Unearthing living memory: from displacement to place making in 'Konstansie'

Essack, Inayah

Unearthing living memory: from displacement to place making in 'Konstansie'

Thesis / Dissertation

2024

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Abstract

The Constantia Valley, situated south of Cape Town holds fragmented remnants of the communities who were displaced by the apartheid regime. The historical context of forced removals has left a lasting mark on the fabric of what was once Konstansie and the traces it now holds of injustice and the disruption of livelihoods and identities. The history of cut flower cultivation in Constantia and selling particularly along Adderley Street, holds symbolic significance within the broader narrative of Cape Town's history, navigating colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid contexts to maintain space and resources. The Constantia Valley Jaftha's flower farm, Strawberry lane along which the community lived and farmed, Spaanschemat River Muslim Cemetery and Islam Hill are some of the last echoes of Konstansie. The flower farm still cultivates and preserves old plant species, unlocking insight into metaphors and histories of colonialism and ecology. Landscape forms, shaped by traditional farming typologies and historic planting intertwined with the river, serve as vessels of memory, preserving the cultural and ecological heritage of Konstansie. This thesis interrogates how the historical narratives embedded in the J aftha flower farm, can be extended along the Spaanschemat river and Strawberry lane. Protected heirloom seeds serve as vessels for alternative narratives where growth and storytelling are intertwined. The act of collection and banking, allows for memory to be gathered where seeds become repositories genetic and cultural memory, serving as tangible connections to historical lived experience and embodying the evolution of the relationship between humans and plants and humans and the land where objects become sites of memory. The regenerative and resilient qualities of seeds are intrinsically tied to a specific sense of place and locality, protected by their keepers. This protection of agricultural genetic diversity emphasises the value of micro scale interventions as agents of conservation through unacknowledged agricultural practices. By stewarding and working these landscapes the community conserves ecological integrity while celebrating the living memory of ingenuity and cultural identity. Through a combination of archival enquiry, community engagement and spatial analysis, this research aims to uncover the lived experiences and cultural significance of the Cape Town flower farmers and sellers. By interrogation of the complex dynamics of displacement and marginalisation, this research explores how spatial intervention could aid in place making, commemoration, cultivating a sense of place, establish a visible collective identity and foster reconciliation within a post-apartheid context.