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A New Inscription for Rhodes House

Elleke Boehmer (South Africa-at-Large & St John’s 1985) is Professor of World Literature in English at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College. She is also a Rhodes Trustee. Here, she shares the journey that led to a new parapet inscription at Rhodes House.

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Not long after the ‘Big Build’ project began at Rhodes House, our LEI advisory groups saw a clear opportunity for some physical acknowledgement of the history of the Rhodes Trust in Africa, and hence also of the origins of the Rhodes Trust’s wealth. We chose to make this acknowledgement in the form of a new parapet inscription at Rhodes House.

Across many conversations with Rhodes Scholars, Rhodes Trustees and other interested people located worldwide, across time zones and generations, we agreed the wording: ‘Remembering and honouring in our work those who suffered and laboured to generate this wealth’. We also came to agreement that the language of the inscription should not be English. Though English is the global language, it is also a colonial language, and one through which many cultures and languages worldwide have felt excluded.

The language we chose was ǀxam, which is tied to the South African region whose history was profoundly shaped by Cecil Rhodes and where he lived and died. Khoekhoegowab and other languages of northern South Africa, southern Namibia and Botswana, still spoken today, share complicated histories with ǀxam. The language lives on in the work of several leading South African authors and is found in the motto on the South African coat-of-arms, which translates as ‘diverse people unite’.

But how were we to translate our chosen wording into ǀxam? Step forward DPhil student Luan Staphorst, who had taught himself ǀxam for research purposes, and who generously agreed to lead the translation work in close consultation with South African linguists Menán du Plessis and Kerry Jones. Luan and I were able to travel to the Northern Cape in 2024 to meet with community elders and experts in Nǀuu (Nǀhuki) – a language related to ǀxam – Ouma Katrina Esau and her granddaughter Claudia du Plessis. They were broadly encouraging of the project and helped us to fine-tune aspects of the translation.

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Professor Elleke Boehmer and Luan Staphorst at the parapet during carving work in January 2025.

In crafting the wording and translation, the context of the inscription was always present to us. The ǀxam inscription was carved in January 2025 by UK stone mason Fergus Wessel, who works in response to the longstanding English Arts and Crafts tradition that also inspired Herbert Baker, the architect of Rhodes House. It sits parallel to and below the original parapet of Rhodes House bearing a Latin inscription which translates as, ‘This house stands forever as a reminder to the Oxford he loved of the name and example of Cecil Rhodes’. Like ǀxam, Latin is now a sleeping language. Two nearby stones give translations of the parallel inscriptions.

Our hope is that this new acknowledgement inscription will open conversations, as well as serving as a reminder to all who use this space of how it came about and the complications and challenges presented by our history.

‘Si-ta dĩken ǀku a, ha ǀku-g ǀne ǀka:ti ǁkx'ã̰̄ ki ǂĩ ǃke ē ǀne loep dī ǃxū a a, au hi-ta tang, hing koa hi-ta ta̰ba a ǀgīya, ĩ̄’

Listen to Luan Staphorst, doctoral student and former Mandela Rhodes Scholar, read the ǀxam inscription.

The inscription translates to: 'Remembering and honouring in our work those who suffered and laboured to generate this wealth.'

‘DOMUS HAEC NOMEN ET EXEMPLUM CECILI IOHANNIS RHODES OXONIAE QUAM DILEXIT IN PERPETUUM COMMENDAT’

Listen to Dr Jonathan Katz, Oxford University’s Public Orator, read the Latin inscription.

The inscription translates to: 'This house stands for ever as a reminder to the Oxford he loved of the name and example of Cecil John Rhodes.'

Acknowledgement Carving in |xam Dedicated at Rhodes House Gathering

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The Rhodes community gathered for a dedication of the new parapet inscription in the southern African language |xam, acknowledging the origins of the Trust's wealth.

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Africa’s ‘sleeping’ language, |xam, has been written in stone at Oxford university

Rhodes House Sculpture DSC09070

The ǀxam language has been carved into a new building at Rhodes House to honour the labour and suffering of Africans during colonialism.

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