History after Apartheid

Coombes Annie E. Coombes

Description

The democratic election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994 marked the demise of apartheid and the beginning of a new struggle to define the nation's past. History after Apartheid analyzes how, in the midst of the momentous shift to an inclusive democracy, South Africa's visual and material culture represented the past while at the same time contributing to the process of social transformation. Considering attempts to invent and recover historical icons and narratives, art historian Annie E. Coombes examines how strategies for embodying different models of historical knowledge and experience are negotiated in public culture-in monuments, museums, and contemporary fine art.History after Apartheid explores the dilemmas posed by a wide range of visual and material culture including key South African heritage sites. How prominent should Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress be in the museum at the infamous political prison on Robben Island? How should the postapartheid government deal with the Voortrekker Monument mythologizing the Boer Trek of 1838? Coombes highlights the contradictory investment in these sites among competing constituencies and the tensions involved in the rush to produce new histories for the "new" South Africa.She reveals how artists and museum officials struggled to adequately represent painful and difficult histories ignored or disavowed under apartheid, including slavery, homelessness, and the attempted destruction of KhoiSan hunter-gatherers. Describing how contemporary South African artists address historical memory and the ambiguities uncovered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Coombes illuminates a body of work dedicated to the struggle to simultaneously remember the past and move forward into the future.

Sujets

• Republic of South Africa
• History of art
• South Africa
• History of Africa
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 24 novembre 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822384922
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

History after Apartheid

  

    

    

Annie E. Coombes

Duke University Press Durham & London 

©  Annie E. Coombes

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of

America on acid-free paper 

Designed by C. H. Westmoreland

Typeset in Scala by Tseng Information

Systems, Inc.

The right of Annie E. Coombes to

be identified as the author of this work

has been asserted by her in accordance

with the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act of .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coombes, Annie E.

History after apartheid : visual culture and public memory

in a democratic South Africa / Annie E. Coombes.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

--- (alk. paper) —

--- (pbk. : alk. paper)

. Monuments—South Africa. . Historic Sites—Interpretive

programs—South Africa. . Historical museums—South

Africa. . Memory—Social aspects—South Africa. . Art, South

African—th century. . Politics in art—South Africa.

. South Africa—Cultural policy. . Post-apartheid—South

Africa. . Anti-Apartheid movements—South Africa. . South

Africa—Race relations. . South Africa—History—–

I. Title.

. 

.'—dc



For Nicholas Thomas, who brings me joy.

And in memory of Fiona Coombes (–),

who had an angry young sister for most of her

life but persisted in loving me anyway.



List of Illustrationsix

Acknowledgmentsxiii

List of Abbreviations

xvii

Introduction: Making History Memorable 

1Translating the Past: Apartheid Monuments in

Postapartheid South Africa 

2Robben Island: Site of Memory / Site of Nation 

3District Six: The Archaeology of Memory

4New Histories for Old: Museological Strategies

5What’s in a Name? The Place of ‘‘Ethnicity’’ in

the ‘‘New’’ South Africa 

6New Subjectivities for the New Nation

Epilogue: Changing Places 

Notes

Bibliography

Index



.Front cover ofThe Editor. .Bust of J. G. Strijdom in Strijdom Square, Pretoria.  .Penny Siopis, poster for ‘‘Myths, Monuments, Museums’’ conference. .Zapiro,Boerassic Park. .Maquette for projected statue of President Mandela’s fist. .Zapiro,Urban Handscape. .Crowd in Voortrekker costume at the inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument, December .  .Bird’s-eye view of the inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument.  .Voortrekker Monument prior to the  elections.  .Detail of the marbled interior and a section of the frieze inside the Voortrekker Monument.  .Tokyo Sexwale in front of a panel from the frieze at the Voortrekker Monument.  .Tokyo Sexwale opening the gates to the Voortrekker Monument.  .‘‘Dina—Loslyf’s Indigenous Flower of the Month.’’  .‘‘Dina’’ with the statue of Andries Hendrik Potgieter in the background. .Boer mother and children, Voortrekker Monument. .Taalmonument.  .Voortrekker Monument souvenirs. .Display case at the entrance to ‘‘Esiqithini: The Robben Island Exhibition.’’ .Display case from ‘‘Esiqithini: The Robben Island Exhibition.’’  .Participants at the golf day on Robben Island piled into Nelson Mandela’s old cell.  .Sawubonacover with model on Robben Island. .Drinks dispenser at Robben Island shop reproducing a section of Ahmed Kathrada’s famous speech.  .Memorial cairn at the infamous lime quarry on Robben Island.  .Gateway at the entrance to Robben Island. .Table Mountain from Robben Island. .‘‘Political Trials’’ display at Robben Island. 