The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

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asked to “identify sites that are important to you and your family, friends, community, neighbourhood, town or village”. Biography was a key characteristic of the NMC’s poster campaign that invited the public to participate in “a national programme to honour the founders of democracy”. Such sites, the people were told, “might include the homesteads of our leaders” or those who created democracy in South Africa. 111 The overwhelming responses to the site identification campaign were proposals for monuments that sought to mark sites associated with resistance leaders. Correspondents proposed sites ranging from Solomon Mahlangu Freedom Square, which had a memorial “built by the community” in the early 1990s in Mahlangu’s honour, to the site in Mount Street, District Six, where Moses Kotane had lived from 1939 and which Kotane had considered to be his home until his death in 1978. The sites of the homes of Abdullah Aburahman, John Gomas and the La Gumas were also put forward. The Border Historical Society proposed the graveyard where Walter Rubusana had been buried. 112 At the end of August 1999, it was announced that a range of new monuments were being planned to recognise “the heroes of the struggle against apartheid and the history of a black majority officially deemed until recently to have no past worth remembering”. To counter the dominance of colonial and Afrikaner monuments on South Africa’s landscape, the NMC had endorsed a host of new heritage sites. This was to be one of the last acts of the NMC before the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) replaced it. Many of these monuments were associated with Nelson Mandela. The former president’s one‐time Soweto home was declared a national monument, as was Pretoria’s Great Synagogue, scene of the 1956 treason trial of prominent anti‐apartheid leaders. 113 In the meantime a novel approach to biographic memorialism was being introduced by the 111 ‘Claim Your Heritage’ (National Monuments Council Poster, 1998). 112 Mamelodi Heritage Forum to NMC, 26 October 1998; Brian Bunting to NMC, 2 November 1998; Reg September to NMC, 13 October 1998; Border Historical Society (East London Museum) to NMC (posted 13 October 1998), File on Responses to NMC Poster Campaign, 1998, SAHRA. 113 Mail and Guardian website (www.mg.co.za), 31 August 1999. SAHRA was created in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act No 25 of 1999). The transformation of the NMC involved a shift from an emphasis on architecture and buildings to a broader focus on heritage sites. As a result of this legislation, the ambiguous concept of ‘monument’ was dropped in favour of a new language which referred to ‘heritage sites’ or ‘heritage resources’ – to broaden the focus from merely buildings with architectural significance ‐ and ‘memorials’, which referred to monumental edifices, statues or works of public sculpture. 229
Ministry of Water Affairs and Forestry, in which indigenous trees were planted as “living memorials” to the ‘Guguletu Seven’ and others who died in the struggle against apartheid and to honour “those who fought in the struggle” such as Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani. These arboreal memorials were “a way of helping to heal the nation”. 114 Not content to leave the process of heritage transformation to old museums and cultural institutions, a more thoroughgoing and centrally directed programme of heritage production was already under way. In 1998 the Cabinet created a parallel programme in new heritage production. A “Legacy Project” programme was constituted within DACST and an inter‐departmental committee, the “National Legacy Committee” released a draft “portfolio of legacy projects” for discussion. This committee was given the task of establishing “new and diverse” memorials, museums, and commemorations. 115 The Legacy Project programme was installed as the mechanism to approve and facilitate the setting up of new monuments, museums ... plaques, outdoor artworks, history trails and “other symbolic representations”. These would ensure that “visible reminders” of the “many aspects of our formerly neglected heritage” would be created. In addition, the Committee sought to present “a coherent set of principles” which would enable different initiatives to be “harmonised” and ensure “integrity, inclusiveness, balance and broad participation”. With wide distribution throughout South Africa, and with a focus on national symbols with “provincial and local participation”, the proposed legacy projects would “communicate a stimulating message of rich cultural diversity”. 116 Among the 20 legacy projects suggested were a History Trail of slave resistance in the Western Cape, memorials to the women of South Africa, a memorial to South Africa’s workers, a cultural mapping of war graves and the embracing of the centenary of the Anglo‐Boer war, referred to in the discussion document as the “1899‐1902 war”, 114 John Yeld, ‘Plant trees for peace, says Kasrils’, Cape Argus, 1 September 1999; eNews, e.tv, 30 August 2001. 115 ‘The Portfolio of Legacy Projects: A Portfolio of Commemorations Acknowledging Neglected or Marginalised Heritage’, (Discussion Document, January 1998). 116 ‘The Portfolio of Legacy Projects’. 230
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The Individual, Auto/biography and
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation
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committee members selected me to ta
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements
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Authorship, individuation and the b
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ABBREVIATIONS AAC All‐African Con
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INTRODUCTION The research for this
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transformation in the Eastern Cape?
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South African society provided the
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manifest dishonesty. Through a case
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genealogy of biographic mediation w
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tribute to Tabata that Taylor const
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CHAPTER ONE AUTO/BIOGRAPHY, NARRATI
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self‐constitution and the “styl
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intercourse entailed in this metaph
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1930s, with decreasing institutiona
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psychological characteristics” wh
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entextualised in diverse ways”, c
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While all mankind may be the subjec
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life’ and career as the focus hav
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development, a “narrative of inte
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denies the centrality of the subjec
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story, creating a ‘transferential
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een backward‐looking. Their commu
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[w]e need to attend to the historic
Page 51 and 52:
enacted, lived in particular conjun
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‘representivity’ would constitu
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through particular enunciative stra
Page 57 and 58:
ones. 114 Modernity gave rise to li
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These, in turn, have a profound eff
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are also to be found in the ‘stor
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historian, personal and political,
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sites of the ‘memorial complex’
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These biographies of ‘great polit
Page 69 and 70:
der Post family. 17 Even Bertolt Br
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While the limitations of Jones’ b
Page 73 and 74:
and work had emphasised the serious
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accused Mother Teresa of promulgati
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Mother Teresa, “hoping some of he
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sainthood”, the amount of miracle
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This biographic world of saint vene
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dared to be that person”. She “
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and popular circuits of exchange an
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institutions that make up the exhib
Page 89 and 90:
participation in annual heroic comm
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Biographic memorial productions hav
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myths, while radio and television p
Page 95 and 96:
the monument was removed during the
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about the past, as “political eli
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suggesting that use was merely made
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and “The Annual Salute to Greatne
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the use of his image”. 106 Moreov
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In this radical biographic interpre
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In addition to this standard biogra
Page 109 and 110:
National Civil Rights Museum in Mem
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Although Mao’s image had been use
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more varied … [and] far more exci
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esistance hero in general, of hope
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issues about image‐making and aut
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Lumumba who could stand in oppositi
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CHAPTER THREE RESISTANCE STUDIES AN
Page 123 and 124:
in “a wide range of inventive pol
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marginalised, grassroots people [an
Page 127 and 128:
Since the 1970s, the terrain of res
Page 129 and 130:
In an obvious sense, these studies
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Under the conditions of deepening r
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Crucially, this feature found expre
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established through his professiona
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scepticism, 35 the use of this noti
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“glimpse into the inner mind of o
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Higgs and Steven Gish also followed
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understand the background, politica
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national and land questions” conc
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Higgs’ study was largely a chrono
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South Africans to protest against t
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In these traditional ‘masculinist
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1980s in South African scholarship,
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academic institutions involved in t
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struggles over municipal controls d
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that during the 1950s, a period see
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away from biographic images of cons
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orthography with “self‐appointe
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middle section had vacillated. Anot
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Biography has also been a vehicle f
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After collecting oral testimony fro
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and ‘jumping the fence’ led to
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whose value depended on their accur
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(probably Nkadimeng) in a resettlem
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determine the voice and style in wh
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memory into a written academic prod
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Biography for social history was a
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esistance history sought to provide
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and La Hausse were completed by sch
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consciousness, conversations, and/o
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A foray into biography in the work
Page 191 and 192: ceased to be the major site for the
Page 193 and 194: study did not go far enough in the
Page 195 and 196: continued political role”. It was
Page 197 and 198: In exploring these issues of image,
Page 199 and 200: While Clingman’s study has posed
Page 201 and 202: state they contested”, as the col
Page 203 and 204: focusing on the creation of systems
Page 205 and 206: and survival against the onslaught
Page 207 and 208: and reconciliation in South Africa.
Page 209 and 210: accustomed to clear hierarchies bet
Page 211 and 212: South African public history. This
Page 213 and 214: unifier and a liberator of the mind
Page 215 and 216: these ways, the Mayibuye Centre was
Page 217 and 218: together, these booklets attempted
Page 219 and 220: Biography also provided the basis o
Page 221 and 222: As part of these transformations, M
Page 223 and 224: leader, Bill Andrews. 58 Written fr
Page 225 and 226: It is this biographic impetus which
Page 227 and 228: the post‐apartheid present, and t
Page 229 and 230: Ngcelwane, whose family had had bee
Page 231 and 232: of softnesses and roughnesses” of
Page 233 and 234: extended to other arenas of public
Page 235 and 236: These images of the Business Day re
Page 237 and 238: once stood in central Pretoria, was
Page 239 and 240: declared a national monument on 12
Page 241: University’s Mark Haywood felt th
Page 245 and 246: to the present. This project would
Page 247 and 248: was missed to develop a complex her
Page 249 and 250: contemplation and celebration were
Page 251 and 252: Morris Isaacson High School, Regina
Page 253 and 254: The Museum was really inaugurated,
Page 255 and 256: through biographic presentation. Bu
Page 257 and 258: 2003. Thabo Mbeki expressed the poi
Page 259 and 260: In contrast, Ronnie Kasrils, Modise
Page 261 and 262: narratives and moral trajectories o
Page 263 and 264: visual terms as part of a president
Page 265 and 266: especially one who had been a long
Page 267 and 268: applications had to make a biograph
Page 269 and 270: In April 2003, the Nelson Mandela F
Page 271 and 272: ooklet was organised as a chronolog
Page 273 and 274: single sitting”. 191 However, it
Page 275 and 276: In 1999, Anthony Sampson, who had b
Page 277 and 278: eating breakfast and even shaving a
Page 279 and 280: (Mandela’s birth place), on the b
Page 281 and 282: “triumph of the human spirit”,
Page 283 and 284: sought to contest the tendency for
Page 285 and 286: deepening in Robben Island’s cult
Page 287 and 288: follow the advice of Anthony Sampso
Page 289 and 290: was asked to speak about the accuse
Page 291 and 292: new conditions of exile was the con
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importance of relations of cultural
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construction of Nelson Mandela has
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iography in public and commercial s
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artist, Jacob Khumalo, who had exhi
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epresentatives on the Nelson Mandel
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eliance, self‐respect and self‐
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PART TWO BEYOND MODERNIST HISTORY:
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marginality. Among the materials in
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Gradually, in drips and drabs, the
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While Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape
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for the field of political biograph
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microfilm collection contained a su
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and Karis may have received from Ta
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and reserve dwellers, arguing that
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Indeed, in this genealogy, the most
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and was conducted as part of a wide
Page 325 and 326:
In making these assessments, Hirson
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policy that had envisaged redivided
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formation of APDUSA in January 1961
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“effectively … smashed within t
Page 333 and 334:
opportunities that presented themse
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and verbal performances, which have
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political leadership was exercised
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CHAPTER SIX FROM COLLECTIVE LEADERS
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special protest meetings in convene
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upture was coming to a head, when h
Page 345 and 346:
principles”. 18 Another aspect of
Page 347 and 348:
included on the back cover of such
Page 349 and 350:
political training did not take pla
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pertinent to the themes of this cha
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cause, rather than the leader”. T
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341
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343
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345
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347
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asic passport‐type pen picture sa
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their prominent placement in public
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353
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of individualised leadership may ha
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political positions which rejected
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interesting that Taylor’s first w
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handwriting, which had been prepare
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ehabilitation. 96 This did not stop
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ooted in the past”, he suggested,
Page 381 and 382:
During 1949 and 1950, amid mounting
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“colour and strength” were impo
Page 385 and 386:
Elsewhere on the left, Tabata’s b
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occurred in which Tabata was subjec
Page 389 and 390:
Tabata, as an individual, bore a po
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making them “more careful about w
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teachers qualified to speak on matt
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Education for Barbarism marked Taba
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fulfil the same function” as ‘T
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state of anonymity to their true st
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of persecution and state harassment
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While Tabata’s presidency may hav
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final choice between the subterfuge
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circulated as the embodiment of its
Page 409 and 410:
CHAPTER SEVEN DORA TAYLOR AND THE N
Page 411 and 412:
Soon after Tabata arrived in Cape T
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historical understandings, Taylor
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was “tolerably easy”. In fact,
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her text had been “written in its
Page 419 and 420:
the eastern Cape about which she wr
Page 421 and 422:
While she was writing The Rôle of
Page 423 and 424:
out of the strains and pressures of
Page 425 and 426:
who were involved in the movement c
Page 427 and 428:
moved into Gool’s newly rented ho
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off by expressing his “envy” of
Page 431 and 432:
They had a full life and she a full
Page 433 and 434:
emotional and sexual desires as the
Page 435 and 436:
Fashioning Tabata’s biography Vir
Page 437 and 438:
continued to rework and re‐edit T
Page 439 and 440:
us”. Goolam Gool, he had argued,
Page 441 and 442:
political practice”. Tabata assur
Page 443 and 444:
Nine that the AAC and Unity Movemen
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authored pamphlets aimed at “clar
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production of I.B. Tabata made a mi
Page 449 and 450:
political work in the movement, in
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political leadership. By that time,
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unleashing different forms of biogr
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their political exchanges. 9 Later,
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where “fierce debates and discuss
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education as well as mechanisms of
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identification”. This identity cl
Page 463 and 464:
need for leadership”. Tabata invi
Page 465 and 466:
Likewise, concepts of strategic val
Page 467 and 468:
was also invited to join along with
Page 469 and 470:
fundamental and genuine manner and
Page 471 and 472:
them. Sihlali’s presidentship of
Page 473 and 474:
expressed had been “essentially h
Page 475 and 476:
By the 1950s, increased internal bl
Page 477 and 478:
way of their own greatness?” 76 A
Page 479 and 480:
“suspended” from the movement,
Page 481 and 482:
Thereafter, Alexander and his comra
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“mounting to a climax”. Jane Go
Page 485 and 486:
From around 1960, leaders of the Un
Page 487 and 488:
The movement’s ‘architect’ al
Page 489 and 490:
with the other liberation movements
Page 491 and 492:
The ADC was a means of Tabata “ri
Page 493 and 494:
ureaucratic abuse and of trying to
Page 495 and 496:
econstituted APDUSA represented an
Page 497 and 498:
NUM. They found instead a hostility
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significance of deceased ‘heroes
Page 501 and 502:
A man … surrounded by a sea of pe
Page 503 and 504:
and Alie and Ursula Fataar had assi
Page 505 and 506:
491
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in “his contribution” to the li
Page 509 and 510:
Almost unexpectedly, at his funeral
Page 511 and 512:
497
Page 513 and 514:
community of Lesseyton interred one
Page 515 and 516:
The final entry of Tabata’s body
Page 517 and 518:
heritage sites and collections. I w
Page 519 and 520:
discovered heritage constructions o
Page 521 and 522:
national heritage, even when those
Page 523 and 524:
elevant information from my researc
Page 525 and 526:
disrespectful. And the fact that th
Page 527 and 528:
what I offer here is more than a st
Page 529 and 530:
(e) Central Archives Depot, Pretori
Page 531 and 532:
Ilizwi leSizwe, Vol. 1, No 2, 18 Oc
Page 533 and 534:
(b) Other Videos Hell’s Angel: Mo
Page 535 and 536:
(f) CD‐Roms Nelson Mandela: The s
Page 537 and 538:
Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museu
Page 539 and 540:
7. INTERVIEWS AND RECORDINGS OF SPE
Page 541 and 542:
William Beinart and Colin Bundy, Hi
Page 543 and 544:
Stephen Clingman, The Novels of Nad
Page 545 and 546:
Jurgen Habermas, The Structural Tra
Page 547 and 548:
Dominic LaCapra, Writing History, W
Page 549 and 550:
David Morley and Ken Worpole (eds),
Page 551 and 552:
James D Sexton (ed), Son of Tecum U
Page 553 and 554:
Susan G Wynne (Compiler), South Afr
Page 555 and 556:
Elizabeth S Cohen, ‘Court Testimo
Page 557 and 558:
Brian Elliot, ‘Biography, Family
Page 559 and 560:
Baruch Hirson, ‘Ruth Schechter: F
Page 561 and 562:
Desiree Lewis, ‘Winnie Mandela: T
Page 563 and 564:
Bill Nasson, ‘A Sharecropper’s
Page 565 and 566:
Hilary Sapire, ‘African Political
Page 567 and 568:
Dora Taylor, ‘They Speak of Afric
Page 569 and 570:
Kwame Anthony Appiah, ‘Cosmopolit
Page 571 and 572:
Twentieth Century’, Paper present
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