UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Hiscock, Jenna"

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Things pretty dull: Materiality and the making of Muizenberg in the 20th and 21st centuries
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Hiscock, Jenna; Witz, Leslie
The purpose of this research is to explore processes of historical production and ideas about public space in Muizenberg, South Africa. It argues that the dominant narrative told about Muizenberg from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reinforces colonial hegemony concerning public space, development and progress. This research attempts to challenge and undermine this narrative. In order to do so, this research looks at postcards of Muizenberg as a way of re-reading history and historical production. Throughout, I explore whether the postcard can become an intervention for re-reading Muizenberg and its dominant histories. What can such a reading address? What sort of events are included in these dominant histories, who is present and absent, and which representations are included or excluded by local historians? Beginning with an analysis of the ‘golden years’ of Muizenberg, I problematise dominant production of Muizenberg’s history, and discuss how it is depicted on postcards, particularly within books produced by local historians. I engage with the postcard as a material object, looking at ‘more’ than its image, considering both its sides, and the stamps, addresses, messages, physical appearance, manufacturer, etc.