsibility and design of
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the exhibition proposal, this approach must be presented to the visitor to enable the visitor to feel
comfortable and successful in this transition.
An additional U.S. entity that addresses cross-cultural communication is the U.S.
Military. One of the U.S. Military’s tools to achieve success in cross-cultural settings is “The
Applied Critical Thinking Handbook,” often referred to as the “Red Team Handbook.” This
handbook is used to improve efficacy in diverse cultural settings. According to the handbook,
people and organizations often fail in predicable ways when interacting with a foreign culture:
… and that they do so according to their mindsets, biases, and experience, which are
formed in large part by their own culture and context. The sources of these failures are
simple, observable, and lamentably, often repeated. They are also preventable. (1)
In addressing these biases “The Applied Critical Thinking Handbook” states, “We educate
people to develop a disposition of curiosity and help them become aware of biases and behavior
that prevent them from real positive change in the ways they seek solutions and engage others”
(1). This proposal’s intent is to foster an environment nearer to the immersive experience of a
PCV. In other words, to “make ourselves objective to ourselves” within an integrated
environment inspired from primary-source cultural information. From this immersive
environment, the ethos of the PCV, or the mindset of an individual on a long-distance journey,
can bring out the maximum potential of a museum visit. This approach to visitor engagement
will administer the immersive, participatory setting that will set the visitor up for success in
building the necessary bridge between differing cultures.
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The Big Idea
To present the voices of Basotho within an authentic context, a focused statement—or Big
Idea—will be formulated to promote clarity for the visitor experience. The Big Idea will ensure
the information about Lesotho’s culture will be relevant and consistent. According to museum
professional Beverly Serrell, the Big Idea “provides a thread of meaning, coherence, and weight”
to the exhibition plan (Exhibition Labels 12). Museum consultants Polly McKenna-Cress and
Janet A. Kamien state, “The exhibition’s mission statement and Big Idea are used as standards to
measure the relevance of individual components. The mission focuses on the topic, visitors, and
what the main intention of the exhibition is” (104). Serrell continues:
The big idea guides the development of the exhibit elements and their labels (e.g., for
cases, captions, interactives). This means that each element must have a clearly defined
objective that supports, exemplifies, or illustrates aspects of the big idea. For each exhibit
component, the question, “What’s this got to do with the big idea?” should have a clear
and positive answer. (Exhibition Labels 12)
For this proposal, the Big Idea will summarize the focus of the visitor experience to present a
clear and comprehensible presentation of narratives and facts on the culture of Lesotho.
The Big Idea of this exhibition proposal is: To exhibit stories and interactives—designed
from primary-source information—for a museum visitor to be immersed in an empowering
cultural experience. While using the intent of this statement in every goal and performance
objective of the exhibition proposal, the Big Idea will function as an assurance that the
experience will be accessible to comprehend. Regarding exhibitions that lack the clarity the Big
Idea offers, Serrell states:
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Exhibitions that lack a big idea are very common. And they show it because they are
overwhelming, confusing, intimidating, and too complex. There are too many labels, and
the texts do not relate to the objects. The labels contain too many different ideas that do
not clearly relate to each other. They are hard to grasp. (Exhibition Labels 13)
The consistency the Big Idea provides will create an experience that will foster objectivity and
allow the visitor to feel both competent and confident in their ability to learn about Lesotho
directly from Basotho. From a framework that promotes clarity, a resulting freedom will enable
the visitor to feel confident in the experience.
To fully present the empowering cultural experience the Big Idea promotes, the visitor
will have to feel a sense of transmission, or change, within this confidence. The proposal, with
the guidance of the Big Idea, must deliberately engage the reverential to remove the visitor from
their everyday lives and thought habits. Henry John Drewal’s multisensorial exhibition titled
“Creating Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas” is an existing example
that connects to this notion. In developing the exhibition, Drewal employed what he coined
“body-mind work.” He describes it by stating, “In this kind of work, one no longer aspires to
achieve an impossible ‘distanced objectivity.’ Rather one works as an active participant, using all
of one’s senses to open multiple, sensory paths to knowledge and understanding” (49).
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes this experiential state as flow. Similar to the
above, Csikszentmihalyi’s flow state describes a condition of holistic involvement. He states the
following about the effects of flow:
It is the state in which action follows upon action according to an internal logic which
seems to need no conscious intervention on our part. We experience it as a unified
flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in
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which there is little distinction between self and environment; between stimulus and
response; or between past, present, and future. (136, 137)
The Big Idea will serve to inspire the engagement of the visitor by encouraging a confident and
curious disposition derived from the context’s clarity. Additionally, the Big Idea will encourage
the collaboration with Basotho that would be necessary to successfully plan and produce an
immersive experience that fosters “body-mind work” and “flow” mentalities.
Collaboration
For this exhibition proposal, prioritizing collaboration is unequivocal. McKenna-Cress and
Kamien define collaboration as “the intersection of thoughts and ideas from varying points of
view to create multifaceted narratives and diverse experiences for a public audience” (2). The
lack of collaboration can lead exhibitions into predictable mistakes. Referencing the importance
of collaborating with people from a featured culture, Rice states:
People reflect the cultural values and habits of the environment in which they were born
and raised. Museums, created by many individuals working together over time, manifest
the cultural assumptions and resources of their creators regardless of the culture or
cultures that they attempt to represent. (“The Hidden Theme”)
The Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, Washington, offers an impactful example in
collaboration. The institution utilizes community members to co-create exhibitions by involving
them in the development process and provides the community with the opportunity to tell the
stories that they value. Ron Chew, the former director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum, stated
the following about the institution: “We are not about stuff and projects but about relationships
and stories that rise up from the community. The story is more important than the stuff. The
museum is more a place of dialogue than stated facts” (Simon 265, 266). “Lesotho: Voices
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Distant but Clear” will adhere to this approach in the collaborative scheme of gathering oral
dialogues and histories featured throughout the exhibition. By involving the community—in this
instance, Basotho—the exhibition will be outfitted to effectively represent special and specific
narratives. Oral historian Barbara Sommer states the following in support of community
collaboration:
Cast a wide net to include community. Make sure all appropriate community members
are involved in your project and have an opportunity to make a contribution. Community
members know and care the most about the project at hand, and the more closely they are
involved in every aspect of it, the more successful it will be. (30)
This prioritization of community engagement will ensure the appropriate stakeholders are
represented for the appropriate stories. Considering collaboration to reduce biases, and represent
the authentic voices of the experts of given themes, museum consultant Amy Hollander states:
I propose we use what I call Collaborative Storytelling, to overcome our cultural biases
and blind spots. Whether we are designing an exhibit, a program, or a performance, we
need to bring other voices to the table. We need to enlist stakeholders in the earliest
phases of our content development—not just experts in the field—but also members of
the public. These can be people who have a part in the story we’re telling, or they can
represent voices from the audience we are hoping to reach. Together we can grapple with
the main theme that underlines our efforts … the Big Idea.
In the spirit of collaborative storytelling, museum and cultural institutions engage the voices of
individuals who have primary-source knowledge of events to present powerful first-person
narratives. An example of this is the National Park Service’s Manzanar Oral History Project. The
project preserves more than 640 oral history interviews of Japanese American incarnation stories
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during World War II. Individuals interested in seeing and hearing the first-person accounts of
this event can view them online (“Manzanar Oral History Project”). Not only does the site act as
an accessible repository for the interviews, it is utilized for its primary-source information for
museum professionals. “Exhibit designers use information from these oral histories in exhibit
development. The exhibit panel on ‘Absent Parents, Broken Families’ illustrates how designers
draw from some of the oral history gems, as they describe the recorded interviews, to bring
human stories into the interpretation of the history of this Japanese internment camp” (Sommer
37).
The consideration of first-person interviews as the source of information is consistent
with the current efforts of many cultural institutions to decolonize their practices. In decolonizing
museums, institutions are ensuring the appropriate stakeholders of the information and objects
are involved in the process and their voices are heard. To allow visitors to be immersed in an
empowering cultural experience, a postcolonial representation of a culture must be achieved. The
process of decolonization is defined in American Alliance of Museum’s “TrendsWatch 2019” as “the
long, slow, painful, and imperfect process of undoing some of the damage inflicted by colonial
practices that remain deeply embedded in our culture, politics, and economies” (“TrendsWatch
2019”). Striving to create a proper context featuring Basotho narratives, the ethos of
decolonization would serve to increase the information’s authenticity and avoid the dangers of
misrepresenting Basotho due to biases within the exhibition plan. Author Elisa Shoenberger
states, “Museums are taking on this important work to try to make their museums reflect the
diversity and the voices of the people within their collections and around them.” Referencing the
efforts necessary to decolonize, Shoenberger remarks:
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It’s not just about inviting indigenous and other marginalized people into the museum to
help the institution improve its exhibitions; it’s an overhauling the entire system.
Otherwise, museums are merely replicating systems of colonialism, exploiting people of
color for their emotional and intellectual labor within their institutions without a corollary
in respect and power.
Wendy Ng and J’net AyAyQwaYakSheelth, of the Royal Ontario Museum, prioritize
decolonization methodologies into their institution’s practices. They argue that using sources of
the colonized, not the colonizer, will reveal the true story and present the understanding of how
colonization still exists today. They include sentiments similar to the PCV and the ethos of the
integrated volunteer and global change agent. Ng and AyAyQwaYakSheelth state, “Commit to
the ongoing process of critical self-reflection and awareness of your privilege and power and use
your positionality to amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives” (“Decolonize and Indigenize”).
Derived from these decolonization efforts, the museum goer can find a connectedness with
Basotho culture despite the many apparent differences that exist. From this connectedness, similar
to immersion of, for instance, a PCV, the promotion of responsibility to enact social change and
awareness can be fostered and developed. Supporting this, Ng and AyAyQwaYakSheelth state,
“We are all one. All humanity is connected; therefore, all of us are responsible for dismantling the
colonial legacy and building a new future where distinct cultures dictate their own narratives”
(“Decolonize and Indigenize”). Within decolonization, it is argued that institutions can no longer
remain impartial. Anthropologist Michael Ames states, “Curation and museum policy can no
longer make undisputed claims for the privileges of neutrality and universality. Representation is
a political act. Sponsorship is a political act. Curation is a political act” (13). Ames lobbies for
the necessity of collaboration to combine complementary skills of those who have the
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professional expertise and those with the cultural expertise. In this case, this would represent
exhibition staff working closely with Basotho. Adhering to these considerations and examples—
with Basotho having the control to create their own narratives—will ensure the exhibition
proposal’s inclusive priorities and desired results are attained through proper representation.
In the end, these important considerations will achieve the desired context to maximize
the narrative’s authenticity. This cross-cultural objective intends to embody successful
methodologies of enhancement and inclusion. Adding to this, Van Broekhoven states:
For museums to truly assume their role as instruments of social cohesion, which inspire
global cultural competence, our praxis needs to revolve around facilitating co-creative
knowledge production with stakeholders at the global and local levels, so that together
with our diverse stakeholders we can develop a multitude of authenticated voices.
(Geurds 159)
The efforts of collaboration and decolonization can face difficulties. Yet, to suitably exhibit a
culture, these steps must be taken. For Basotho to properly represent their culture, appropriate
collaboration is a critical facet of the exhibition proposal’s agenda. In support of this, Ames
states, “In the world of knowledge, the sharing of authority does not reduce one's own level of
understanding but enhances it” (14). From these collaborative contributions, the appropriate
individuals, from Lesotho, would be empowered to provide the cultural information of this
exhibition. This post-colonial and collaborative approach embodies the ideal method of properly
representing a culture within an authentic experience.
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Goals
With the collaborative gathering of primary-source information and uniting it within a museum
context, the exhibition proposal will apply a list of goals to communicate the Big Idea. The intent
of these goals, and their summaries, is to present information the exhibition would need to
include in an effective presentation on Basotho culture. In planning for the effective arrangement
of information, McKenna-Cress and Kamien state: “What is the most basic information visitors
will need to know in order to begin understanding this content?” (74). The goals are listed and
defined to increase the efficacy of the visitor experience and to succinctly clarify and codify the
pertinent communication objectives within the exhibition proposal. These goals, in connection
with the performance objectives, create the proposal’s framework in parts that do not stand alone
but function together in concert. Focusing on all of these approaches increases the proposal’s
attentiveness to immerse the visitor. Considering the limitations of the exhibition experience
compared to an extended cultural journey, carefully selected goals may not always be effective
for every visitor. John Falk and Lynn Dierking, authors of The Museum Experience, state, “There
is no guarantee that merely adopting a few well-selected goals is the solution; any change in the
visitor will be difficult, given the constraints under which museums operate” (131). Yet, using
these goals, with the Big Idea, to provide clear informational parameters, will serve to encourage
a truthful focus. The value of these goals is to present specific areas of information to feature in a
didactic experience that instills confident in the visitor as a learner and explorer of the exhibition
space. The goals are listed as distinct informational points of focus to present specific content
that would be used as guidance on what to include—and what to omit—within the exhibition.
Shown in Table 1 (see Appendix A) the goals will be represented within the eight informational
sections of the proposal’s storyboard.
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Goal 1: Present facts that aim to run contradictory to visitor assumptions about the continent of
Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho.
The initial goal is for the visitor to obtain an understanding of Lesotho from a historical context.
In staying consistent with the decolonizing museum approach, addressing potential bias is
inherent within this goal. To challenge existing preconceptions that westerners have regarding
Africa, it is important to address that Africa is a continent with widely diverse cultures and
geographies. An enhancement of this truth is that “Africans are more diverse genetically than the
inhabitants of the rest of the world combined, according to a sweeping study that carried
researchers into remote valleys and mountaintops to sample the bloodlines of more than 100
distinct populations” (Achenbach). As early man spread across Africa, only a small population
left the continent. This specific diaspora of early man that left Africa results in a narrower DNA
dynamic for the non-African world. “We also think that non-Africans originate from a small
founding population that probably migrated out of East Africa,” according to Dr. Sarah Tishkoff,
the lead researcher of a team of international researchers studying African genetic diversity
(Spain). Early in the exhibition, it will be important to highlight misconceptions potentially
connected with Lesotho (or Africa as a continent) that could compromise the immersive learning
experience. To accomplish this, anecdotes and facts that may run contradictory to a visitor’s
assumptions will be valuable for the integration of the visitor.
Goal 2: Teach visitors about San cave paintings, their history, and meaning.
The San and Khoi, known collectively as the Khoisan, are some of the earliest known humans.
Concerning Khoisan presence in modern-day Lesotho, Stephen Gill, a curator with the Morija
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Museum and Archives in Lesotho, states “For thousands of years, the whole of Southern Africa
was populated exclusively by Stone Age hunter-gatherers” (3). Currently, the presence and
influence of the San remain today; notably in cave paintings found in various locations in
Lesotho and South Africa. A well-preserved example of San cave paintings is located in Ha
Baroana, Lesotho (see Fig. 2). The paintings of Ha Baroana depict “leopards, lions, elands, blue
cranes and guinea fowls, as well as scenes of bushmen life—hunting, dancing, and people in
huts. It has been estimated that the paintings were made about 2000 years ago” (Gray). The goal
of the cave paintings, similar to the first goal, is to provide historical context to modern-day
Lesotho.
Goal 3: Visitors will be introduced to the Bantu expansion.
The Bantu Expansion refers to the movement of Bantu-speaking people from the grass fields of
modern-day Nigeria and Cameroon. As a result of this dispersion, Bantu languages are found in
approximately 23 African countries (Bostoen 1, 2). Much of the ancestors of Basotho came from
this major migratory event. Nearly 2,000 years ago, people from this diaspora began to reach the
area that is now Lesotho. “From about 200 A.D., the first archeological evidence of Iron Age
peoples can be found south of the Limpopo” just north of Lesotho (Gill 7). These groups stayed
in small clusters near the east coast of modern-day South Africa. The highlands of Lesotho and
the drier western portion of South Africa were left relatively undisturbed to the Khoisan nomads.
As the centuries progressed, other Iron Age people continued to migrate south. Estimated to be
between AD 900-1200, though the arrival of many small groups happened prior, the Bantu
people began to appear in significant numbers (Gill 12).
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As the Bantu clans began to settle in more of the highlands, or the highveld, the eventual
location of Lesotho, they became more and more culturally distinct from their lowland
neighbors. Gill explains:
The southern Sotho preferred to build their homesteads on ridges overlooking river
valleys where building materials were close at hand, either wood and reeds … or stone
for corbelled houses. A reliable source of clean water, adequate grazing areas for summer
and winter, fertile soil, and a good vantage point for protection as well as the warmth of
the sun were other important factors. (28, 29)
From the presentation of this important migratory event, this goal provides context for the
origins of Basotho and the significance of Lesotho as a mountainous, landlocked country.
Goal 4: Explain the unique distinctions of the geography of Lesotho.
Focused within this goal is to provide the necessary information to teach visitors about Lesotho’s
high-altitude topography (see Fig. 3). The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small, landlocked country
within its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. Its size is 11,720 square miles
with a population of 2.2 million (“Lesotho Country Profile”). “The county’s lowest point of
1,400 meters [4,593 feet] above sea level is the highest low point of any country in the world.”
The countries highest point is Thabana Ntlenyana, 3,482 meters (11,4234 feet) in elevation,
which makes it the highest mountain in southern Africa (“Lesotho”). Lesotho’s earliest Bantu
settlers used the high altitude to distinguish themselves from other cultures of southern Africa
(Gill 28). This goal represents the presentation of necessary facts the visitor requires to feel
knowledgeable about a place and culture. Presenting the geography of a culture relates to the
ethos of treating the visitor as an adventure seeker that the exhibition proposal possesses.
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Goal 5: Visitors will learn about Lifaqane and its impact on Lesotho’s history.
For visitors to understand Lesotho’s history, Lifaqane is a necessary historical event to introduce.
Lifaqane, meaning “scattering,” refers to a significant forced migration due to a variety of
political and environmental variables between 1815-1845. These scatterings had an exponential
effect as different groups of people became displaced, encountering other groups of people, often
bringing with them conflict and the competition for resources (Gill 66). Many of these refugees
encountered the southern Sotho clans as they fled violence and upheaval. As they moved into
modern-day Lesotho, these fleeing groups “brought war, destruction and new methods
organizing society to the highveld. The Sotho were forced to adapt or perish” (Gill 66). From this
instability, the founder modern-day Lesotho would emerge: King Moshoeshoe I.
Goal 6: Introduce to the visitor the cultural impact and legacy of King Moshoeshoe I.
For a museum goer seeking to learn about the origins of Lesotho’s culture, a significant goal
would be to discover the stories of King Moshoeshoe I—the founder of Basotho nation—and his
enduring legacy. Many formative themes in Lesotho’s history are featured within the narratives
of Moshoeshoe’s life. The stories of Moshoeshoe are critical to gaining a necessary historical
perspective of Lesotho as a nation and culture. According to Gill, “Moshoeshoe’s shadow still
looms large a hundred years later over those who, from many different clans and nations, have
been accepted and call themselves ‘the people of Moshoeshoe’” (114). Moshoeshoe, born with
the name Lepoqo around 1786, spent his early years in what is now northern Lesotho. His youth
was filled with relative pastoral peace, learning the ways of his culture; herding animals and
eventually attending initiation school, a tradition that still is performed today for post-pubescent
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boys and girls of Lesotho (Thompson 1-4). “In 1820, at the age of 34, Moshoeshoe moved to
Butha-Buthe Mountain with his followers and began his rule as chief.” Although he was still
considered a minor chief at this point, his reputation as a worthy leader was rapidly expanding
(Gill 65). It was during this time Lifaqane began to affect those in the highlands of the Maloti
Mountains. Moshoeshoe realized his current location was not safe from threats of invading
people and understood he needed to relocate. In 1824, Moshoeshoe chose to move to Thaba
Bosiu, a mountain fortress to the southwest of his current location. The now storied journey from
Butha-Buthe to Thaba Bosiu took two days (Gill 69). Of the journey, Gill states:
During the two-day journey by foot, Moshoeshoe’s grandfather Peete was captured and
eaten by the cannibals of Rakostoane near Malimong. Cannibalism, which was against all
the customs of the Sotho, had become widespread. (69, 70)
Moshoeshoe’s decision to move to Thaba Bosiu proved to be beneficial. Due to its advantageous
location and geography as a stronghold, it gained the prestigious moniker as “the most famous
retreat in Southern Africa” (Lye 48). With his ideal high ground, and Lifaqane weakening his
competition, he was able to strike alliances with chiefs, and provide safety and regularity to
displaced groups. In this manner, while continuously expanding his land beyond Thaba Bosiu,
Moshoeshoe consolidated a large chiefdom (Thompson 46).
At this time, Moshoeshoe began to catch the attention of the Dutch and the British in
Southern Africa. The British ruled the Eastern Cape Colony and, by 1834, recognized
Moshoeshoe “as the sovereign ruler of his nation and a leader of remarkable talent” (Gill 88).
During this period, the Dutch members of the Cape Colony, known as Boer Voortrekkers, or
Afrikaners, unhappy with British governing in the Cape Colony, began to travel inland to
colonize the highveld near Basotho territory (Gill 86). To keep a unified sovereignty,
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Moshoeshoe had to interact with the European powers that began to intermingle with and shape
his chieftaincy. Subsequent of this, he began accepting an increased number of Christian
missionaries. The French Protestants from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS)
began to arrive in June 1833 (Gill 75). The presence of the PEMS was a great help to
Moshoeshoe, as they assisted the Basotho to understand the politics, cultural differences, and
ambitions of the British and Dutch. Furthermore, the PEMS mission was able to provide helpful
infrastructure and improve education. Regarding the benefits of the PEMS presence, Gill states:
In addition, the schools and churches became centres for the diffusion of literacy,
improved agricultural methods and other important ‘tools’ which Basotho could use
profitably in a region increasingly subject to the commerce, technology and values of
European civilisation. (92, 93)
The Roman Catholic missionaries followed the PEMS, arriving in 1862. They advised
Moshoeshoe that their hierarchy was similar to that of the Basotho chieftainship and were more
lenient with traditional Basotho customs in comparison to the PEMS (Thompson 318). To work
this competition to his advantage, Moshoeshoe chose to encourage both Protestants and
Catholics into influencing his kingdom. Of the presence of both denominations, Gill states:
The Catholics and Protestants would oppose each other and thus make it easier for him to
control both. Moshoeshoe needed the West but only if its influence could be modified
and kept under control. Otherwise his kingdom was in danger. (102)
With the increase of western influence, Moshoeshoe found himself in a balance between the old
traditional world and the new European world. “To preserve the cohesion of his people he kept
one foot in the conservative and traditional camp, even while placing the other in the modern and
Christian” (Thompson vii, viii).
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From Moshoeshoe’s interest in the Catholics and Protestants, both were frequently
present during his final days (Thompson 320). While possessing a strong relationship with the
Catholic missionaries and being attributed with saying he wished to be baptized by both
denominations in a joint ceremony, it was the Protestants that began to converge at Thaba Bosiu
to baptize the king. The original date of the ceremony was March 20, 1870. But due to his poor
health, it was advanced to the March 13 (Thompson 321-323). Concerning the last day of
Moshoeshoe’s life, Thompson states:
On the morning of Friday 11 March members of the Protestant congregations were
already wending their way to Thaba Bosiu … groups of Protestants were coming from all
parts of Basutoland to be present at the baptism of the king. But they were too late. At
nine o’clock that morning Moshoeshoe died, as he had lived, in two worlds. (323)
The distinguished character of Moshoeshoe has an enduring and prominent presence in Lesotho.
“… the Basotho cherish the knowledge that in Moshoeshoe there was a rare combination of
political wisdom, personal integrity, and respect for human dignity” (Thompson 329).
Goal 7: Present the importance of Thaba Bosiu.
Moshoeshoe’s enduring legacy is inextricably linked to the location of his death—Thaba Bosiu.
In 1824, when Moshoeshoe moved to Thaba Bosiu, he was able to establish his reputation as a
major African leader. From the vantage point of Thaba Bosiu “Moshoeshoe grew from an
insignificant refugee into the master of an ever-expanding circle of people and lands” (Lye 48).
From this famously advantageous geography, Moshoeshoe was poised to establish his impact
and legacy. “At the age of about thirty-eight Moshoeshoe had found his final home. He was to
live there for forty-six years, presiding over the consolidation, expansion, and defense of his
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chiefdom; and when he died, he was buried there (Thompson 44). From Thaba Bosiu,
Moshoeshoe grew the number of his allies by treating people respectfully and by providing a
sanctuary from the numerous perils of the time. One of the many examples of this is the story of
Letele. Fleeing enemies, he escaped to Thaba Bosiu, where Moshoeshoe “treated him with
respect, made him a senior councillor, and provided him with bohali for a wife.” Like Letele,
many Basotho chiefs, Nguni people and other displaced families whose way of life was
destroyed by Lifaqane, sought Moshoeshoe’s diplomacy (Thompson 46).
Also, during this time, there were threats which laid bare the advantage of Thaba Bosiu.
One threat was an increased presence of the Boers, which resulted in two wars, called the
Basotho-Boer Wars, over territory and resources. In 1858, the first Basotho-Boer War took
place. In their raid, Afrikaners burned villages and much of the Morija Mission. But Basotho
raiders countered their initiative, and the stronghold of Thaba Bosiu was too difficult to
successfully conquer (Gill 98). In 1865, the second Basotho-Boer War took place. The results of
this conflict were costly for Moshoeshoe and the Basotho—as they lost substantial land in the
resulting arbitration. Yet, during the war, the Boers were again unsuccessful in raiding Thaba
Bosiu despite fierce and costly efforts (Gill 106). Thaba Bosiu represents an important
destination with stories and events critical to the formation of Lesotho as a nation. In presenting
these stories, museum visitors will understand many historical circumstances that lead to the
development of contemporary Lesotho.
Goal 8: Visitors will learn about the modern culture of Lesotho.
Since the days of King Moshoeshoe I, Lesotho has balanced its traditional ways of life with
unavoidable modern influences. “Despite increasing urbanization and the growth of modern
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institutions and bureaucracy, many Sotho are still interested in building a rural homestead and
perpetuating traditional institutions. They also remain loyal to the chieftaincy system” (Guy).
Currently, most Basotho live in rural areas. In 2018, 71.8% were living rurally. Much of rural
life is based upon animals and farming. “Village life centres on the fields, the chief’s court, the
kraals, the school, the church …” (Guy). In the early stages of colonialism, formally beginning in
1868 as the role of a British protectorate, Lesotho was “Basutoland for the Basotho only.” As
such, they were granted some autonomy (Gill 115, 116). Moshoeshoe chose British protection
and colonial involvement over the potential rule of the increasing number of white settlers—
Afrikaners in particular. This decision gave Basotho the freedom to live in their many mountain
villages and avoid some of the challenges and cultural suppression that black Africans were
confronted with in other parts of southern Africa (Thompson 329). With the increasing
development of the lowlands, Basotho turned to the eastern highlands of the Maloti Mountains to
find land to farm. As Basotho began to migrate higher into the mountains, Lesotho’s population
grew to 160,000 in 1880 (Gill 133).
Contemporarily, school and religion play an important role in Lesotho. Primary School
education in Lesotho is free up to grade seven (Guy). If a student’s parents or guardian can
afford the fees of secondary education, and the student has passed the Primary School Leaving
Certificate Exam, a learner can further their education. Secondary schools provide a
comprehensive education designed to prepare students for university, and most students are
boarders at secondary school (“Lesotho Secondary Education”). Many schools are administered
by the Catholic Church with the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Approximately four-
fifths of Basotho are literate, one of the highest literacy rates on the African continent (Guy).
Supported with a partnership between the church and government, health clinics, access to
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medicine, and other health care needs are available to a high number of Basotho—even those in
rural settings (Gill 227, 228). This information will support the section of the exhibition
proposal’s storyboard featuring the modern village for visitors to familiarize themselves with the
contemporary lives of rural Basotho and the stories related to their lives in villages and small
towns.
Goal 9: Visitors will be introduced to the national plant of Lesotho, the spiral aloe.
Aloe polyphylla, or the spiral aloe, (see Fig. 8 and Fig. 9) is the national plant of Lesotho. In
Sesotho, the plant is called lekharakhare. “The spiral aloe is unique to Lesotho and has not been
found growing naturally outside Lesotho’s borders. The plants are distinctive with five ranks of
leaves that are coiled in either a left-handed or a right-handed spiral and have been much sought
after by plant enthusiasts” (Talukdar 985). The national plant of Lesotho blooms a red-pink
flower with occasional yellow. The plant can reach over one meter in diameter and up to 80 cm
high (“Spiral Aloe”). Due to the declining numbers, lekharakhare have been declared an
endangered species since 1938 (Talukdar 985). To achieve this goal with the visitor engagement
philosophy and the Big Idea in mind, live specimen of lekharakhare would be placed within the
exhibition for the visitor to view.
Goal 10: Communicate the cultural importance of blankets in Basotho culture.
Like the spiral aloe, blankets, or likobo, will be included, and presented, to show their
significance as an ever-present article of clothing worn by Basotho. Likobo come in different
designs and colors. Two examples of the different likobo designs are shown in the Kharetsa (see
Fig. 10) and the Moshoeshoe I design (see Fig. 11). Regarding the importance of blankets in
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Lesotho Andrew Unsworth states, “Basotho blankets are unique. They are a cultural symbol, the
brand identity of a nation, but always a practical and useful garment.” The traditional Basotho
blanket is made in Randfontein, South Africa, by Aranda Textiles (Unsworth). An example of an
Aranda blanket design highlighting iconography important to Basotho culture is the Kharetsa
design. This blanket features a spiral aloe in the center with the Basotho shield, assegai, and
knobkerrie club. The Mokorotlo, or woven Basotho hat, is featured in the corners (“Kharetsa”).
The Moshoeshoe design shows four images of Moshoeshoe I based off of the etchings by
Eugène Casalis, a member of the PEMS, from 1833. A Victoria Cross is formed in the center of
the blanket with four Basotho shields. The two mountain images are of Qiloane, a mountain
visible from Thaba Bosiu (“Moshoeshoe 1”). Tom Kritzinger, the manager of exports and
Basotho at Aranda Textiles (Kritzinger), stated the following about the significance of blankets
in Basotho culture:
Blankets are pivotal in their lives. Kobo ke bophelo, the blanket is life. Nothing is more
beautiful. The Basotho people are preoccupied with blankets, from birth right through to
death every phase is marked by blankets. The baby is received in a blanket, when they go
through initiation after puberty there are blankets; when she gets married, the bride is
wrapped in blankets and given to the groom … They are interwoven into the fabric of
society, and the Basotho are blanket people to the bone. (Unsworth)
This goal will ensure the visitor will be presented with critical information necessary to
understand the unique cultural importance blankets have in Basotho culture.
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Goal 11: Visitors will learn about the national symbol of Lesotho, the Mokorotlo.
An example of an object that will showcase the spirit of Basotho and the story of King
Moshoeshoe I is the Basotho hat, or Mokorotlo (see Fig. 4)—the national symbol of Lesotho. On
the significance of the iconic Basotho hat, Haretsebe Manwa states, “The Basotho hat is an
authentic product, and a popular artifact and memorabilia that is directly identified with Lesotho.
It serves as both a cultural icon of Lesotho and part of the everyday attire of the Basotho people”
(981). Despite appearing decades after Moshoeshoe’s death, the conical grass hat has a strong
association with Lesotho’s founder. As a result, the people of Lesotho hold the Basotho hat in
high esteem as a national symbol associated with Moshoeshoe I (Manwa 987). Concerning the
reverence Basotho possess regarding the Mokorotlo, a Mosotho said, “every time we see that hat
on the flag or on the automotive license plates we are reminded of Moshoeshoe” (Rosenberg 37,
38). As the national symbol, the Mokorotlo is located on many items of cultural significance in
Lesotho such as the flag of Lesotho (see Fig. 5), and selected coins (see Fig. 6). The origins of
the Basotho hat date back to the early twentieth century when chiefs began to wear an early
version of the Mokorotlo. Regarding the early reverence of the Mokorotlo by community leaders,
Haretsebe Manwa states:
Traditional leaders, or chiefs, confirmed that Basotho express much pride in Mokorotlo,
the Basotho hat. The hat is indeed important cultural attire that is worn to show national
identity and pride. Most men would not attend a village gathering (Pitso) without wearing
Mokorotlo. (985)
Also, during this time, while men would walk to the chief’s court, they would adorn the Basotho
hat and sing a song known as the Mokorotlo. The songs were usually rooted in chieftainship and
of their admiration of Moshoeshoe. Of the Mokorotlo songs, Gladstone Phatela states, “they
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remind people of what Moshoeshoe did for them, and what he is still doing for them”
(Rosenberg 43). Further connecting the national symbol of Lesotho with Moshoeshoe is the story
that the conical design resembles Qiloane, a hill visible from Moshoeshoe’s stronghold of Thaba
Bosiu. Though the shape of Qiloane and the shape of the Mokorotlo share a strong resemblance,
it is popularly considered to be a mere coincidence. However, the rumor serves to further the
connection of the Mokorotlo’s story with Moshoeshoe, thus strengthening the hat’s status in
Basotho culture (Rosenberg 45, 46).
Beginning in the 1950s, political figures began to wear Mokorotlo at rallies—to capitalize
on the symbolic cultural power—increasing their exposure. Around this time designs expanded,
and the Basotho hat began to be manufactured for commercial reasons, resulting in its popularity
with Lesotho’s general public (Rosenberg 37). By the 1960s, the Mokorotlo served as a national
symbol which celebrated Lesotho’s past with its post-protectorate national identity as an
independent nation. Basotho hats were worn for formal events and in everyday life. Today, the
Mokorotlo is Lesotho’s most enduring and popular symbol and craft, transforming it into an icon
of cultural symbolism beyond a popular fashion item (Rosenberg 49, 50). In prioritizing the
inclusion of information on Lesotho’s national symbol in narrative form and object presence, this
goal will be designed to equip the visitor with the cultural competence that results from
understanding the symbols critical to a culture’s identity.
Goal 12: Communicate the role and importance of music and dance in Basotho culture.
The communication goal regarding music will intend to present the viewer with an
understanding of traditional and modern Basotho music. In Sesotho, the term for music is ‘mino,
while songs are called lipina. Like western cultures, lipina are based upon a rhythmic framework
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(Wells 5). Music is a prevalent presence in all areas of Basotho life and culture. Regarding music
in Basotho culture, Sindile Moitse states:
Music among the Basotho has not only been perceived as a form of recreation utilized at
the time of leisure, but also as an integral part of their cultural practices whether during
the carrying out of work tasks or ceremonials. In this respect it could be said that music
for the Basotho cannot be viewed as a separate entity, divorced from other aspects of
culture, but rather as an integral part of it. (5)
Like music, according to author Robin E. Wells, “dance is an abiding passion for many Basotho.
It is through dance, especially communal dance, that Basotho most clearly express the
participation ethos so vital to amusement and aesthetic satisfaction” (8). Wells continues:
The urge to dance and an appreciation of rhythm is embedded in Sesotho consciousness
from infancy, where the to-and-fro rhythm of walking felt by a child carried upon a
mother’s back penetrates deep into his or her soul. (8)
To support this cultural passion, recordings will be featured of Basotho playing different lipina
utilizing traditional instruments. When relevant, dancing will be featured in the section’s
dedicated footage and presented information. This space will be open, with objects including
traditional instruments to compliment the sights and sounds of the interviews related to music
and dance along with material of singing and dancing.
Performance Objectives
To generate an immersive exhibition context, creating opportunities that allow visitors to
personalize their experiences will be prioritized within specific performance objectives. In
featuring the voices of Lesotho, these objectives will be designed to create a conducive learning
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environment within a setting that will encourage curiosity and play—behaviors consistent with
tourism and cultural integration. Graburn speaks of a play-like mentality found in travel and
play. He states this is a result of removing the individual from their accustomed environment and
changing the rules and expectations, like in games. On the similarities of travel and play, he
states:
While human play may lack the travel element of tourism, it shares the aspects of
removal from the normal rules, or limited duration and unique social relationships, and
the feeling of immersion and intensity … Like tourism, games are rituals which both
differ from and reinforce certain aspects of the structure and the values of everyday life.
(“Anthropology of Tourism” 15)
Dorothy Holland et al., speak of a transformative state in which play brings the participant into a
world of open-minded engagement. She states:
Play is the form of activity that proceeds in ignorance of any constitutive condition other
than a cultural and conventional design. It draws upon recognized genres of speech and
activity, but it takes the player beyond the immediate setting. Play happens ‘through’ the
world in which it is observably set. Its real setting is imaginary; it answers only to a
figured world. (236)
Historian Johan Huizinga claims play is older than culture. In introducing his book Homo
Ludens; A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, Huizinga states, “civilization arises and unfolds
in and as play.” He continues, “In play there is something ‘at play’ which transcends the
immediate needs of life and imparts meaning to the action. All play means something” (1).
Csikszentmihalyi, in describing his flow experience, states that people at play, particularly in
games, experience flow while the person is actively engaged in an environment that involves the
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physical, emotional, or intellectual (137). Objectives predicated in participation and play, within
a deliberate context, will ensure the visitor’s experience is exciting, engaging and, ultimately,
transformative. These behavioral proclivities reinforce the importance of participatory
experiences to convey the emotions and meanings in the collected Basotho narratives.
The foreigner interacting with a distant culture—like the museum goer—may use play-
like interactions to help familiarize themselves with the unfamiliar. Examples are games or
icebreaker activities that place people in a shared environment. Peace Corps addresses cultural
competence by presenting ideas for the PCV to engage with their host country. The Peace Corps
suggests to take “charge of your learning process” (32) and offers opportunities for self-directed
education such as using indigenous knowledge, learning about the history of the host country,
creating a map of the community, gaining local technical knowledge and various ways to
introduce oneself to the community they are attempting to integrate in (31). In being a learner, it
is significant to understand “your host community is a place of discovery—A place for
observing, experiencing, reflecting, drawing conclusions and applying lessons learned. Even
what you think you know about your technical field needs to be re-evaluated in the light of your
new cultural environment” (32). Connecting these sentiments within the exhibition framework,
Falk and Dierking state:
Exhibits should invite visitors to participate and become intellectually involved, let
visitors touch objects, manipulate machines, smell an environment, and hear sounds …
The combination of intellectual and physical involvement is the essence of an interactive
exhibit and the interactive museum. The interaction between museum and visitor should
not be limited to exhibits but should extend to the gift shop, food service, and all areas of
the museum. (142)
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To support the aforementioned considerations, objectives that avoid confusion and
engage the visitor in play-like situations that are simple to participate with will be proposed.
Exhibition designer and author Nina Simon states, “The best participatory experiences are not
wide open. They are scaffolded to help people feel comfortable engaging in the activity. There
are many ways to scaffold experiences without prescribing the result” (13). To create an optimal
environment, the Exploratorium in San Francisco uses a two-option framework consisting of
initial and prolonged engagement for the visitor. Sue Allen and Joshua Gutwill of San
Francisco’s Exploratorium describe the framework as follows:
By initial engagement, we mean the degree to which a visitor can determine how to
approach an exhibit and how to get started. By prolonged engagement, we mean the
degree to which an exhibit offers opportunities for sustained explorations, challenges, and
experimentation. We try to build our interactive exhibits, particularly those that showcase
interesting physical phenomena, to support both initial and prolonged engagement. (19)
In these performance objectives, play, engagement, and an immersive participation are intended
to maximize the exhibition experience. Through these objectives, the suggested environments are
designed to enhance the visitor experience to authentically present the cultural narratives of
Lesotho. In listing the performance objectives, and explicitly outlining them, the necessary
clarity to successfully immerse the visitor can be properly defined.
Performance Objective 1: Visitors will participate within a designed environment to listen to
traditional stories of Basotho culture.
In grasping the narratives of Lesotho’s culture, the visitor will be confronted with authentic story
experiences representational of Lesotho’s oral histories and traditions. To facilitate this goal, a
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story space would be created to connect the visitor with culturally significant traditional
anecdotes and folktales of Basotho culture. The room will possess an atmosphere of separation
from the rest of the exhibition to create the desired intimacy necessary to rouse the emotions of
visitors. To create this environment, symbols that are inherent to the human experience would be
integrated. One such symbolic element is fire. The use of fire—designed to emulate a campfire
within the exhibition—can trigger the storyteller in us all. Fire is relevant due to its history as it
connects to storytelling. As an example, approximately 400,00 years ago, the control of fire was
comprehended by humans. According to anthropologist Polly Wiessner, “Stories told by firelight
put listeners on the same emotional wavelength [and] elicited understanding, trust, and
sympathy” (Balter). Wiessner states that fire has had a profound impact on humans and the art of
narration:
A study of evening campfire conversations by the Ju/’hoan people of Namibia and
Botswana … suggests that by extending the day, fire allowed people to unleash their
imaginations and tell stories, rather than merely focus on mundane topics … campfires
allowed human ancestors to expand their minds … and also solidified social networks.
(Balter)
To further the mood of connectedness, the night sky will be represented above the room.
The ceiling will be illuminated to accurately depict the stars of the southern hemisphere—
specifically from the vantage point of Lesotho. In a possible method of representing this, a
technique utilizing hanging light bulbs of differing sizes and brightness will show the
constellations of the southern hemisphere. The stars accompanying the fire is a natural fit, as,
like fire, stars and the constellations have had an important role in human life for eons. Stars
35
served to pique our curiosity and to even create powerful narratives around them and their
mystery. As an example:
… the Khoisan … believe that long ago a time existed when there were no stars in the
heavens, and the sky was very dark. They believe that a young girl, who was lonely,
wanted to be able to visit other people so she threw the embers from a fire into the sky
and created the people who are the stars in the Milky Way. (Curnow 23)
These ageless elements are designed to enhance the efficacy of the culturally important and
traditional oral history stories of Basotho. A journey into Lesotho’s deep oral tradition as told by
Basotho.
Performance Objective 2: Visitors will hear stories of Basotho while interacting within an
environment emulating a taxi rank in Lesotho.
This performance objective intends to provide a forum for Basotho to reveal their authentic and
personal aspirations such as their dreams, passions, likes, dislikes, and ambitions. The
participatory experience intends to emulate a taxi rank in Lesotho to showcase a place of play,
activity, travel, and conversation. Within the aforementioned considerations, the proposal will
bring together ideas that challenge the museum goer in becoming further aware, concerned, and
inspired. A safe environment where the visitor will have the opportunity to feel less self-
absorbed by confronting challenges in an immersive space; like the right-of-passage tourist; like
the PCV. In short, presenting similar reverential benefits of integration without the difficult
logistics required by these two groups. Simulating a taxi rank in Lesotho, this participatory
experience will allow the viewer to sit in a modeled taxi and interact with varying interviews
collected specifically for this exhibition component—having many of the interviews collected
36
from taxi ranks around Lesotho. The design to facilitate this performance objective would be
within seats, simulating taxis, open on the side of entry. Each seat will be equipped with a small
screen. The stories will be designed to be autobiographical and contemporary. They will be short
features that combine edited portions of topic-related interviews including contemporary life,
home, school, and family. Concepts such as who they wish to be, and what they want the visitor
to know about them and their country. The opportunity to listen to a specific story will be
dictated by the visitor, as they will have the option to choose an available topic by interacting
with the screen. Sommer states the following about such experiences: “Ideas are exciting, and an
interest in asking people to discuss their memories, to learn about a particular time and place in
such an intimate and personal way, can be powerful” (34). Other stories will directly address
bias. As an example of bias that some may possess regarding Lesotho (and many African
nations), is in the fact that in 2016, the Kingdom of Lesotho possessed a 25% HIV / AIDS rate
(“World Health Organization”). This fact can project strong and distracting perceptions, that can
form powerful thoughts, compromising the visitor’s objectivity. Interacting with these oral
interviews, within the taxi context, is designed to enable the visitor to objectively interact with
powerful modern narratives.
Performance Objective 3: Visitors will have the opportunity to enter a rondavel, the traditional
home of Basotho.
Consistent with emulating the experience of the modal tourist, or adventure seeker, enabling the
visitor to enter a rondavel (see Fig. 7) will create the experience of the tourist traveling through a
foreign country and entering a host’s home. Of the houses in Lesotho, J.J. Guy, professor of
history, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa states:
37
In the rural villages the walls and doors of many houses are covered with colourful
painted designs. The villages themselves consist of clusters of circular or rectangular one-
room houses solidly built of turf, Kimberley brick (unburned clay), or dressed stone.
Traditionally, the roofs were thatched, but more-modern roofs are made of corrugated
iron, as they are in many other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
In providing the opportunity to enter a Basotho home, the opportunity to directly experience
cultural differences will be offered. An existing example similar to this objective is represented
in the Boston Children’s Museum. The Boston Children’s Museum features an exhibit of a
Japanese teahouse. In the exhibit, “Children remove their shoes to enter the space, decorated in
traditional fashion with tatami mats on the floor and moveable wall screens. The intent is to help
children appreciate cultural differences in a personal way through experience with the original
objects” (Alexander 173). This primary-source opportunity will offer the visitor the chance of
participating in an intimate experience and gain empathy, cultural understanding, and
appreciation of the Basotho lifestyle.
Performance Objective 4: Visitors will have an opportunity to eat Basotho food.
Coupled with the goal relating to music, this will be an opportunity for the visitor to eat
traditional Basotho foods. Within the proposed design of the exhibition (see Fig. 1), parked
outside the music section, a food truck would be available to order traditional dishes. Placed
adjacent to the food truck, offering a further option of a Basotho dining experience, will be a
braai stand. Museums and cultural institutions commonly pair exhibitions with related culinary
opportunities for the visitor. An example of a notable culinary experience is the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of the American Indian’s Mitsitam Café, featuring foods with connections to
38
American Indians. The café is named after the Delaware and Piscataway people’s word for “let’s
eat” (“National Museum of the American Indian”). To address inclusivity, the restaurant and
Executive Chef Richard Hetzler attempt to use ingredients from Native companies (Binkovitz).
While the Mitsitam Café is located within the museum space, the approach of this plan will use a
food truck to coincide with the flexibility of this proposal. Food trucks and museums have
become an increasingly common combination. One notable example is the Boyertown Museum
of Historic Vehicles, which hosts an annual food truck fair, featuring food trucks that are created
from classic vehicles—connecting the culinary experience to the museum’s content—from
which visitors can order their meals and snacks (“Food Truck”).
To address this goal, accompanying the food truck featuring traditional Basotho foods, a
Braai stand’s presence will represent an important element of Lesotho’s, and much of southern
Africa’s, modern culinary traditions. Braai, Afrikaans for barbecue, is a word that represents the
food of a braai gathering and the pastime itself. South African resident Jan Scannell, who goes
by the moniker “Jan Braai” states, “We have 11 official languages in South Africa, and braai is a
recognized word in every single one.” Scannell continues, “It's a great equalizer in South African
society. The wealthiest people braai with proper wooden fires and the poorest people braai with
proper wooden fires. It's a way of preparing food, but it's also a social gathering” (Byrne).
Basotho foods and braai will offer a competent culinary experience to supplement the
gastronomic tourists’ tastes in exploration and the discovery of different foods.
39
Performance Objective 5: Visitors will have the opportunity to enter the museum shop and
interact with objects and items related to the exhibition.
This objective will enable visitors to extend their didactic experience while perusing items and
objects related to Basotho culture in the exhibition’s shop. As museums evolve to be more visitor
focused, and expectations progress, it is crucial to present the full exhibition experience that the
visitor anticipates. With these advancements in expectations, a dedicated space for a museum
shop is recommended to complete the exhibition experience. Regarding the importance of
museum shops, Tanja Komarac et al., state, “The core service of museums (i.e., their collections,
objects) no longer suffices; visitors expect and demand much more, seeking a truly unique
experience.” As a result, visitors have come to expect the inclusion of restaurants and shops
within the museum visit (28). Regarding the value of a shop, Tony Kent states:
The shop is a recreational place but also one which supports informal learning through
the availability of explicitly and implicitly educational merchandise. It performs a
mediating role in which visitors can reflect on their museum visit, and informally
construct or re-construct their learning through personalized interaction with the products
and services. (75)
Recommended in the proposal’s shop would be, when possible, items made by Basotho
themselves. This would continue the immersive, post-colonial environment thematically infused
in the sections of the proposal. Having hand-crafted Basotho hats available for purchase is the
most poignant example of this. Additionally, the presence and sale of Basotho blankets would
foster the environment of continuous learning, as an assortment of the different styles and colors
could be featured. Small spiral aloe plants could be available to encourage the distribution of this
endangered plant and memorialize the exhibition. Plus, other handcrafts made by Basotho would
40
be present to continue the exhibition experience and prolong the interaction with objects related
to Lesotho and Basotho culture. Ultimately, the inclusion of available items would be dictated by
Basotho.
Performance Objective 6: Visitors will contribute their opinions of the exhibition by
participating in a summative evaluation.
Within the exhibition, an opportunity to provide feedback for the visitor would be essential to
measure the success of the exhibition proposal’s framework. A summative evaluation would
represent an opportunity for the visitor to reflect upon their learning experience and share their
criticisms and praises. McKenna-Cress and Kamien state “summative or remedial evaluation can
reveal things that simple nonstructural tweaks can improve for visitor experiences” (295). In
Serrell’s words, “By gathering feedback from exhibit users and comparing that information to
the desired outcomes, an evaluation can help you gauge if the exhibit is accomplishing your
goals” (“Exhibit Evaluation: What’s the Point”). Giving the visitor the opportunity to voice their
opinion, and how the experience aligned with their expectations, is a critical element in
understanding if the exhibition functioned as intended. Regarding evaluations, museum
professional David Dean states:
To evaluate exhibitions is to question their effectiveness and to learn from their successes
and failures. Learning and growing involve a continual process of evaluating, and
consciously or not, every exhibit planner is involved in evaluating the products. Yet,
deliberate evaluation is often neglected in exhibition planning. In fact, many museums
make no provision for gathering evidence as to whether their exhibition efforts are
41
successful or not. Whether they accomplish their goals is an unknow quantity, subject to
supposition rather than supportable evidence. (91)
A focus of the summative evaluation experience in this exhibition proposal will be the use of the
information collected from this objective to improve the proposed exhibition framework.
Maurice Davies and Christian Heath, in their assessment of summative evaluations, state that
evaluations can have little impact on the subject exhibition. They argue that this is not due to the
assessment itself. Opposed to errors in assessment methodologies, they state:
Rather, the organisational and institutional context in which summative evaluation is
commissioned, undertaken and received can impose contradictory demands and
undermine the opportunity of learning from and applying the findings of evaluation. (57)
In such a framework as the proposal recommends, criticisms and complications within the
exhibition could be addressed by remedial edits within the oral presentations and the furtherance
of interviews, videos, and the addition of objects that would address shortcomings that may be
popularly referenced as a weakness or criticism. In avoiding the lack of effectiveness of the
summative evaluation mentioned above, the actions created from visitor feedback would have to
be understood as a necessary step in accomplishing the expected standard of the exhibition
proposal.
Conclusion
In proposing a museum exhibition featuring the culture of Lesotho, the anticipated outcomes of
this museum experience are predicated on the visitor’s achievement of an authentic objectivity.
Through considerations of anthropologists, museum professionals, and organizations such as the
Peace Corps—that deal with cross-cultural literacy—these viewpoints can support an engaging
42
and inspiring exhibition experience fostering such an objectivity. To ensure focus and in dealing
with the limitations of the static museum context—compared to a dynamic journey, trip, or
adventure—specific goals that are able to guide the experience to success are crucial. Within the
listed goals, and their summaries of information, it is expected, through the proposed visitor
considerations and performance objectives, to create a learning environment where a visitor can
competently learn about Basotho culture. The primary objective is not to create an elaborate
framework with ostentatious presentations that reduce the authenticity of the subject matter. The
intent is to propose methodologies that support an environment that can distinctly represent the
culture and the voices that, perhaps, would be misrepresented or otherwise unheard. To do this,
the context requires the true representation of Basotho people to take the visitor to the core of the
culture’s narrative. This will result in an experience that reflects an authentic interpretation.
Given a visitor’s inherent subjectivity, interpretation can be challenging. Anthropologist Clifford
Geertz, discussing the importance of the interpretation of cultures, states:
A good interpretation of anything—a poem, a person, a history, a ritual, an institution, a
society—takes us into the heart of that of which it is interpretation. When it does not do
that, but leads us somewhere else—into an admiration of its own elegance, of its author’s
cleverness, or of the beauties of Euclidean order—it may have its intrinsic charms; but
something else than what the task at hand … calls for. (20)
To deal with this potential blunder, Basotho would be prominent collaborators throughout the
exhibition process. Primary-source information created from this collaboration would increase
the authenticity of the information and aid the visitor’s ability to interpret Basotho culture. This
method would present a truer representation and reduce the errs of interpretation.
43
Daniel J. Boorstin, in the book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, speaks
of museums centralizing collections to allow many people to experience otherwise distant
objects. Regarding this approach, he states, “Beautiful objects taken from scores of princely
residences, are crowded together for public display in the grandest of defunct palaces” (132).
Boorstin continues, “… to remove the tapestries designed for wall-covering in remote mansions
and hunting lodges, and spread them in the halls of centrally located museums—this was a great
convenience” (133). But this convenience, Boorstin argues, represents an inherent disservice to
the visitor. In offering a chance for the masses to see something outside of its intended
environment, something becomes lost. He adds:
All these things were being removed from their context. In a sense therefore, they were
all being misrepresented. Perhaps more was gained in the quantity of people who could
see them at all than was lost in the quality of the experience. That is not the question. The
effect on experience is plain and undeniable. (133)
Within a museum context, Boorstin states, “The impression of individual works of art or of a
country’s past culture as a whole, whenever it is formed from museum visits, is inevitably
factitious” (134). Geertz speaks of this same effect in writing about culture. He states:
In short, anthropological writings are themselves interpretations, and second and third
order ones to boot. (By definition, only a “native” makes first order ones: it’s his culture.)
They are, thus, fictions; fictions, in the sense that they are “something made,” “something
fashioned”—the original meaning of fictiō—not that they are false, unfactual, or merely
“as if” thought experiments. (17)
Given these considerations, the museum experience proposed in “Lesotho: Voices
Distant but Clear” faces stubborn realities and will inevitably fall short of the actual experience
44
of an extended stay in Lesotho. In critiquing this dilemma, Boorstin states “most museums have
this unreal, misrepresentative character” (135). With this understanding, the proposal intends to
represent the optimal cultural alternative. An experience where Basotho possess the authority of
the narratives and meanings of their culture through their own voices. However distant they are
from the exhibition; the proposed context will enable their voices to be represented and heard.
For the visitor, this should embody an immersive exhibition experience. If the facilitation of this
can be provided within an exhibition, and a visitor can walk away from the experience feeling an
authentic connectedness to Basotho people, through the exhibition’s framework, then the
exhibition proposal is capable of achieving success. An exhibition can offer genuine cultural
experiences when primary-source, first-person narratives are the driving force. Lesotho,
holistically, cannot simply be brought to a museum visitor. Yet the voices of the culture,
presented in an immersive and collaborative context, can offer a powerful and impactful
alternative.
45
Appendix A
Table 1 represents the recommended storyboard for the exhibition proposal. This table
showcases the eight sections of the proposal, with their respective subthemes, and highlights the
content of each section. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual floorplan, a possible layout that would
support the exhibition proposal. The proposed design utilizes two shipping containers to create a
mobile museum exhibition with moveable roofing over the exhibition area.
Table 1
Exhibition Proposal Storyboard
AREA / SUBTHEME CONTENT
GOALS /
PERFORMANCE
OBJECTIVES
Section 1: Orientation
Film
Orientation film and interviews featuring
history and preliminary information about
Basotho culture
Goal 1
Section 2: Welcome to
Lesotho
Subtheme: San Cave
Paintings
Images of San cave paintings, map of
Lesotho, select historical objects, interviews
on Bantu expansion
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Section 3: King
Moshoeshoe I
Basotho hat, coat of arms, flag, map of Thaba
Bosiu, objects relating to Moshoeshoe,
interviews on Moshoeshoe’s life and legacy
Goal 6
Goal 7
Goal 11
Section 4: Modern
Village
Objects representative of modern village, a
rondavel, Basotho blankets, spiral aloe,
Goal 8
Goal 9
Goal 10
46
Subthemes: Blankets,
Spiral Aloe, Rondavel
interview featuring elements of rural life in
Lesotho
Performance
Objective 3
Section 5: Story Room Fire and southern hemisphere constellations
above visitor featuring interviews of Basotho
recounting stories of cultural importance
Performance
Objective 1
Section 6: Taxi
Experience
Three interactive taxis for visitors to enter
and hear stories of contemporary Basotho and
access to other information on Lesotho
Performance
Objective 2
Section 7: Food and
Music
Subthemes: Food Truck,
Braai Stand, Evaluation
Traditional musical instruments and objects
representational of and relating to food and
diet. A food truck and braai stand for visitors
to be culinary tourists. Music and interviews
about music on section’s film, and a
summative evaluation space
Goal 12
Performance
Objective 4
Performance
Objective 6
Section 8: Museum Shop
A dedicated space for visitors to buy Basotho
hats, Basotho blankets, spiral aloe seedlings,
books, clothes, and other gift shop items
Performance
Objective 5
48
Appendix B
Fig. 2. Ha Baroana Cave Painting. World Pilgrimage Guide, sacredsites.com/africa/lesotho/
ha_baroana_cave_paintings.html. Accessed 18 July 2020.
49
Fig. 3. Lesotho Physical Map. Freeworldmaps.net, www.freeworldmaps.net/africa/Lesotho/
map.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
50
Fig. 4. Hat. The British Museum, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2011-2030-2.
Accessed 14 Sept. 2020.
51
Fig. 5. Flag of Lesotho. Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Lesotho. Accessed 8 Oct.
2020.
52
Fig. 6. Coin. The British Museum, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2001-0206-230.
Accessed 13 Sept. 2020.
53
Fig. 7. Rondavel, Ha Nkune, Thaba Tseka, Lesotho. Kenneth Tucceri, Personal photograph. 3
Sept. 2019.
54
Fig. 8. Aloe Polyphylla. British Cactus and Succulent Society. Pinterest, www.pinterest.com
.mx/pin/466544842643861340/?nic_v2=1a1aw9KP6. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.
55
Fig. 9. The Spiral Aloe. Succulent City, succulentcity.com/twisted-succulent-spiral-aloe-
polyphylla. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.
56
Fig. 10. Kharetsa. The British Museum, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2012-2018-
6. Accessed 2 Sept. 2020.
57
Fig. 11. Moshoeshoe I. The British Museum, www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2013-
2009-1. Accessed 2 Sept. 2020.
58
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