Making Memory Space: Recollection and Reconciliation in Post ...

Built form and the twilight of memory
The assertion that built form can contribute to collective recollection and contemporary production of
self-image is articulated by Robert Bevan who comments, ‘[A]rchitecture has become a proxy by
which other ideological ethnic and nationalist battles are still being fought today.’ 19 This notion
recognises the role that architecture can play in the maintenance and production of national
narratives, which in turn give rise to the creation and establishment of national identity. Thus the
conscious construction of museums and memorials in a society actively shaping its national identity
can contribute significantly to how that identity emerges. In this respect memory becomes a palpable
entity in the present.
The German theorist Andreas Huyssen identifies memory as a state of being: between living the event
and the act of recalling it. He defines this state as a ‘twilight’ existing in the nexus between the past
and its recollection. Acknowledging this state renders memory a contemporary act dependent on a
past that is understood and altered according to perception, time and representation. 20 The act of
interpretation and translation that must occur between the recollection of a past event and its
incarnation in physical form necessitates a mediated perspective on the past, the beginning of the
process of shaping the recollection according to social agendas, or political expediency. This thesis
argues that it is the mechanisms of addressing this state of being that in many respects forms the
basis for the production of memory space in South Africa. The country is held taut between
recollections of the past, and its shadow in the present. The continued existence of memory in
contemporary society forms the basis for collective memory in South Africa. Unlike other countries that
have overturned a dictator, or overthrown a regime by violent means, the dismantling of Apartheid was
peacefully negotiated between the government and the ANC. This situates the past and the usual
characterisations of regime and accompanying terminology of ‘perpetrators’ and ‘victims’ in a differing
light. The demise of Apartheid has not resulted in a radical change of lifestyle for much of the
population. Although the period of Apartheid is described by definitive historical dating it began in
essence long before it was codified and its ramifications continue to be felt in the present day. 21
Consequently, memories of trauma are well entrenched and the boundaries between past, present
and future less easily determined.
Memory and history – narratives of the past
History in Apartheid South Africa was carefully constructed to produce a specific kind of memory. In
some respects history becomes a form of collective memory or vice versa, where both history - as the
19 Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War (London: Reaktion, 2006), p.185.
20 Andreas Huyssen, Twilight Memories: Marking Time in a Culture of Amnesia (London and New York: Routledge, 1995), p.2.
21 At times it has been considered politically expedient to attempt to differentiate Apartheid from colonialism, a distinction that is
problematic in how it characterises history. The complexities of this are discussed in Chapter Two.
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