During the design work for the redevelopment of Rhodes House in 2021-23, an opportunity was identified to create a stone parapet on the south facade which could accept a text inscription. As part of a much broader set of themes and issues, the Trust’s Legacy, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Groups were asked to consider this aspect of acknowledgement. Following broad consulation within and beyond the Rhodes community, a proposal was approved by the Board of Trustees that an inscription be carved in the southern African language |xam, which translates as:
Remembering and honouring in our work those who suffered and laboured to generate this wealth
The carving was carried out in January 2025 by Oxfordshire stonemason Fergus Wessel. It sits at eye level to those walking in the gardens of Rhodes House, and in sight of the Latin inscription on the House’s original parapet, which reads, "This house stands for ever as a reminder to the Oxford he loved of the name and example of Cecil John Rhodes."
Trustee and Rhodes Scholar Professor Elleke Boehmer led on the language and translation work required for the new inscription, and the dedicated and fastidious support of Oxford postgraduate student Luan Staphorst was critical to its accuracy. Together they visited the Kalahari to consult with community leaders who are speakers of the related language N|uu about the use of the now sleeping language |xam in this context. Their reflections on this trip and the process of agreeing and enacting the carving have been published in an article in The Conversation.