History making and present day politics : the meaning of collective memory in South Africa

Abstract

In this collection, some of South Africa's most distinguished historians and social scientists present their views on the importance of history and heritage for the transformation of the South African society. Although popular use of history helped remove apartheid, the study of history lost status during the transition process. Some of the reasons for this, like the nature of the negotiated revolution, social demobilisation, and individualisation, are analysed in this book. The combination of scholarly work with an active role in changing society has been a central concern in South African history writing. This book warns against the danger of history being caught between reconciliation, commercialisation, and political correctness. Some of the articles critically examine the role of historians in ideological debates on gender, African agency, Afrikaner anti-communism, early South African socialism, and the role of the business world during late apartheid. Other contributions explore continuing controversies on the politics of public history in post-apartheid South Africa, describe the implementation of new policies for history education, or investigate the use of applied history in the land restitution process and in the TRC. The authors also examine a range of new government and private initiatives in the practical use of history, including the establishment of new historical entertainment parks and the conversion of museums and heritage sites. For readers interested in nation building processes and identity politics, this book provides valuable insight.

CONTENTS -- History in the new South Africa: An introduction/Hans Erik Stolten -- PART I: THE ROLE OF HISTORY IN THE CREATION OF A NEW SOUTH AFRICA -- Thoughts on South Africa: Some preliminary ideas/Saul Dubow -- New nation, new history? Constructing the past in post-apartheid South Africa/Colin Bundy -- Truth rather than justice? Historical narratives, gender, and public education in South Africa/Elaine Unterhalter -- Claiming land and making memory: Engaging with the past in land restitution/Anna Bohlin -- Reflections on practising applied history in South Africa, 1994–2002: From skeletons to schools/Martin Legassick -- From apartheid to democracy in South Africa: A reading of dominant discourses of democratic transition/Thiven Reddy -- PART II: THE HANDLING OF HERITAGE AND THE POPULARISING OF MEMORY -- The politics of public history in post-apartheid South Africa/Gary Baines -- The transformation of heritage in the new South Africa/Christopher Saunders -- Reframing remembrance: The politics of the centenary commemoration of the South African War of 1899–1902/Albert Grundlingh -- Structure of memory: Apartheid in the museum/Georgi Verbeeck -- Building the “new South Africa”: Urban space, architectural design, and the disruption of historical memory/Martin Murray -- PART III: INTERPRETATIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY -- Whose memory – whose history? The illusion of liberal and radical historical debates/Bernhard Makhosezwe Magubane -- Four decades of South African academic historical writing: A personal perspective/Christopher Saunders -- The role of business under apartheid: Revisiting the debate/Merle Lipton -- Afrikaner anti-communist history production in South African historiography/Wessel Visser -- “1922 and all that”: Facts and the writing of South African political history/Allison Drew -- A useable past: The search for “history in chords”/Catherine Burns