The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

constituted the political formations and leaders written about as modern, purposeful and
rational.
This history was presented as objective stages of a process of maturation, and as
incrementally progressive modes of negotiating power and modernity. It traced the rise to
prominence of a dominant Congress resistance ‘tradition’ whose history was enshrined in
a metanarrative of transition from reformist accommodationism and middle class
moderation, dependent on segregationist political authority, to a more militant post‐war
assertiveness, leading to more confrontational forms of resistance, and eventual
imprisonment and exile as a result of its suppression as a mass organisation. The
movement of this past unfolded with a sense of inevitability and seamless continuity from
one stage to the next, with little contradiction and tension between leaders and rank and
file. The category ‘documentary’ can be extended to encompass this realist method of
presenting a political past in the form of the orthodox narrative history, which seeks to
write chronological accounts of real political organisations, peopled by authentic selves.
In this documentary history, nationalism tended to be taken for granted as a natural and
organic expression of group identity. The approach was a respectful one, with very few
critical questions posed about social and political tensions and contradictions within the
nationalist movement, nor any about its class composition and the class interests of its
members. 23 Another feature of this history was the amount of attention given to
leadership of political movements, with South African resistance history told through the
experiences and opinions of political leaders, particularly at a national level. It was
national leadership figures who conducted the planning, who forged alliances and who
restructured their organisations. Through the juxtaposition of historical text and the
documents, the series sought to “recreate through the words and actions of African
leaders the events, tactics, emotions, and personalities of the past”. 24
23 See the discussion by Colin Bundy in Remaking The Past: New Perspectives in South African History,
Cape Town: Department of Adult Education and Extra‐Mural Studies, University of Cape Town,
1986, Chapter 9.
24 Thomas Karis and Gwendolen Carter, From Protest To Challenge, Volume 1, Preface, p xv.
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