Taming the landscape
the multifaceted legacy of mission station infrastructure in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
A.M. Hauff (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Birgitte Hansen – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
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Abstract
There is a lack of research into how the proliferation of the mission station became part of the tangible colonial infrastructure (road, rail and military networks) which crept into the African landscape. Importantly, Frescura (1985, 2015, 2021) lays the groundwork for this by documenting the multitude of mission stations within the South African landscape, as well as their impact on the societies in which they were established. This research aims to close this gap by pulling together the establishment of mission stations in the Eastern Cape and their relationship to other functions such as healthcare and education. These relationships were precursors to the subsequent expansion of the British colonial empire. The sequential chain of mission infrastructure spaces and buildings are explained through maps constructed by the author, archival photographs and drawing analysis. The data depicts a range of infrastructure networks, from broader transport/logistical and governmental infrastructure to spaces of exchange (what is happening in an individual classroom at a granular level). This essay further explores the repercussions of this infrastructure history on the present day education system in the former Transkei/Ciskei regions in the Eastern Cape.