Thesis Hum 2020 Johannes Shan L.Pdf
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Resilient Apartheid Survivors and Their Navigation of Historical Trauma at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town Town Cape of Shanél Johannes MastersUniversity Student at the University of Cape Town Supervisor: Dr. Helen Scanlon Co-Supervisor: Dr. June Bam-Hutchison Justice and Transformation Masters Research Project 2019 The copyright of this thesis vests Townin the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes Capeonly. of Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Acknowledgements This research journey was not the easiest. I experienced the loss of dear loved ones, saw the end of a long-term relationship, experienced unemployment, and suffered from immense depression. However, I would like to say, Gangans Abotse – Thank You God – for giving me strength during this trying time of my life, to complete this research paper. My late grandmother’s favourite scriptures that she used to share with me: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength; if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell the mountain to move; I have the mind of Christ; and No weapon formed against me shall prosper”, became my daily affirmations to conquer these trying times and journey on with my studies. This paper is dedicated to my late grandparents, Amos Johannes, Winifred Henry, and Vivian Henry. Your resilience through the apartheid era to provide better lives for my parents and your love and support that you showcased throughout my life, will forevermore be appreciated. Thank you to all my research participants who accepted my request for interviews. I truly value everything that you shared with me. I learned so much from each one of you, and together we contributed a valuable piece of research. Many thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Helen Scanlon and Dr. June Bam-Hutchison for your wisdom, knowledge, and support throughout this journey. Both of you are remarkable women who I truly honour and respect. The journey of your lives and the attainments of your accomplishments are true examples of you two being strong and inspiring women. Thank you to the National Research Fund and the University of Cape Town for awarding scholarships that assisted me to pursue my Masters Studies. To my dearest loved ones, you all have stood by my side and your love for me has never failed. Thank you for all your prayers, motivations, and acts of kindness during this journey. Furthermore, I am so privileged to being a descendant of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed people – a strong lineage of people who are resilient and rose above the adversities of repressive regimes. I am privileged as a woman from the Cape Flats, Kannemeyer Primary and Grassy Park High schools’ ex-learner, who became politically conscious from a young age about the diverse social ills in my community, and who found home in various grassroots activist groups. Thanks for contributing to who I am and my determination for social justice. 2 List of Abbreviations AAC: All African Convention Anti-CAD: Anti-Coloured Affairs Department CATA: Cape African Teachers Association CCB: Castle Control Board CEO: Chief Executive Officer I.D: Identity Document MK: Umkhonto we Sizwe NEUM: Non-European Unity Movement NHRA: National Heritage Resources Act NKC: National Khoisan Council NP: National Party OAU: Organisation of African Unity SACP: South African Communist Party SADF: South African Defence Force SAHRA: South African Heritage Resources Agency SANDF: South African National Defence Force SANS: South African National Society TLSA: Teachers League of South Africa TRC: Truth and Reconciliation Commission UN: United Nations VOC: Dutch East India Company 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 2 List of Abbreviations 3 Abstract 6 Summary of Chapters 7 Chapter One: Introduction 11 1.1. A Brief Overview: Transitions at the Castle of Good Hope 18 1.2. The Jan van Riebeeck Tercentenary 24 1.3. Castle of Good Hope 350th Commemorations 26 Chapter Two: Literature Review 28 2.1. The Politics of Transforming South Africa’s Heritage Landscape 28 2.2. Site, Trauma, and the Castle of Good Hope 32 Chapter Three: Research Process and Methodology 39 3.1. Research Question 40 3.2. Research Method 40 3.3. Research Ethics 42 3.4. Challenges in the Research Field 43 Chapter Four: Memory and Landscape of the Castle of Good Hope 44 4.1. Introduction 44 4.2. Memories of Visitations to the Castle during apartheid 44 4.2.1. The Militarised Castle and Trauma of Military Conscription 45 4.2.2. Experiences of School Excursions to the Castle 48 4.3. Memories of Visitations to the Castle during post-apartheid 51 4.3.1. Creating Counter-memory and Providing Post-apartheid Tours 52 4.3.2. The First Civilian appointed CEO’s aims to Transform the Castle of Good Hope 53 4.3.3. Collaborative WorK with staKeholders – Khoisan Revivalist Movement 54 4 4.4. Concluding Remarks 57 Chapter Five: Complex History Production and Heritage Representation 58 5.1. Introduction 58 5.2. Production of History at the Castle of Good Hope 58 5.2.1. Reinserting Counter-narratives 59 5.2.2. Countering Eurocentricity with Afrocentric Knowledge Production 61 5.3. Creating Inclusive Heritage 62 5.3.1. Intangible and Tangible Heritage Values at the Castle of Good Hope 64 5.3.2. Critiquing Memorialised Spaces and the “Add-on Effect” at the Castle of Good Hope 70 5.4. Concluding Remarks 75 Chapter Six: Symbol and Site of Multiple Traumatic Memories 76 6.1. Introduction 76 6.2. A Traumatic Site and part of a Traumatic Chain 77 6.2.1. Slave Trading and the usage of Castles 77 6.2.2. Colonial Trials, Executions, and Contemporary Memorialised Sites of Torture 79 6.3. The Castle of Good Hope: Apartheid contexts of Structural Violence 83 6.3.1. The Castle of Good Hope’s Commands for the Trojan Horse 83 6.3.2. Untold Narratives of Anti-apartheid Students’ Detainment 85 6.4. Decolonial Efforts to Redress the Castle of Good Hope’s Historical Trauma 87 6.5. Concluding Remarks 90 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 91 7.1. Summary of the navigations of the Castle of Good Hope as a site of Historical Trauma 92 7.2. Further Research Questions and Ways Forward 93 References 98 Appendix One: No Easy Path (1974) 115 Appendix Two: Biographies 120 Appendix Three: The Castle of Good Hope’s 350 Commemoration Program 135 Appendix Four: Interview Questions 137 5 Abstract The history of South Africa entails colonial and apartheid era violence and trauma (visible and invisible) which ingrained various socio-economic-political-agrarian orders of brutalisation, mass killings, and the displacement of local people from their culture, language, land, agency, and spirituality. Attached to such history, are the intact remnants of the colonial and apartheid eras – national heritage monuments. The Castle of Good Hope, as a national heritage site, is not limited as being the oldest architectural structure in Cape Town, nor is it only a transitioning site that tries to incorporate democratic principles of multiple heritage. This site wields memories of both individual and collective historical colonial and apartheid trauma. Critically, this research project seeks to empirically analyse whether historical traumas are embedded in the displaced landscape and individual and collective experiences as the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed. Historical trauma in this context, is often associated with the scholarship on the trans-Atlantic slave trade (from Africa to the Americas). However, little work is done in relation to the descendant’s navigation of trauma – the resultant of the Indian Ocean trade and slave trade. The trauma related to the violent occupation of the European nations, transcended itself and was continued through various apartheid policies which has prevailing legacies of intergenerational historical trauma in Cape Town. Thus, this qualitative empirical research project seeks to explore the memories, experiences, and recommendations of resilient apartheid survivors – the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed generations – and the ways in which they navigate the Castle of Good Hope as a site of historical trauma. 6 Summary of Chapters Chapter One This chapter begins with a brief historical context of the multifaceted pre-colonial indigenous inhabitants in relation to their experiences of the drastic transitions in their livelihoods and the landscape on which they collectively lived, worshipped, and traded. Furthermore, this chapter then provides a brief introduction of the Castle of Good Hope and its historical transitions. This brief introduction of the Castle of Good Hope will also be critically explored in relation to memorialisation practices during the apartheid era (emphasising on the Non- European Unity Movement’s (NEUM) 1952 boycott to the exclusionist heritage production of the Tercentenary Commemoration of Jan van Riebeeck who was glorified as the “founding father” of Afrikaner nationalism); as well as the post-apartheid changes in memorialisation practices (emphasising on the Castle of Good Hope’s 350th Commemoration in 2016). Thus, this introductory chapter locates the history of the Castle of Good Hope in its transitioning contexts – from colonial-apartheid centralisation to the post-apartheid-democratic state’s visions for nation building – and in the context of memorialisation practices in the urban landscape – a transcending site of memory. Chapter Two In South Africa, history and heritage are contested terrains that often evoke collective and individual traumatic memories of colonial and apartheid historical traumas as a result of the intersectional nature of place and socio-economic-political-agrarian inequities. However, in the contemporary democratic era, heritage sites often fail to explicitly show the legacies of such intergenerational historical traumas.