Culture of graffiti slowly gaining ground!

Ike Vavi
Correspondent | Friday February 4, 2011 00:00

This culture is slowly gaining ground in Botswana society. Spray markings that commonly appear on road signs and culverts bear testimony to the presence of this culture in our society. To an ordinary man such markings would not make sense and can be quickly dismissed as a source of irritation. For the authors of such writings however, a rich meaning and message lies hidden.Ali Baleseng argues that, 'This is now becoming a common sight in our society, mostly among the youth. This is a typical example of the extent to which our culture has been displaced by foreign cultures through the process of cultural diffusion. This culture of graffiti is now the in-thing in so far as the youth are concerned.'

He contends that this graffiti culture is intertwined with culture of gangsters. 'Normally a gang will use some form of graffiti to express its presence or influence in a society. The gangs announce their presence in this manner in a territory. The graffiti culture may be a testimony to the fact that our youth are slowly but surely adopting a culture of gangsters. It is evidence of the presence and operations of gangs amongst our youth,' he explains.

Chose Zulu is of the view that this is a copied behaviour, mostly from films and music that today's youth listen to.

'Initially the influence of such films and music was demonstrated through the wearing of oversize clothes in the form of jeans and shirts, the caps that would be slanted to one side, untied expensive boots and sports shoes.

Now this has evolved into the graffiti culture,' he explains.

He is however worried by the acts of vandalism that characterises this new 'culture'.

'The only disappointing issue is the fact that they are now destroying public property in the form of road signs that have been erected for communication purposes. They can also make the area look ugly with their writings. They at times paint these writings on other people's private property, which is unfair,' he argues. 

A Form Five student, Thato, as he prefers to be identified, says that, 'The presence of any graffiti in any area is a testimony to the fact that there are indeed gangs in the area. At times this is done as a way of expressing the rivalry that exists between rival gangs in an area.' He continues: 'One gang can actually go and engrave whatever message it wants to convey to the other rival group in that group's territory or backyard. This may be done as a way of provocation that at times leads to direct and violent confrontations.'

He concurs with the view that,' this is a new form of challenge to the society. Society must find a way of ensuring that the youth stay away from gangs and their resultant negative consequences. It is an issue to be attended to as a matter of urgency lest our young generation turns into a fully fledged violent society.'

He reveals that in schools, graffiti is used by the students as a communication tool, or platform, to express their anger and frustrations about certain things in the school environment.

'This explains why in most cases vulgar language is used, with the intention to insult certain members of the teaching fraternity. At times such writings are used more as warning bells or signs to the school authorities about the students' dissatisfaction about certain issues or a symptom of the breakdown of the interpersonal relations between the students and either the teachers or the school administration,' he says.

He also says the presence of graffiti on school walls might also signal the presence of gangs in the school environment. 'Graffiti on the school walls may provide an insight into the operations of gangs in the school. If interpreted wisely, they might provide the school with the opportunity to deal with those gangs or at least destabilise their operations in the school. Such graffiti should not therefore be treated as mere insults but need to be seriously interrogated to get the meaning behind them,' he explains. 

Psychology and Sociology lecturer at the Institute of Health Sciences (HIS) in Francistown, Anita Lebengo says that, 'Graffiti is mainly the way in which today's youth may choose to express or vent out their frustrations. In addition to being a communication tool, it can also be used as an attention-seeking mechanism.'

She also explains that, 'At times the graffiti is used by boys to mark their territory. This is because most of this will have signs that are peculiar to each group. Members of rival groups will be able to make sense of such writings although the same writing might not make sense to other people. This is merely one of the adopted cultural traits that our youth have embraced.'