Magister Artium - MA (History)

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The construction of public history and tourist destinations in Cape Town's townships: a study of routes, sites and heritage
(University of the Western Cape, 2002) Dondolo, Luvuyo; Witt, Leslie; Rassool, Ciraj; Karp, Ivan; Kratz, Corinne; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This paper seeks to explore a number of issues in relation to tourism, particularly cultural tours, in Cape Town from the apartheid era to the new political dispensation in South Africa. Cultural tourism is not merely about commerial activities. It is an ideological framing of history of people, nature, and culture, a framing that has power to reshape culture and nature for its own needs. In the South African context, this can be seen from the early decades of the twentieth century, but for the purposes of this study it will focus from the 1950s onwards to the present political period. The dominant ideology and political conditions at a given time shape cultural tourism.
The Group Areas Act and Port Elizabeth's heritage: a study of memorial recollection in the South End Museum
(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Kadi, Palesa; Witz, Leslie; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
The second half of the 1990's was marked by a significant reworking of memory and history in South Africa. WHilst the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was involved in its hearings on amnesty applications and gross human rights violations, new museums were emerging and older ones began reshaping their displays. This thesis interrogated the changing representations of history, culture, identity and heritage in one South African city, Port Elizabeth, which in 2005 was re-named the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipal area. This discussion examined, at times, the historical era prior to South Africa's democracy and the period after the first democratic elections of 27 April 1994.
The historical productions of Cecil John Rhodes in 20th century Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Mdudumane, Khayalethu; Lalu, Premesh; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This thesis analysed the historical productions of Rhodes in 20th century Cape Town. The critique of this study was that Cape Town embodies the history of imperialism in maintaining the memory of Rhodes. The thesis examined the following sites: Rhodes Cottage Museum, Rhodes Groote Schuur minor house, Rhodes Memorial and two statues, one in the Company Gardens at Cape Town and the other at the University of Cape Town.
The history of History in South African secondary schools, 1994-2006
(University of the Western Cape, 2008) Ebot, Tabe Fidelis; Barnes, Teresa; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This MA thesis investigates the decision to marginalize History in C2005 at a time when there were expectations of the importance of the discipline in a democratic South Africa. It argues that the marginalization of the discipline in C2005 was not solely based on pedagogical reasons, but that it might have been influenced by political agendas. My research provides support for this view with evidence of the procedures inside the relevant government education policy committees. In addition, it explores the debates and processes that led to the reinstatement of the discipline in the Revised National Curriculum Statement for schools that was approved in April 2002 by the South African Cabinet.
The Impasse of Violence : writing necklacing into a history of liberation struggle in South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Moosage, Riedwaan; Rousseau, Nicky; Lalu, Premesh; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This thesis falls within the category of historical studies that is concerned with a difficult legacy of South Africa's liberation struggle, namely the practice of necklacing that accompanied it. My interest in the practice is limited to its emergence and politicizing as it relates to the ANC, the UDF and the apartheid state. The ANC and the UDF overwhelmingly understood the practice as resistance, yet ambivalently so. The question guiding this thesis therefore asks: how is necklacing written into the narrative of struggle history? Here I refer to its (re)representation, its (re)characterization, its (re)articulation in a wider discursive war of propaganda strategies that was waged through the interplay of an apartheid state discourse and what I consider to be an official non-state discourse, that of the ANC and the UDF.
The Kavango Legislative Council 1970-1979: a critical analysis
(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Nambadi, Aaron Haufiku; Mesthrie, Uma; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
Namibia was under South African rule until March 1990. On 11 September 1962, the Odendaal Commission was set up by the State President of South Africa to enquire into the welfare and progress of all the inhabitants of South West Africa, particularly the African people. The Commission was required to make recommendations for the development of the various African people inside and outside their designated areas. The outcome of the Commission was the division of South West Africa into ten designated areas for the various native nations. These areas later became the homelands for the Africans in South West Africa. This thesis was concerned with examining the Kavango Legislative Council, its constitution, its powers, the role of the traditional authorities within the body, and the legislation passed by the Council.
Memory and representation: Robben Island Museum 1997-1999
(University of the Western Cape, 2000) Solani, Noel Lungile Zwelidumile; Witz, Leslie; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
The notion of what constitutes a nation has been a subject of many debates. The nation, like individual is the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice and devotion. The post aprtheid project of reconciliation in South Africa is part of this desire to live together as citizens of one country irrespective of past differences. This desire transforms itself to cultural institutions like museums or rather cultural institutions represents this desire in a more systematic way in the post apartheid South Africa as they seek to transform.
The palaces of memory: a reconstruction of District One, Cape Town, before and after the Group Areas Act
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Weeder, Michael Ian; Hayes, Patricia; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This thesis started off as a biographical discussion on my association with District One. I was able to widen the scope of this thesis as my research brought more information to light with regard to the city�s past. The dramatic uncovering of the Prestwich burial ground and subsequent struggles provided the impetus to link the past with contemporary concerns on identity and memory. The narrative of District One is about the topography of the land and people while the archive of the area reflects a history of punishment, settlement, removal and memory. The disinterment of the skeletal remains from the Prestwich burial ground evokes a prior unsettlement and a historical routine of multiple dislocations and separations. The public domain contains seemingly little information on the history of the dockland area of District One. However, I want to suggest that the area has generated a powerful archaeological and social archive of the city�s founding antecedents. This includes the Khoi burials uncovered in Cobern Street, the slave burial ground at Prestwich Street and the denominational and paupers� cemeteries along Somerset Road. These are a register of significant, yet inadequately understood, elements of the making of Cape Town. It is also the nexus of my personal history and I have written this thesis conscious of the tension between myself as an individual and as historian, and the importance of interrogating those early and formative experiences.
Political autobiography, nationalist history and national heritage: the case of Kenneth Kaunda and Zambia
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Simakole, Brutus Mulilo; Rassool, Ciraj; Dept. of History
The research for this thesis started off as a long academic essay that sought to review a 1970s biography of Kenneth Kaunda.1 In its original focus, the study aimed at evaluating the work on the narrations of Kenneth Kaunda�s life from a theoretical and critical perspective. Specifically it sought to evaluate the biography for its theoretical and methodological approaches, its attention to issues of sources, archives, narrative and history. In addition, it aimed at locating the biography in relation to debates over biography and history in South Africa. As I began my research for the long essay, it soon became apparent that the biography of Kenneth Kaunda ended its narration in 1964 and yet it was published ten years later in 1974. By ending its �coverage� of the narrations of Kenneth Kaunda�s life in 1964, it seemed obvious that its coverage was in many ways similar to his autobiography that was published in 1962.2 The ending of the biography�s coverage in 1964 thus seemed rather abrupt as it precluded any representations of the subject in the post 1964 period in which he had become President of Zambia. Kenneth Kaunda was resident of Zambia for nearly three decades (1964-1991) having led the �final� phase of the nationalist struggle for Independence through the United National Independence Party (UNIP). Surely, I surmised, the meanings of Kenneth Kaunda�s life as nationalist leader, as presented in most of his biography, would differ from those of him as President? Upon evaluating the biography, it seemed to be a largely chronological and descriptive rather analytical account of the subject�s life. However, what made it profound to me was the ways in which it entwined the narratives of Kenneth Kaunda�s life with the events, dates 1 The biography of Kenneth Kaunda by Fergus Macpherson was the subject of the long essay. See Fergus Macpherson, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: The Times and the Man (Lusaka: Oxford University Press, 1974). 2 Kenneth D. Kaunda, Zambia Shall Be Free: An Autobiography (London: Heinemann Educational Books td, 1962). and activities of the history of the Zambian nation. Some accounts inadvertently referred to this interconnection by referring to Kenneth Kaunda as the �founder of Zambia�. My exposure to various other debates around the production of history in the public domain such as through museums and national heritage sites or monuments prompted me to consider undertaking a study of the post-1964 historiography of Kenneth Kaunda. Rather than attempting to fill Kenneth Kaunda�s post-1964 historiographical gap with a chronological account of his political life, I wanted to trace the narratives of Kenneth Kaunda�s life in connection with the production of history in different domains in Zambia. This thesis thus aims at examining the political auto/biographical narrations of Kenneth Kaunda in relation to the production of nationalist history and national heritage in Zambia in the years following the country�s Independence in 1964.4 One of the key questions that this study sought to engage with was: how did the �representations� of Kenneth Kaunda influence the ways in which Zambia�s post-independence nationalist history and national heritage were produced? In seeking to provide an answer to the question, the study evaluated the auto/biography of Kenneth Kaunda itself, as well as how it reflects in the history texts utilised in Zambian schools and in history in the public domain through national heritage sites or monuments and museum exhibitions. The thesis will show that in Zambia, the auto/biography of Kenneth Kaunda has acquired significance through history as school lesson and as history in the public domain, through the production of national heritage sites and museum exhibitions.
The politics of production of archaeological knowledge :a case study of the later stone age rock art paintings of Kasam, Northern Zambia
(University of the Western Cape, 2004) Lishiko, Billiard Berbbingtone; Witz, Leslie; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
The main purpose of this study was to investigate and examined the politics in the production of archaeological knowledge especially in rock art, at academic, heritage institutions and national and global level. It aims to trace and examine the development and movement of particular hypotheses or interpretations and their appropriateness in the study and management of rock art heritage in southern Africa.
Popular histories of independence and Ujamaa in Tanzania
(University of the Western Cape, 2008) Yona, Mzukisi; Barnes, Teresa; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
It is now forty years after the start of African Socialism, or Ujamaa, in Tanzania. This study examines to what extent Tanzanians still tell their national history in ways which feature the important themes of social change that were introduced by President Julius Nyerere and his political party after independence: increasing equality, popular participation, egalitarian values and self-reliant economic development. The intention of the study is to see to what extent these ideas are still important in the ways that Tanzanians today tell their national history. The study is based on oral history interviews, with Tanzanian expatriates living in Cape Town, and is supplemented by secondary sources on the post-independence and Ujamaa periods. It argues that memory can be affected by current events.
Re-articulating history: historical play, nation, text
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Van Bever Donker, Maurits Michiel; Witz, Leslie; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This dissertation was divided into two parts. In the first part questions of representation and textuality in the discipline of history will be explored with the aim of positing the historical play as productive for the writing of history after apartheid. In the second part it was attempted to specify the implications of this critique for the discipline of history through reading a number of historical narratives and plays together.
Remaking /Xam narratives in a post-apartheid South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Hendricks, Mona; Bank, Andrew; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
Public history has become a dynamic new field of study in South African historiography during the post-apartheid period. As a field of applied history, it has been engaged with analysing the highly contested nature of knowledge production across a wide range of public sites. These include museums, art galleries, archaeological digs, theme-parks, shopping malls, tourist attractions and heritage sites. The wider national cultural and political challenge has been that of working towards restoration, healing, and reparation in the wake of a colonial and apartheid history marked by particularly acute brutality and dispossession. This thesis analyses the attempts of one public institution, the Iziko South African Museum, to negotiate the remaking of public history in the post-apartheid period. Unlike some of the newer sites of cultural production, such as the Cape Town Waterfront and the West Coast cultural village of !Kwa-ttu, the South African Museum has a century-long history of complicity in generating images of racial and cultural others, notably Khoisan communities. The thesis begins by exploring this history and the ways in which the South African Museum has tried to come to terms with this legacy in its post-apartheid policies: firstly, in the discussions and debates around the closing of the Bushman diorama (2001), and secondly, in the creation of a new exhibition on San rock art which draws extensively on the Bleek-Lloyd Collection (/Qe: The Power of Rock Art. Ancestors, Rain-making and Healing, 2003 to the present). The Iziko South African Museum has not been successful in its attempts to meet the challenge of coming to terms with its history of collecting human remains and creating body casts and putting them on display. I argue that the measures it has introduced over the last twenty two years, including the ‘revision of the Bushman diorama exhibition’ (1988-89), to Miscast (1996), and the closure of the diorama (2001), are little more than window-dressing and staged productions, with lip-service being paid to transformation. In the place of the effective opening out of debate and discussion about the Museum’s history of racial scientific research, we have seen the presentation of a new framework of knowledge about Khoisan communities through the ‘lens of rock art research’ and the Bleek-Lloyd-/Xam records. I see these as a way of sanitising the story about colonialism and apartheid. In making these arguments I draw upon a number of scholarly works by academics involved in public and visual history; recent literature on trauma narratives; Foucauldian discourse; and newspaper.
Rundu, Kavango: a case study of forced relocation in Namibia, 1954 to 1972
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Likuwa, Kletus Muhena; Mesthrie, Uma; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
This research dealt with the following cases of relocation that occurred in Rundu, namely: Nkondo village in the 1950s, forced removal to karapamwe Black Township in 1968, and the relocation of Sarusungu and Bangarangandja in 1971 and 1972. The central research aim of this study was to explain why and how relocations occurred and their impact on the communities. The study also aimed to explain the motives of the authorities for the removals.
Saul Januarie: Biography of a wagon-maker and blacksmith from Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Esau, Cecyl; Bank, Andrew; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
Saul Januarie was born in Worcester in 1903. He spent his childhood years in the town of Touwsriver and then returned to Worcester as an adult where he married and spent the remainder of his life. He became well-known as a blacksmith from Worcester from the 1930's omwards. His skills were sought after in the town as well as on the farms in the surrounding area. Januarie was also renowned as a leader of the Independent Order of True Templars (IOTT). This study was an important starting-point to contribute to the exploration of a more inclusive social history of Worcester. The biography of Saul Januarie that has been constructed lends itself eminently to complement and enlarge the present exhibitions on wagon-making and the work of blacksmiths.
Social history, public history and the politics of memory in re-making 'Ndabeni'' pasts
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Sambumbu, Sipokazi; Rassool, Ciraj; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
Then and Now: Activism in Manenberg, 1980 to 2010
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Jacobs, Julian A; Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Uma; Dept. of History; Faculty of Arts
The study analysed the politics of resistance in Manenberg placing it within the over arching mass defiance campaign in Greater Cape Town at the time and comparing the strategies used to mobilize residents in Manenberg in the 1980s to strategies used in the period of the 2000s. The thesis also focused on several key figures in Manenberg with a view to understanding what local conditions inspired them to activism. The use of biographies brought about a synoptic view into activists lives, their living conditions, their experiences of the apartheid regime, their brutal experience of apartheid and their resistance and strength against a system that was prepared to keep people on the outside. This study found that local living conditions motivated activism and became grounds for mobilising residents to make Manenberg a site of resistance. It was easy to mobilise residents on issues around rent increases, lack of resources, infrastructure and proper housing.

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