7. District Six Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Last but not least, the District Six Museum exists to honour a vibrant community of freed enslaved people, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants who were forcibly removed from their Cape Town district to “barren outlying areas” during Apartheid, and their homes destroyed. The museum, which opened in 1994 in a Methodist church within the site of removal, centres on the recollections of the former District Six residents, explains Tina Smith, head of exhibitions. “Our permanent exhibition, Digging Deeper, demands visitors to connect with the District Six residents’ stories using all of their senses. We’re a memory-driven museum, not an object-driven one.”
In the 2000s, the museum expanded to incorporate the District Six Museum Homecoming Centre, where conferences and educational seminars are held, as well as a programme of events. This includes a number of artist collaborations – most recently a celebratory dance production dedicated to Johaar Mosaval, a District-Six-born ballet dancer who went on to become a principal performer with Britain’s Royal Ballet. “We work with people and organisations all over the world,” Smith says, demonstrating the power of a hyperlocal endeavour to resonate on a global scale. “We had no idea we would have this reach; we’ve become a broader platform to rally around basic human rights, around issues of land, of gender, class, identity politics – all of which are still so important and relevant.”
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