Monuments of power
Subtitle: the North Korean origin of nationalist monuments in Namibia and Zimbabwe
By: Tycho van der Hoog
Series: African studies collection -- 74
Publisher: African Studies Centre Leiden
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Leiden
Language: eng
Number of pages: 86
ISBN-13: 9789054481775
Subjects: Namibia; Zimbabwe; North Korea; Monuments; Nationalism; Heroes; National liberation movements; Socialism; Historiography
Description: Scattered across southern Africa, impressive North Korean monuments celebrate the rise of young, independent nations. Freed from the shackles of colonialism or white settler rule, many southern African states are loyal customers of the North Korean state-owned enterprise Mansudae Art Studio, a firm responsible for the propaganda of the reigning Kim dynasty. In an extraordinary fashion, this mode of Afro-DPRK cooperation merges African nationalism with North Korean socialist realism. Monuments of Power compares the National Heroes’ Acres of Namibia and Zimbabwe to the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery in North Korea, thus providing a window to explore the largely unknown support offered by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to African liberation movements. This historical background is paramount to understand the influence of the DPRK on post-colonial public history in Africa.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 74-79) and notes.