Taking the The Impact of Colonial History on Design into Context

Introduction

Following the first #FeesMustFall marches in 2015, the topic of decolonisation exploded from philosophy lecture halls into the media, classrooms and households around the globe. An aged concept, the resurgence of the topic proved that addressing the effects colonial rule requires not only a shift in policy, but a comprehensive lifestyle and mindset adaptation.

This essay will argue that colonial history and impact is a fundamental issue to take into consideration when discerning a design problem and/or solution, so as to comprehensively address the needs of a target market in an inclusive manner. The necessity of colonial context will be investigated through case study and comparison.

Colonial History

A historical occurrence, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines decolonisation as the withdrawal of a foreign state from its colony, leaving it independent. Interest in this topic is especially high amongst people from colonised backgrounds. As such, it should be taken that the process of decolonisation can only occur in regions that have fallen under colonial rule. (Goody, 1982)

During the era of discovery and the European expansion in the late 1400s, European powers set out to explore and conquer the unknown world, so as to increase their wealth and land capital, most of Europe having being established into several sovereign states. This signified the beginning of globalisation under European rule, with the occupants of the newfound territories being coerced into European rule, unable to resist. (Rana, 2008)

The colonisation discourse therefore implicates Africa, Asia and the Americas, regions which were most impacted by colonisation (May, 1999). It also implicates Europe and its descendants, as the direct cause and beneficiaries of the consequences of colonisation.

The impact of colonisation

The process of colonisation involved the subjugation of the colonised people. This subjugation came in the form of slavery indigenous, the dispossession of land from indigenous people, the imposition of European ideologies and beliefs and in the most extreme forms, the systematic genocide of indigenous populations which did not co-operate.(May, 1999)

Indigenous societies where restructured to the likings of European settlers, with culture being ignored as uncivilised. The resources of these lands were claimed as European possession and religious and cultural artefacts heralded as academic treasures, to be displayed as the rewards of Europe’s archeological exploits. (May, 1999)

The physical impact of colonisation remained even after the dissolution of colonial rule over the twentieth century. African and Asian countries were left stripped of their mineral resources and torn apart by religious and civil wars, while the remaining Native American and Aborigine populations were herded into reservations, some of which still have not outlawed hunting of these peoples.

South African as a Colony: A brief overview

South Africa stands an outlier in the post-colonial world. It is the only territory whose decolonisation did not trigger a general exodus by the European settlers. Similar to the United States, European settlers in South Africa demanded that control of the territory be handed down from the British Crown to the established Government at the dissolution of the British Empire. It differed from other British colonies in that the land and authority was not returned to the natives, the way it had been in most of Africa and Asia. That marked decision resulted in the concentration of European descendants in South Africa.

The consequences of colonial rule prevailed, particularly in segregation and asset ownership. People in the newly established Republic of South Africa were divided on basis of race, Apartheid policy from before remaining intact, intentionally placing native Africans at a disadvantage. The end of Apartheid was followed by a democratic election and reconciliation process, which made South Africa stand out as a country that would co-operate with its former oppressors. The white population presence coupled with the tense peace that followed allowed for South Africa to remain as leading African country, with South Africa’s human rights ideals aligning largely with those of the West and the United Nations.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a process created to address the legacy of Apartheid and offer an opportunity for victims and oppressors to publicly declare their actions and consequences, and in some cases, be pardoned. It was the intention of the TRC to heal the wounds and divides of the nation by bringing the opposing sides together, and in the short term, seemed to be effective. The TRC would eventually prove to be ineffective and problematic as it brushed of the economic and social consequences of apartheid, consequences that would only come to light as government failed to address the massive needs of the newly liberated non-white population. (history.com Staff)Colonial Context in Design

When one begins a design process, the aim is often to address the target market of the proposed solution — the people who struggle with that problem or have that need. The other aspect taken into into account is the resource & production viability and the earning potential of the solution once presented to the public.

In local situations, target markets are normally discerned by age and gender. That identifies the first reason why colonial context is critical in defining a design solution:

Retail and Post Colonial Population Placement

In 2018, South Africa’s population sits at an estimated 57 million. Of this 57 million, only 4,8 million is white, compared to the 45,7 million blacks. As a direct consequence of Apartheid, many blacks live in townships outside city centres, suburbs and economic hubs.(Worldpopulationreview.com, 2018)

Retailers take into account the into account the needs of the different ethnicities of consumers. The needs of white consumers differ from the product choices of black consumers. As a typical example, one can consider the hair products that the different racial groups use. The texture of African hair and European hair are polar opposites, and have unique care regimens. As such, hair products that address the needs of the white and non-white consumer have to be developed and made available.

Retailers consider the ethnicity of the target market of a product when planning their product placement and distribution. Hair products which cater to European hair will not do well in a retail environment where the majority of consumers black. This problem is addressed in two major ways:

• Product distribution - Products targeting African consumers are distributed to points of sales that cater to a primarily black demographic. When taking the regional context into consideration, the distribution line will be designed in such a way that township retailers are supplied with more black-targeted products than white targeted products, to reflect the historical placement of black people in townships.

• Marketing - black targeted products are marketed much more heavily than Eurocentric products in areas densely populated by black people. These areas would include townships, rural settlements and CBDs.

Shoprite is one such retailer that operates on such a model. As a retailer, it's marketing strategy revolves around their cheap pricing but world class shopping experience. It caters to all income levels, being the most popular food retailer in South Africa for several years running. Shoprite’s low price points make it an attractive store for consumer who live in townships, as it accommodates the low income typical of township residents. (Chutel, 2018)

In order to further its cheap pricing strategy, Shoprite designed a store layout that would be even cheaper to maintain than its regular shopping experience, under its USave chain. By simplifying the in-store branding and retailing only products and brands popular and accessible to specific demographics, Shoprite USave has gained traction with township and rural residents as the cheapest. The target market of USave is the black South African, as they are the majority residents in the locations they cater to (Chutel, 2018). USave also allows Shoprite to compete against rising food retailers liker Boxer Superstore and Cambridge Foods, whose entire strategy is serving the township community.

The clothing retail chain PEP also places itself into the context of the lower income population and the residential areas they are likely to occupy. PEP stores are a typical member of many shopping centres, but are notably absent in extremely large malls and shopping centres located in upmarket areas, such as Pretoria East’s Menlyn, Sandton City and Mall of Africa (Brooks, 2015). PEP retails extremely cheap, below average quality garments, serving at the lower-income end of South Africa’s fast fashion spectrum. (Douglas, 2018)

Sustainability in the colonial context

As a direct consequence of its colonial history, the majority of South Africans work in low income jobs. South Africa, like most of Africa, is a mineral rich land. The mining industry grew quickly after the Gold and Diamond rush, and the fertile land and diverse climates growing South Africa’s agricultural industry. Black South Africans were seen as a physical labour source, their education stunted by the administration of Bantu Education during apartheid, which equipped blacks for jobs as menial labourers, rather than skilled roles. That system of education affected those who studied it during school, keeping many of them from jobs that required specific or advanced skills, which pay more. (Loomans, 2014)

In order to get by on their pay, black South Africans stretch their salaries or wages across food, clothing, accommodation , etc. One of the ways in which to do this is by shopping at retailers like PEP, who offer the cheapest clothing. By this, black South Africans are one of the largest consumers of fast fashion, repetitively buying cheap clothing and replacing it months later because it addresses the clothing need faster than it would be addressed if one was to save. Fast fashion becomes a difficult topic to introduce into conversation of sustainability amongst black South Africans.

Purchasing garments of a higher quality is simply an unaffordable exercise for most black South Africans. The fast fashion industry itself decimated South Africa’s clothing manufacturing industry, as most retailers moved to source their labour from Asian countries as it would be cheaper. That has created a situation where the clothing lifecycle of most clothing in South Africa is surpassed by the retail cycle and need for clothing. It leaves poorer black consumers unable to effectively participate in moves to reduce the impact of fast fashion (Morgan, 2015).

Local retailers do not take this into context, designing new clothes at a rate that meets the demands of the consumer to be up-to-date with the trends observed in first world countries. The speed at which trends evolve also impacts the fashion design industry, as fast fashion is in part an attempt to mimic luxury brands at an affordable and mass level. Often, fast fashion designers do not consider the context of a trend and produce it with less research and thought than the original. This has been revealed in the growing conversation about appropriation and cultural insensitivity, a major element in the context of post-colonial society.

Beauty and fashion in a post-colonial society

As the last of the millennial generation begins to join the work force, celebrating diversity has become an issue of paramount. With the dispensation of Equal Opportunity Employment programs and BBBEE, more black people are joining the work force as skilled graduates, with a larger disposable income. Initially, there existed a culture amongst black people to display their wealth and success, which was measured against Eurocentric standards of success. Weaves, skin lightening products, foreign fashion brands and Eurocentric style food have been used as markers of wealth amongst black people. This culture developed as a means of meeting the colonial standards of wealth, presenting oneself in a way as similar as possible to the white people who had previously been the only patrons of upmarket services. (Gardee, 2016)

Following movements which highlighted the plight of non-whites in a post-colonial world, there has been a resurgence of pride amongst peoples. Movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #FeesMustFall highlighted the fact that black people still face issues that generally do not affect white people, and the discrimination blacks still face from white people who maintain the mindset put forth and how this affects black people, as white people hold the managing and recruitment power in most industries (Gardee, 2016). While those movements appeared as a means to address issues that still affect black people, the response by more conservative white groups revealed to the post apartheid generation a lingering sense of white supremacy. This has fuelled a culture of taking pride in black identity. This culture of pride has impacted the fashion industry, calling for greater representation and empathy in design. (Heleta, 2016)

Fashion and beauty houses are being held accountable for the products and designs they produce. Marc Jacobs SS17 collection came under fire for styling white models with dreadlocks (Cadogan, 2018). This brought into question the standards of beauty black people are expected to attain.

Marc Jacobs SS17

Appearing as Eurocentric as possible in appearance, from hair, to skin tone and clothing's been a boundary for black people to get employment, an issue that has its roots in the colonial ideals of European characteristics being beautiful, while markers of blackness are undesirable. Beauty and fashion houses, which are interrelated are now expected to take the impact of colonial rule on beauty standards and take measures to normalise non-white beauty ideals and styles, rectifying the association of styles like dreadlocks and braids, and darker skin tones as ghetto and unprofessional. (Giscombe, 2010)

This expands onto the runway as increasing the ratio of black to white models has been placed as a priority issue (Tai 2017), being pressed by publications and institutes dedicated to addressing the self-esteem of black people in the post-colonial society. Black models have criticised fashion designers for not taking their body and hair needs into account when planning shows. There has been a lack of beauty specialists with the skills to style black hair and make-up at shows, resulting in black models walking the show with poorly done hair and make-up.(Mack'Johnson, 2017)

Inclusion has also been discussed in the colonial context, as a tenet of colonisation was exclude non-white people from quality services. The colour ‘nude’ has been adapted by some fashion designers, who have noted that a white person’s ‘nude’ is not the same as ‘nude’ for black people. When designing nude ranges, designers have to be aware of the colonial context of skin tones and design to include darker skin tones, to accommodate a largely underserved black market. (Phanor-Faury, 2017)

Appropriation in post-colonial society

A consequence of apartheid was a general suppression and dislike of African cultures and iconography. Up until recently, African styles and designs have been dismissed as undesirable, by black and white people, with exceptions being when the culture is used as an inspiration in fashion design and beauty, normally by a major European or American brand.

Fashion houses have been accused of appropriating traditional and culturally significant clothing, which normally would earn disapproval as being unprofessional. These styles are generally considered edgier and groundbreaking when worn by white people. Taking into context the colonial views on cultural attire, some fashion houses have brought in designers from specific cultural backgrounds to design ranges inspired by these cultures. By employing someone of expertise in the culture, the fashion brand avoids cultural insensitivity that may occur as a result of the misplacement of cultural iconography. This solution to design insensitivity is only partial, and extends to the responsibility of designers in addressing the colonial perception beauty and fashion. (Tai 2017)

This solution is comprehensive if it takes into account marketing and merchandising strategy of the range. Selecting an ethnically diverse group of models for a campaign is critical to this kind of solution. Styling the models so that explicitly african styles are on african models and less African inspired clothing is on non-black models reaffirms the notion that black design is just as professional or beautiful. The onus is also placed on magazines and editorial publishers in ensuring that they have publications with diverse representation.

Representation plays a major role in addressing the colonial mindset of South Africa. As a majority black country, moving to be inclusive of black people in design has proven to be lucrative action in design, as black people represent a major market gap.

Conclusion

From the cases explored, it can be deduced that an individual’s post-colonial mentality affects their perception a product or design, which in turn, affects how a brand performs with a particular market. Brands that are inclusive have the advantage of attracting a broader more loyal market, while brands that design without assessing the colonial context risk offending and ultimately ostracising their target market. It reiterates the importance of colonial context when predicting product perception and designing appropriately.