While conceptualizing my African Philosophy module yesterday, I mulled over the imagery of work in the field. In contrast to full body sculptures of the Aristotles, Socrates and Humes in positions of reckoning, we have our traditional masks, many of which were used in rituals in the yesteryear. Whether sculpture or mask, the image of philosophy is not feminist. I thought of the importance of the head in grasping concepts, and while at it remembered the Dimile Feni drawing on the cover of the @penguinbookssouthafrica reprint of Sol Plaatjie's Mhudi. Mhudi, published in 1930, is one of the first published African novels and the first novel by a black African to be published in English. Dumile Feni was a contemporary visual artist, who lived in exile and extreme poverty for most of his life. Feni's work often depicted the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, an activist now perhaps most famous for the sculpture at the door of the Constitutional Court. Nk came home last night and asked me where we are from. "Who are our people?", he asked. "My teacher says that we are from Botswana." Because I've asked my grandmother this question many times, but also because I've read Mhudi, I was able to interject his misinformation. I told him about Mzilikazi, about the Bechuana, the battle for land and power and how we Basotho ba Motaung ended up in Bechuana land. I used Phelello's Sankomota to give him an example of migration. I told him about how we made home in Bechuanaland, speaking the language and mixing with the locals. About how fluid identity is, especially now that we have options. I finished feeling like I had done well to have read those books, to have had those conversations. To understand fully what you pass on is important to me, an emphasis on the acquisition of life skills along with the subject matter. This is why I've chosen to use the Platypus learning technique to enhance my own learning, to teach while I learn, not because I'm good at it, but because shared knowledge deepens understanding. As for Feni, his drawing of a female head will highlight my course. #imagecredit: @mido_reads https://www.instagram.com/p/B3tbrmyjg3o/?igshid=1mwj3cum9juc0