Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-

Leslie Witz University of the

University of Michigan Working Papers in Museum Studies Number 3 (2010) Museum Studies Program Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies University of Michigan Museum of Art 525 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1354

Office phone: 734-936-6678 Fax: 734-786-0064 www.ummsp.lsa.umich.edu [email protected]

© 2010 University of Michigan All rights reserved

The University of Michigan Museum Studies Program’s series of “Working Papers in Museum Studies” presents emerging re- search from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, all focused on the multiple concerns of the modern museum and heritage stud- ies field. Contributions from scholars, members of the museum profession and graduate students are represented. Many of these papers have their origins in public presentations made under the auspices of the Museum Studies Program. We gratefully thank the authors published herein for their participation.

This paper was first presented as part of the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program’s “Issues in Museum Studies” lecture series on March 11, 2009. Leslie Witz is Professor of History at University of the Western Cape, , South Africa. [email protected] Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Leslie Witz on the Eastern Cape frontier during the 19th Century. University of the Western Cape The renovations will be complete by the end of 2007. We apologise for any inconvenience’. If it can be said that there is one item that has come to characterize museum displays and collections in post- But dilemma labels can be much more elaborate and have apartheid South Africa it is the dilemma label. Signaling a greater sense of permanence. One of the most extensive a need or intent to alter displays or that such changes was installed when the diorama scene of a hunter-gatherer are in process, these are usually hastily produced on camp in the nineteenth century―more widely known as a word processing package, manufactured on an A4 the bushman diorama, or even as ‘The diorama’―was sheet, laminated and then affixed to a wall or window. closed at IZIKO South African Museum in April 2001 In 1998, such a label greeted me and my colleagues, [fig. 6]. Through archiving and affixing a dilemma label to Martin Legassick, Ciraj Rassool, Michael Abrahams and the screen that concealed the diorama, the museum, in the Gary Minkley when we visited the McGregor Museum words of Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, had inadvertently in Kimberley to assist with its new exhibition entitled created one of the most powerful displays. Instead of Frontiers [fig. 1]. The aim of the exhibition was to construct being overtly didactic it challenged visitors to think about 1 a racially inclusive past of the people of the Northern Cape. the politics of exhibiting. Unfortunately, this powerful At the museum’s entrance, alongside a sign about a Sol exhibition is now also closed to the public. Plaaatje exhibition was a notice that read, ‘The displays in this museum are currently under renovation. We apologise Finally, adjacent to the archived diorama, there is probably for any inconvenience’ [fig. 2]. the most permanent dilemma label in South Africa. In the African Cultures Gallery of IZIKO South African Museum, Several years later I started conducting research on a series of labels asks viewers to consider whether the changing histories in museums in the Eastern Cape and displays and the labels in the gallery―sometimes referred visited the East London Museum. Its claim to fame is that it to as the ethno wing―perpetuate ethnic and racialised houses a coelacanth caught nearby in 1938 [fig. 3]. Named stereotypes of African people as undeveloped and latimeria chalumnae after the museum’s director, Marjorie unchanging [fig. 7]. Courtenay Latimer, it is proclaimed rather bizarrely to be a ‘living fossil’. In this museum the dilemma label was Out of Touch? much more elaborate. Rather than signalling that change was happening in the museum, it outlined a process of This gallery was constructed in the 1970s and since consultation with communities. Visitors were invited to that time approaches to exhibiting African cultures share their ‘interests and concerns’ about the museum [fig. have changed. 4]. Since that visit in 2003 very little has in fact changed in the museum. Arguably the most expansive alteration was a Do the exhibits create the impression that all new display that placed coelacanth research at the forefront black South Africans live in rural villages, wear of environmental education and capacity building. A traditional dress and use only hand-made utensils? temporary exhibition on the 50th anniversary of Women’s What about those people who live and work in towns Day in 2006 was, in an absolutely extraordinary design and travel abroad or become industrialists? Do they decision, displayed in its animal gallery. not challenge the conventional ethnic stereotypes?

Another work in progress that is taking place in the Eastern African culture is not static. Why, then, are many Cape is in Grahamstown. The old Settlers Memorial labels in the gallery written in the present tense, as Museum in Grahamstown has been re-named the Historical if time had stood still? Museum and is in the process of altering its hall that presented the 1820 settlers from Britain as bearers of ‘their There have been some modifications to the gallery―the cultural traditions throughout South Africa’ [fig. 5]. In display of the Lydenburg heads and a Zulu beadwork the new display are some of the artefacts from this older exhibit―but these have been relatively minor. The dilemma exhibition. Directly opposite, with a vivid red backdrop, notice was installed in 1993 and is still on display. is an exhibition of Xhosa lifestyles. The dilemma label reads: ‘The Settler Gallery is being renovated to reflect At the same time as these dilemma labels were being the interaction and changing lifestyles of various groups installed in museums the discipline of history in South 1 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM differences around the category, ‘Public History’ largely category, ‘Public History’ the around differences some are of US there academy, the although parlance the In role the of public historian. the through a way think to as together them place to and museum the in and academy the in of history category the around presented have been that dilemmas the through think to Iwant talk this In illusory. proved be to conditions of repression. political conditions severe most the under practices’ and visions ‘alternative in boom the to pointers scholarship), all are Marxist radical with associated by historians undertaken research extensive the upon (that drew criminality to beer-halls from ranging topics on histories of popular of aseries production the period, that in methodologies history ofemployment oral 1980s, ever-increasing the the in of history-from-below paradigm history asocial largelyin published were that articles journal and collections edited of monographs, The number flourishing. supposedly was history African of 1970s South when the debates 80s and and issues the to of desperation, sense some and longing with back, harks millennium new the into 1990s and the in ofnotion crisis inclusive future for all who live in South Africa. South who for live in all inclusive future aviable and constructing to and of and apartheid of history liberation the to contribute to potential over their enthused texts popular the on 1980s, commentaries the the in Africa South in historiography of radical overview give acritical Review History Radical to uncover and inscribe innumerable pasts’, innumerable inscribe and uncover to opportunity the with provided be Africans South all and would emancipated be ‘history that of society. Expectations sections most across history in of lack interest apparent an emerged academy. the There within history across drawn was despair of and gloom acurtain instead glistened, Yet gold the when moment shouldhave very atthe of a historiographical ‘golden 1960 age’ 1990:of and between ahistoriographical historians and little fresh historical writing emerging. writing historical fresh little and historians few havenew been there and school curriculum, the in threat under been times at has asubject as history declined, dramatically has for history enrollments of student numbers the out that pointed been it has sectors, educational tertiary and secondary the highlighting Through crisis. a as would some what characterize underwent Africa tasks of the liberation struggles, of liberation the tasks various the in upon called constantly was history as past’ for the appetite an Africans… black South among history for hunger ‘a as remarkable described been has what with fight against injustice. against fight the in tool political auseful as research saw their tendencies of different many historians prison, from Mandela’s emergence and triumphant Sharpeville of tragedy the between the years In . flourished history of African South study for the Centres centuries. three preceding the in than decades three those in published were past the about works more in February 1990 that attempted to to 1990 attempted that February in 6

5 an image has been created created been has image an 3 In a special issue of issue the aspecial In 7 seemingly seemingly 4 Coupled 2 This This are paramount. are that of academy the expertise and methodologies the is it practice in meanings, over making authority’ ‘shared of one maybe a presented ideal an attimes Although museums. as such institutions to knowledge and skills their imparting historians trained academically to refers different role. different asomewhat on takes historian the then disseminated’, and challenged, imposed, debated, public shaped, sphere] are [of the perceptions and knowledge where locations social ‘critical as of public culture institutions see to instead begins one If expertise. academic to on holding while access and upliftment of ideas on outreach, relies that down’ process ‘trickle disavows the that one is presents, talk this that histories of making process the public in Migrant Labour Museum. Museum. Labour Migrant Mossel the complex Bay and in Museum Dias the histories, new inscribe to museum the with working and research doing been Ihave where both of museums two move examples then to on Africa, South post-apartheid in public domain the in of historians ofsome engagements the consider Iwill route out this on Setting public historian. for abrief the workpositioning toward and try to want then I juxtapositions Using these histories. new making and of change dilemmas the to responding are that museums with academy the in history African South the in crisis for the reasons the as presented been has what juxtaposing by firstly position this formulate and try to I want museums, the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum. It is Museum. Labour Lwandle Migrant the museums, Africa’sone in of South label newest my first I pasted them. between relationships and of history discipline the museums, about thinking in assist can history African South in crisis as presented been has what with museums in of history category the changes) around prospective least (or changes at how aligning consider to Iwanted labels dilemma my own By creating presenting. Iwas lecture a illustrate to but rather responses gauge to not intended (for hour)it long was period and an most for the avery not was This of museums. some walls the on temporarily, them, pasted and decline for the reasons outline that arguments of some these from quotations of selecting liberty the Itook commentators. historiographical most amongst thread 1990s acommon is the since history African South in decline of dramatic impression The DilemmasThe of History shattered. knowledge’ consequently, ofis, mystique scientific ‘the called has Rassool Ciraj What evoked articulated. and are knowledges historical different as over past the negotiations these in re-shaped and shaped challenged, being constantly is historian an as One’s expertise transactions. knowledge of aseries as institutions these with debates and discussions 10

9 It is more the case that one enters into into enters one that case It the more is 8 The notion of engagement with the the with of notion engagement The 2 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa effectively the only museum in the Western Cape province clearance and later more explicitly through the Group that is based in a , one of the dormitory areas on Areas Act, thousands of people, most of who were racially the edges of apartheid cities created for people who were designated as ‘African’ or ‘coloured’, were forced to racially classified as ‘native’, later as ‘bantu’, and then as move from to the . District Six was specified ethnic entities such as ‘Xhosa’, ‘Tswana’ or ‘Zulu’. declared a white group area and in the mid-1960s most In the 1990s as part of the Reconstruction and Development of the existing houses were destroyed to make way for programme, the new ANC led-government decided to anticipated residential development. upgrade the hostel type accommodation originally designed for male migrant workers in the township of Lwandle, The latter hardly occurred, largely as a result of an forty kilometres outside Cape Town, and turn them into intensive political campaign that was launched to keep family units. This provided the catalyst for an initiative property developers off the land in the 1980s. Memories to develop a Lwandle museum on the basis of a preserved evoked and images collected through the ‘Hand off District hostel and an old community hall. The museum sees Six’ campaign provided one of the main impetuses behind itself as serving as a reminder of a system of migrant the establishment of the in the years labour, single sex hostels and the control of black workers of South Africa’s transition to democracy. The museum through an identity document which controlled access to emerged from a ‘desire to reassemble and restore the employment and residence in urban areas―the infamous corporeal integrity of District Six through memory’.13 It is pass book. But the museum has struggled from its inception arguably one of the most successful new museums in post- to form a museum community. There is no inherent value apartheid South and has been lauded for experimenting in the museum for many residents of Lwandle. Many view with new and different narratives that complicate linear it merely as a tourist site while more pressing needs are notions of history and memory. The District Six Museum housing and employment. Yet, through its exhibitions, like functions as a re-instatement of community that is bounded Iimbali ZeKhaya (Stories of Home), sports and cultural together by different and contrasting memories of place. activities, collaborations with the nearby Khanyolwethu In its methodological approaches a space has been created and Simunyene high schools over educational programmes, ‘through which relations of knowledge and varied kinds identifying women and youth ambassadors for the museum, of intellectual and cultural practices have been brokered and even entering into discussions over housing, it has and mediated between different sites, institutions and slowly begun to develop a museum community. In its sociological domains’.14 Acts of visiting, listening, permanent exhibition on a panel entitled ‘Dreaming of recalling and recording are the modes of establishing a a Beautiful Lwandle’ there is a somewhat triumphalist community of memories in what has been described as assertion about how what was once intended only as a place a process of re-membering. The museum’s central image for male migrant workers living in isolated barrack-type is a map on the floor where ex-residents can inscribe the accommodation has been turned into a community with its addresses where they lived and places they recall. Street own museum. This might be an overstatement but it does signs, which were secretly stored away by a man involved signal how the museum has begun to make itself integral in the destruction of the District, serve as a material in the process of constituting a public citizenry in Lwandle. reminder of what once was, and assert the preservation of In this exhibition, adjacent to its title and a photograph of memory amidst all the destruction wreaked by apartheid. the new family units all with solar heating panels, I pasted A large cloth serves not only as a comments type book a notice quoting one of South Africa’s leading historians but also invites recollections of place. The folds and layers who (citing with approval the work of the sociologist of the memory cloth are testament to a museum where Heribert Adam) attributed what he claimed was a decline histories are being re-made almost daily. It is on this cloth in history to a focus on needs, expectations and aspirations where I placed my second dilemma label. It contained a in contemporary South Africa. The dilemma label read: quotation that ascribed the crisis in South African history to ‘The past is now far less important than the immediate ‘the demoralising effects of post-modern critiques’.15 Post- future / Okundlulileyo akubalulekanga ukwegqitha ikamva modernism is interpreted as rendering ‘the unquestioned langoku’ [fig. 8].11 suddenly untenable’, making the ‘central, decentred’, and turning the ‘fixed’ into ‘fluid’.16 Instead of seeing In contrast to Lwandle, which was specifically constructed these moves as bold ‘experiment[s] with the boundaries as a place to accommodate African male workers on the of the historian’s genre’,17 South African historians were urban periphery, District Six has been part of the city of ‘unnerved’ by what they perceived as a fundamental Cape Town since the 1840s. Historians of Cape Town challenge to the very essence of history in ‘evidence, have described District Six as initially being ‘not only objectivity [and] truth’.18 On the memory cloth in the ethnically but socially mixed’, although by the 1870s it had District Six Museum, where a range of multiple, divergent become largely inhabited by ‘the poorer classes’.12 For histories were being inscribed, I affixed a sign containing a the advocates of racial segregation and later apartheid, quotation from an historian who claimed: ‘There is a world- such an area, close to the city centre, was an anomaly. In wide trend away from history, for which post-modernism the twentieth century, firstly under the banner of slum

3 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM the new nation and the quest for national reconciliation. for national quest the and nation new the of birthplace the as re-envisioned been it has would appear, site. Island, Robben aworld be to claim heritage successful its and Spirit’ ‘Triumph slogan, of Human the promotional Island Robben the in encapsulated is This of humanity. sense their retain and adversities overcome these survive, to show to howmanaged they evenimportantly more perhaps but, went through, prisoners the that hardships many the show to not is only intention The of imaging. its ingredient major the been has 1960s the that from prisoners political of 1996 in experience it the is amuseum into aprison from of island the transformation the Since Museum. Island Robben the than more narrative this encompass to seen been has museum No other Africa. South multicultural of a emergence the in culminating , primarily figures, by iconic ‘victory’ to through carried of ultimately hope, crests and of despair troughs descending and of ascending anarrative and struggle, apartheid anti- the in Congress National of African the ‘triumph’ ‘emergence’ the to given and centrality resistance, and couples apartheid continually that aparadigm nationhood, precolonial of indigenous an assertions history: national new of this part would considered be that elements various are There history. of national anew frameworks dominant the with consistent are that accounts produce to propensity astrong been has crisis historiographical apparent for the propounded been has that reason A third reinscribed as the father of the reconciled nation’. of reconciled the father the as reinscribed Cell Stories Exhibition and Archive and Exhibition Stories Cell it as. represent of Mandelaisation assertions these than contested Yet much complex is more and Museum Island Robben the of the ... tours to ’, Robben of to ... the tours the then, ‘centrepiece and cells communal various office, censor’s the to one who takes ex-politicalby prisoner an taken is tour prison The isolation. in kept was Sobukwe, Robert Congress, of Pan-African the leader the where house the and laboured, leaders political where quarry World lime the the War graveyard, the Two installations, island, the on andfauna flora the line, coast along the wrecks the to pointed are bus the on visitors tour island the tour. On island the and tour prison the tours: go two on they island the on ‘Mandelaisation’. arrive visitors When as to referred been has what through inscribed primarily is narrative this out that have pointed commentators Many must surely bear some of some blame’ the bear surely must sphere’. public the in authority paternal with father symbolic in culminating to Messiah, hero sacrificial to leader born from phases, different movedof has through Nelson Mandela construction discursive ‘the which through of Mandela, genealogy abiographical in museum the places Mandela Nelson on Island Robben at emphasis of This cell. the photographs take desperately visitors as click furiously Mandela’s as to pointed is which cameras the Here cell. 22 On Robben Island, Mandela ‘has been been ‘has Mandela Island, Robben On 21 cell no 5 in BBlock no 5in cell [fig. 9] [fig. which opened opened which . 19

23

20

authorities as an isolation section’, isolation an as authorities by the A-Block, used in of ‘formerly cells single a series In shrine. anational be to appears what in subverted is 1999 of example in an how narrative island is the the on source of embarrassment for some who sought to place place for to who some sought of embarrassment source a aslave as became past of amnesia process deliberate almost an was there themselves slaveamongst descendants addition, In form. amuch on benign somehow more took New World, the in of and plantations hallmarks the bear not did Cape atthe slavery that of idea an propagation official the through was this hand one the On emancipation. [fig. [fig. 10] narrative’ anationalist behind mobilized being is power. and Now History authority of questioning terms in edge lost its has ‘History history: of national new contours the to of history acquiescence the bemoaning who was historian an from aquote contained (1987-1991), prison wore in following that label the Iplaced Veldtman Sazi that shoes the showing case adisplay On through “great lives of resistance and reconciliation”’. and livesof “great resistance through mainly narrated be to public domain the in for history Stories Cell spaces’. memory Most importantly multimedia into turned were cells prison which ways in the in innovative ‘was exhibition This Africa. South post-apartheid in exhibitions powerful of one most was the Museum Island Robben Island. the on exhibited and heard be to prisoners voices political of other allowed the thus exhibition This island. the on experiences their relating voice the of prisoner heard one the and cell the in button intercom an press to encouraged also were Visitors the item. to significance accorded prisoner the how indicated that anote and information biographical some with atext Alongside was imprisonment. their during them to significant as regarded prisoners political which political edge’,political have to lost much of its seems Africa South in ‘History somehow was dissipated. target that state apartheid the of demise the With overthrown. be to needed that enemy aclear was state of apartheid the institutions and forms structures, the in ‘History’ More generally tactics. and positions strategies, convincing and develop appropriate to who sought formations by different apartheid against struggles in mobilized it when was to value compared use distinct very lost its had history academic that be It may claim. this in articulated being is what It unclear is have diluted. somehow been history and politics between links the that academics some amongst sense the also is there nationalism with Finally, associations the despite submerged or reconfigured in the years following the years in orreconfigured submerged deliberately been either had centuries nineteenth early the to through seventeenth late the from Cape atthe slavery of Town. Cape of Museums Memories of Iziko Lodge Slave atthe exhibition new the in Iplaced label for the quotation Society. this Iused Historical African South the Journal Historical African South the edition of fiftieth the commemorate to aconversation in ‘deliberately sought to contest the tendency tendency the contest ‘deliberately to sought Cell Stories Exhibition and Archive Archive and Exhibition Stories Cell 27 asserted one of South Africa’s historians of one Africa’s South historians asserted 24 items were exhibited exhibited were items , the publication of publication , the . 26

at the at the 25

4 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa themselves higher up the ladder in the racial hierarchies disconnections I thought it would be fitting to start at of colonialism and later apartheid.28 As a result slavery the University of the Witwatersrand in 1992 when the was hardly invoked in public displays and did not feature History Workshop hosted a conference entitled ‘Myths, in museums whose buildings were associated with slave Monuments, Museums: New Premises?’ With political pasts. When slavery was depicted, it was not to show social transformation and the demise of apartheid seemingly and economic conditions but rather to assert a distinct imminent, this conference was asking what form and ethnic identity bolstered by apartheid’s racial classifications content histories in the public domain may or may not of ‘Cape Malay’.29 Since 1994 though there has been a take in the future. Or to put it much more crudely, as deliberate attempt to evoke memories of slavery at the Cape the conference’s icon suggested, should the Voortrekker in a political move that seeks to create a commonality of Monument in Pretoria, a symbol of Afrikaner nationalist oppression. Part of that politics involved the re-naming and apartheid history, be pulled down? of the Cultural History Museum as the Slave Lodge. The exhibition Remembering Slavery explicitly seeks to It was entirely appropriate that the History Workshop resurrect memories of slavery that have been submerged at the University of the Witwatersrand should host such in both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. A history of a conference. During the 1980s it was arguably at the the Slave Lodge, a reconstruction of the interior of the slave forefront of the production of popular histories in South ship, an illuminated column of memory inscribed with the Africa. Drawing upon extensive research undertaken by names of slaves and visual depictions of the journeys on social historians associated with radical Marxist scholarship the slave trade all form part of the exhibition. into the lives and experiences of the underclasses, much In the last room that bore the title ‘Cultural Echoes’ a of it making use of oral history methodologies, academics sign indicated: ‘exhibition under construction thank you aligned with the History Workshop produced histories in / uitstalling aan die gang dankie / umboniso uphantsi accessible form and language. These included easy to read kolwakhiwo enkosi’. books, newspaper articles, video productions and slide/tape shows for audiences conceived of as ‘popular’.31 Items in the room were used to indicate the cultural exchanges and appropriations that took place as clothing, But popular audiences did not adopt these methods and languages, and furniture traversed the world of the Indian histories with the enthusiasm that the historians expected. Ocean slave trade. On the wall there was a quotation from Official platforms and distribution networks of public Patric Tariq Mellet, formerly a printer for the ANC in institutions were circumscribed under the apartheid exile and later a co-founder of the South African Institute state. Popular history lessons hardly found their way into for Advancement. Mellet had embarked upon a search schools, museums, television or bookshops. One would for his ancestors whom he describes in his autobiography have then imagined that these historians would grasp the as ‘African Creole’: ‘two slave sisters, born of slave and opportunity the conference offered in 1992 and seek ways Khoi parents, married two French brothers’.30 In the Slave for their histories to enter the public domain on a much Lodge building of of Cape Town his words wider scale. Yet, with a few very notable exceptions, this appear in a large italic script, in white and an off-yellow, on was not the case. As Ciraj Rassool and I wrote at the time, a black wall facing the artifacts. ‘All around us every day, ‘the conference organisers’ hopes that historians and other we experience the echoes of cultures from Asia and Africa academics would engage in debates about public history – and the fruits of labour of the enslaved people. This great were largely unfulfilled’. Academic historians seemed to be contribution of so many men and women, our ancestors, unwilling to enter what they saw as the possibly ‘tainting has far too long been blotted out by over-amplified colonial atmosphere of policy-formation and real world of lived narratives’. I placed my label about history’s lack of a history’.32 political edge below the quotation. The initial cynicism that found expression in 1992 became the basis of much greater reluctance amongst South African Popular and Public Historians historians through the 1990s towards engaging in history in the public domain, except as the purveyors of expertise. It Obviously I took some liberties with this signage and was expressed most strongly in the heritage-history debate was somewhat mischievous in taking these quotations, of the 1990s that relied very heavily on the work of David unacknowledged, out of the context in which they were Lowenthal.33 Heritage was seen as somehow a lesser field published and placing them in environments where they to history, the latter being regarded as a critical search for were not intended to appear and exhibition spaces that truths that were constantly open to scrutiny, debate and largely contradicted their assertions. But presenting these discussion, while the former was subject to distortions and as opposites in quite stark terms, and counterposing them manipulations in the interests of politics and/or commerce, with the ‘official’ museum dilemma labels, invites one often seeking to cast the past as immutable.34 Perhaps, to problematize affiliations between historians, histories with hindsight, such skepticism was not surprising given and museums. To think through these attachments and that powerful institutional, disciplinary and political

5 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM embark upon history writing projects. writing history upon embark to key for the communities as presented was profession that of the skills of historical acquisition itthe Here History. was Workshop, Your Write of History SACHED the and Own 1988 in Iauthored behalf on that book the in than evident no more is consciousness’. she asserted, historical This, orpopular sense common than powerful more centrally preferable and ‘more mediator, accurate, necessary the as presented was professionalism, and rigour to claims its with history, This methodologies. its and/or academy the through produced history to given was prominence which in of history ahierarchy upon drew texts history popular out how these pointed 1980s. has the Rousseau Nicky in history’ ‘popular in operation in were constantly mediations history’. disinterested critical, of informed, propagators and ‘guardians the are historians that he maintained, when succinctly, most view this up summed Jeff Guy circles. academic African South in tendency strong a very remains of conveying history, and analysis arbitration, determination, enables that amethodology in trained expert, scientific the as of historian notion the This as applied historians. applied as discipline the in expertise and knowledge their bringing projects, heritage-type and involved museums become in have But others disengagement. been therefore has academy the in by historians some aresponse bodies, museums and exhibitions; and, most recently, how heritage recently, most how and, heritage exhibitions; and museums new in meanings of historical productions the society; in transformations reflecting as read be field can heritage and how museum the museums; in production knowledge and expertise academic to claims between frictions enquiry; and debate to history up have work, opened their through and, binaries easy the resisted have consistently artists ways several the concerns; commercial and political contemporary with aligned are these how often landscapes; and projects of memorial construction the surrounding politics and meanings the are scholarship this in covered issues Some important analysed. of are sites a variety in of heritage reception and representation circulation, of production, politics the the where examined, critically are public domain the in constituted be to come histories ways that the about issues important scholarship’ where ‘heritage termed be can what in studies African southern of aproliferation been has There drawn. have been historians several where of heritage, practice the than rather studies, as heritage defined broadly area, this It in is public domain. the in of representation poetics and politics the around research and debates discussions, in immersed became they work how is of their accounts from emerges what experts, as upon called Although Johannesburg. Old in the Fort and Museum Apartheid the in Bonner Phil and Nieftagodien by Noor and claims land on and of Witwatersrand the University McGregor the in Legassick bydone Martin 36 When called upon by museums and heritage heritage and by museums upon called When 37 Here one can point to the work the to point can one Here 35

Secondly, while the concept of the production of history of history of production the concept Secondly, the while and excluded and how they should be represented. excluded howshouldbe and and they included should be personalities and events what elements, constituent groups over its opposing between conflicts and of negotiations result the often are produced are that pasts the of memorialisation, projects Zulu to relation in shown has Dlamini Nsizwa As product. historical the creating other, in each with atodds often are which histories, previous the and authors different many the are overlook sometimes formulations such What of production. politics the and of representation poetics the investigating involves than more apublic historian being But, of histories. production the went into that contexts social and methodologies genres, practices, forms, different the involvestherefore investigating approaching history as production’. as history approaching also is one of history” “production the approaching ‘in that, so public domain, the in created and represented are how histories consider to is public history in research much of the key underlying idea second The accord. own their on not do emerge representations But these shifting understandings of citizenship and identity’. and of citizenship understandings shifting and of interaction, networks globalised region, the power in of state cultures changing about questions ‘important raising practice, it asignifying investigation’ ‘demands as dismissal’. Instead contemptuous of ‘more than deserving Studies African of Southern of the edition of aspecial of words editors the the phrase has called the ‘cut the called of history’. has phrase evocative amost in Lalu Premesh what not making events and individuals to lead that of exclusion domination and regimes and show processes to the begin can One past. of versions of the other marginalisation the memory, and public as memories collective of certain privileging the memory, on placed constraints the histories, of producing processes in emerge may that conflicts the analyse can one of history, fragments or versions different the highlighting is orshouldbe’.is by, ‘notions world of the what present, and underpinned are that sites as but rather education and display conservation, of institutions as conceptualized be not merelyto are value’. of history, locations of one as these Museums, Lidchi’s attribute and ‘representations words, Henrietta in generate, histories different how these examine to begin can one locations knowledge’. different these all In of notion ‘multiple the ofit upon historical relies locations Odhiambo, of work ES Atieno use of the and Cohen David Making representation. as history on emphasis an is first The crucial. are ideas Two scholarship. heritage important critical this in located be can presenting Iam that history of public conceptualization the no doubt that be can There re-affirming the desire lines of modernist planning. of modernist lines desire the re-affirming and city, disturbing both post-apartheid the re-shaping is 40 40 , heritage seems to be now be to seems , heritage 41 43 Doing history history Doing

Journal Journal 42 38 39 By In In

6 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa seeks to understand public ways of knowing, it does not set it depicted and how these then came to constitute the out to engage with the public and their ways of knowing. museum. I started working through a series of newspaper Many historians are actively involved in ongoing struggles clippings located in the museum’s library. Many of to make different histories and what is at stake through these were in the same vein as the representations in the these deliberate engagements is a practice that contests museum, casting the events as an historical reenactment and effectively decentres the expertise of historians in the and celebrating the occasion. But as I was looking through academy. Instead of casting the historian as a consultant the clippings I was completely startled by one that I came who conveys history (usually defined as an empiricist who across. It is from page five of the -language can verify facts) to the public, the notion of practice is Sunday newspaper Rapport, dated 31 January 1988, and concerned both to understand the politics of production and contains a story by Nico van Gijsen that is headlined, the relationships with, and immersion in, the cut and thrust ‘White Team Takes the Place of Blacks Involved in of making history. Accident’. A smaller, less prominent, supra-heading reads ‘Dias Festival Opens with Gesture of Sympathy’. Above the headlines are two large photographs alongside each The Bartolomeu Dias Museum and other. The first, entitled ‘Bus Disaster’, is a news-type Incorrect History documentary photograph in a horizontal frame (across three columns) showing a tangled wreck of a large vehicle Let me briefly turn to two examples where I have worked in amongst a forest of trees. In the middle ground are as a public historian and where some of the processes I a group of men, most of them dressed in camouflage have referred to can be seen. The first is one of the newest type uniforms, with their backs to the camera, looking of South Africa’s ‘old’ museums, the Bartolomeu Dias towards the bus. Two of this group are partly facing the Museum complex in the Western Cape town of Mossel Bay. camera. Their attention is directed towards the bodies of The museum opened in February 1989, almost a year prior accident victims that appear, scattered in a clearing, in the to the moment, which we now know, heralded the imminent foreground of the photograph. The photograph is captioned formal demise of apartheid, the unbanning of political ‘POLICEMEN help injured black colleagues after their organizations and the release of Nelson Mandela and other bus that was taking them to the Dias festival, crashed over political prisoners. It is one of the most popular museums the edge of the Robinson pass. Thirteen constables died in in contemporary South Africa, drawing approximately the accident’. Alongside the crash photograph is another, 130,000 people annually. over one-and-a-half columns entitled ‘Festival goes ahead’. In contrast to the first photograph this one is spatially The largest building on the campus is a Maritime Museum orientated in a vertical direction and is a deliberately posed that celebrates and pays homage to a festival held in group portrait. Three women and a man, all with broad February 1988: the quincentenary commemorations of smiles, face the camera. The women are in the foreground the rounding of the Cape by the Portuguese captain, and appear in full-body length. The head and shoulders of Bartolomeu Dias. Artefacts, photographs and ephemera the man in the background are visible. He wears a white produced for and derived from this festival give this shirt with lapels and a white cap with a badge attached. institution its claims to permanence and authenticity as Two dark-haired women frame the photograph, standing a museum. Undoubtedly the highlight for visitors, and on either side of an elevated chair, dressed in a knee-length the primary reason for the museum’s popularity, is the skirt and shorts respectively. Sitting on the chair, at the presence of the caravel that sailed from Lisbon to Mossel central focal point, is a fair-haired woman, wearing a dark Bay at the end of 1987 [fig. 11]. The opportunity to go on top and pair of thigh length shorts. The group appears to board, walk around the deck, stand beneath the masts and be inside a boat. The caption reads: ‘The first of a group of then to descend to view the sleeping quarters on what is eight girls that are competing for the crown of Miss Dias, presented as a full-scale model of a 15th century caravel went to look at the bridge of the SAS Protea in the harbour that looks ‘exactly like its predecessor’ from the outside at Mossel Bay. The navigator, Lt Jaybee de Wet, was at entices the visitor. Although the ship is stationary, and a hand to show them around. The three in the photograph notice does tell visitors that the replica differed from the are (f.l.t.r.) Gaby Martin, 19 of Pretoria, Lara Field, 19, of original in that it had ‘luxuries’ for the crew, an engine and Cape Town and Maria Ferreira, 20, of Pretoria’. Steve modern navigational equipment, visitors to the museum Eggington is credited with the photo.44 imagine themselves at sea in a 15th (and not a 20th) century historical drama. These are two very different types of photographs. One documents an event as news, a ‘real event’, that appears Given the celebration of the 1988 Dias festival in the as ‘tragic’, ‘distant’ and ‘exceptional’.45 The other is Maritime Museum at Mossel Bay, and its reliance upon deliberately staged as publicity heralding and anticipating the ephemera created for the festival for its collection and the Dias festival. Why were these specific images being display, it seemed necessary that I find out more about placed beside each other, in a weekend Afrikaans language the commemoration, how it was organized, the images newspaper, on the eve of the festival proceedings in Mossel

7 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM To meet Dias and two members of his crew were actors actors were crew of his To members two and Dias meet of Mossel beach Bay. the on Dias’s re-enacted was landing of tableau Asmall proceed. could arrival, of European amoment around constructed was which festival, the that black as themselves rendering whites through only was 1980s, of late it the of one ironies the in of And, history. stage the 1488 in from concealed was arrived Dias when place took that incident The committees. festival various the to appointed were African and Indian coloured, as designated racially people selected state, apartheid the of politics reformist the with line In proceedings. the organized and Botha’s it sponsored that government by PW denials constant were involvement,obvious there their Despite PW Botha. president, African South the and Dias Bartolomeu for both past the stage to attempt an in masquerade and concealment denial, to resorted organizers festival event the of amulti-cultural image an of problems how manifold sustain the to with Confronted they called a ‘spectacle of a‘spectacle colour’. called they what for producing have retained still might organisers the hopes remaining any shattered entirely almost that open, to due was festival the day the on earlier, to referred crash bus the it was for Dias, imagery amulticultural providing at attempts the confounding aboycott With proceedings. only’. for ‘whites of amassive boycott to led the apart This 1988. set was in that land to It abeach was scheduled was Dias which on beach the concerning matter small the problem was this Compounding of Education. National Department only of whites the auspices the under convened was committee festival the multiculturalism, to claims were there Although state. apartheid the with associations problem of the was Secondly, ofone locals. there the killed shot atand arrow, bow Dias and water. his With fresh obtain to tried they as crew his and Dias at rocks threw later. of It tells how years inhabitants local several of Vasco Gama’s Da diaries the from voyage are landing we have do evidence of only Dias’s The depict. to sought festival the images the with inconsistent seemingly was we have evidence that And re-enactments. for the script the sustain to evidence historical little very was there society. Firstly, multicultural aharmonious as Africa South apartheid late depict to attempted of that afestival making the in surfaced that multiple contradictions the through tracked be can juxtaposition this that is Ihave argued What of publicity? amoment as alongside, primarily depicted, history’, being of ‘event an of re-enactment historical an about centrally was which festival, Dias the was Why arrival? “European” of wayafestival to their “black”, as making reports news in classified racially of policemen, group this was instance, Why, moments. for photographic the called, be might what for account and try to is though important as also is What newspapers. in captioned and positioned then and selected created, be to come images how and certain journalism of photo- analysis an in lies of explanation the Bay? Part 46 46 47

a multicultural past. To make this the central theme of the theme To central the past. this make a multicultural itself assign to attempting state apartheid the went into that but of contradictions Dias, the not of bearer, Bartolomeu the be to it shown should be but that should remain caravel the that is To of my argument essence the starkly, put it quite the of making 1988the intoDias that festival. went conflicts the and history own its upon reflect to should attempt museum the that argue to Ihave tried discussions these In museum’s the fordisplays. altering possibilities the about years two over last the staff and management museum the with meetings and involvedI have discussions been in apartheid’s festival. last of asymbol but it also is museum’sIt the is attraction, caravel? the with do to what question: one in up summed be can purposes, and intents all to display. Itsdilemma, on history its of changing aprocess upon now embarking is that museum for the not solve dilemma will one the accurate more another it with replacing offensive and label the But removing encountered. Dias that population indigenous the describe to stereotypes employsto racial referred exhibition the when for help, call especially clarion a almost is this of truth, guardian the as For historian the display: the with problems to visitors alerting label alcove the adilemma is Inside population. indigenous the and Europe from travelers early the between of encounters depictions containing dioramas miniature with exhibition an alcove an contains Meanwhile history. from hidden been have complex all they Museum of Dias the Museum Maritime the In Hammanskraal. from gymnasts of police the death the and accident of bus mention the no is there and of gallery the acorner in photograph one in unseen of Dias’s virtually is landing re-enactment the museum, the in atall not feature does boycott The apartheid’s festival. last perform to ‘blacks’ order as in masquerade to ‘whites’ had reversal astonishing amost In ‘group of black mask. whites’ in a were population local indigenous the who portrayed actors the that was astonishment in gasp spectators made of water. But what for adrink spring anearby to proceed away, to backed they land him of Dias, allowing part the Escorcio, saw who Manuel they playedAs afire. around gathered who had inhabitants, indigenous the representing Museum. Museum. of this staff the to addressed be required information for queries that we request Complex, therefore and Museum the to presented and donated it was as displayed is exhibition The exhibition. oftext this the in errors historical and of grammatical a number of Complex aware is Museum Dias Bartolomeu The Information Incorrect 8 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa museum would however offend several of the inhabitants of Hostel 33 has been on the agenda. And when it seemed the Mossel Bay who regard the festival merely as a depiction of issues would be resolved when new accommodation was history. The museum has thus, in its transformation brief, located for the residents, a new group of people moved in. attempted to re-cast itself as a museum of the people of In the minutes of the museum board dated 29 January 2007 Mossel Bay. It wants to ‘focus on local history, culture and one reads: the natural environment’, to ‘represent voices from all the inhabitants of Mossel Bay’ and to ‘redress the imbalances Hostel 33: This still remains a major concern. Some depicted by the Bartolomeu Dias Museum by producing people who were living there have got houses and new, logically themed, educational and stimulating have moved out, but a new group of people has inclusive exhibitions that promote social cohesion’.48 moved in without the permission of the museum. Essentially, instead of its legacy as a symbol of attempts The museum has no authority to evict them but to reform apartheid through notions of multiculturalism, it Lunga is to ask Simon to make a notice indicating wants to become a post-apartheid multicultural museum. that this is museum property.50 But perhaps some of my suggestions have been heeded. Included in the transformation brief is this objective: ‘To The notice went up but the following month the issue was provide an authentic interpretation of the caravel in its 1988 once again on the agenda. context’.49 While I would expressly disavow any notions of an ‘authentic interpretation’, it does seem that the space will Hostel 33: The problems still continue. Mrs. be opened, if only hesitantly, for the museum to interrogate Makhabane suggested going to ask the mother of the its own past. children in Hostel 33 to come to the museum for a meeting. In the end it was decided that we need to ask Xolani Sotashe (the Lwandle councillor) to assist Should There Be a Museum in Lwandle? and to possibly call in the police.

I want to end this talk by referring to what must be the What is apparent in the negotiations over Hostel 33 as an most devastating dilemma label that a museum has ever artefact and a display space is that a way to begin thinking encountered. I earlier referred to the Lwandle Migrant through the history of the Lwandle Migrant Labour Labour Museum that was developed on the basis of a Museum is not as a narrative of a community museum but preserved migrant labour hostel, Hostel 33 [fig. 12]. When as an ongoing struggle over the establishment and form of a the opportunity arose of also being able to take occupation museum community. of an old community hall, these plans expanded. On 1 May (officially Workers Day in South Africa) 2000, the Lwandle From initial research, and being involved with the museum Migrant Labour Museum was officially opened (it had as a board member, and sometimes researcher and editor for opened its doors the previous year) by the poet, journalist, its exhibitions, I anticipate that this will be the framework and ex-resident of Lwandle, Sandile Dikeni, when he that will inform the project that I have embarked upon to symbolically broke the chains of the past. The exhibition write a history of the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum. Memorising Migrancy, consisting mainly of photographs Lwandle, from its inception, consisted entirely of hostel collected in Lwandle by the museum’s first curator, type accommodation for workers who mainly serviced Bongani Mgijima, was somewhat sparse in the cavernous the nearby fruit and canning industry and the surrounding interior of the community hall [fig. 13]. But what those who municipalities of Strand, Gordon’s Bay and Somerset were in attendance might remember from that day was a West. These hostels were only intended for single men notice that the residents of Hostel 33, placed on the door of and notions of community were circumscribed within this the hostel. The notice read: world where the labourer was merely seen as a temporary sojourner in the city. Lwandle was never constructed as We the residents of Room 33 deside to write this a community. In terms of apartheid, as Bongani Mgijima notice desagree with you about this room to be a and Vusi Buthelezi have argued, the only form of official messeum. Firstly give us accomodation before you community for people classified as African was in a can get this room. Thank you. From room 33. bounded rural environment, identified in racial and ethnic categories.51 Nearly all hostel dwellers had been provided with new, upgraded, family-type accommodation, but not the Given the way that the migrant labour system was residents of Hostel 33. So, for the staff and the board of based upon a deliberate use of ethnic categories, the the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum one aspect of its Lwandle museum deliberately rejects apartheid notions operations as a museum has become negotiating with of community. Instead it seeks to establish the spatial local authorities and building contractors to find new configuration of Lwandle and all its residents as its accommodation for residents of Hostel 33. At almost every immediate community. But there have been other forces meeting of the board of the Lwandle Museum since 2000 that have attempted to shape the museum and the heritage

9 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM and Heritage Studies, Nungu Nungu. After many months months many After Nungu. Nungu Studies, Heritage and of Museum Programme African the from intern an with together Teka, Ngcani, Lungiswa Nobungcwalisa Smile, Lunga staff, by museum organised was that 2007 August women’s commemorate to in month museum atthe place took event that an refer to and note triumphalist this on of museum the account this end to tempting It very is museum. own its with acommunity into turned been has workers for aplace migrant male as only intended how once about was what assertion triumphalist asomewhat Lwandle. with It in ends and Cape Eastern the in homes their about It hostels. tells the in experiences their and Lwandle of who people livetoday in the stories the textually, and visually narrates, thus exhibition The worker. migrant the place to sought of apartheid planners the where space rural ethnic adesignated to a reference not definitely most is exhibition, the in itHome, appears as of one Lwandle (or as two homes. even three) maybe consider still Others buried. be to want they home where ofbut merelyaplace it work. apermanent For is others ahome by how some tell Lwandle not is considered that Africa and the Eastern Cape. Eastern the and Africa represent to seen were that those were upon it drew motifs the environment the landscape to and building museum the upgrade of Town City to Cape the plans up When drew sector. tourist the from coming not is only tradition African within cast is that a heritage preserve to pressure But this ‘comfortable stereotypes of an African “authenticity”’. of African an stereotypes ‘comfortable into ‘slips magically’ almost of migrancy history economic and political the portray to intention the that is us, tell home by the residents of Lwandle residents home by the of concept the to attached meanings and ambiguity the depict to seeks collected, photographs and research of this Tyhulu use Teka). Lungiswa making and exhibition, The Vuba, Bonke Kutala Buthelezi, (Vusi time atthe staff out by museum carried were that interviews the particularly work of museum, the preservation heritage the upon draws it board, museum the and museum the from researchers with collaboration in by Jos Thorne curated and Designed zeKhaya exhibition, way, permanent anew in unexpected an but in call this to responded has museum The peopleof from. the Lwandlewhere are should show museum the following terms: the in expressed is sector. This of museum the quarters several the within from come has place African ethnic an Lwandledepict as the tune of tourism’. tune the to dance ‘to asked being it was that found itself, establish to order in museum, the horizon, immediate the on of funding orno possibility little with position, vulnerable extremely an in Placed tourists. of international community a attract to tries museum the as about comes primarily This ethnicity. as cast often setting, urban an in Africaness timeless rural essential an depicts that one into it preserves ―Stories of Home, which opened in October 2005. October in of Home, opened ―Stories which 52 The result as Buthelezi and Mgijima Mgijima and Buthelezi as result The 54 A third set of pressures to to of set pressures Athird [fig. 14] [fig. . These are stories stories are . These Iimbali Iimbali 53

the hostel had become part of museum. the part become had hostel the Hostel 33, and 2007 in moved June residence out had in up taken had of that youths group the of negotiation, Museum’. Lwandle Migrant the from Library Peterson Hector of R150,000 the case ‘the is separating fence this wrote manager, museum the Smile, went fence up. Lunga the As museum, the from objections vigorous Despite property. its secure to putafence up to planning was museum the to adjacent library the staff, museum the and her to unbeknownst Yet wordsappeared, these moment atthe of their lives from those times times those lives from of their elements Hostel 33 to re-enacted doors and the opened 18 2007, of women August formally agroup Saturday On arrested. being often and regulations the defying hostels, 1970s late the 1980s, the and lived in during especially women had, many that was Acounter-argument workers. for migrant only were male hostels the as lives, their represent it should only that Lwandle arguing were in men Some of hostel. emerge the how depict to to began issues institutions be removed and a public precinct be created. be apublic precinct removed be and institutions the role’,‘proactive between fencing the that by suggesting Africa in she wrote article an in achievements these celebrated landscape, of urban the re-design this in involved deeply member, who was board museum and architect an Murray, Noëleen Library. Peterson Hector the nearby and office municipal used ahardly with museum the Lwandle, combining in of society civil institutions developmenttogether the brought envisaged, planners the as landscape, Cape Eastern an into museum’s surrounds the of turning instead that discussions of these result a It as was contested. and vigorouslywere discussed proposals these as of museum the of board the members and members community some staff, museum the with held of meetings aseries were 2005. in There environment the landscape to and building museum the upgrade to of Town how City to Cape the plans up Ireferred drew on Earlier community. over museum struggles continuing of the part it as mark to iteffective more is of aprocess end above the as described moment this of seeing instead that signal to want note. Irather celebratory this on end to not Ido want pessimistic, too of sounding risk atthe But, Lwandle [fig. 16] in established firmly being was community a museum that signal to it seemed and celebration and remembrances of It aday hostels. recollections, was lived the had they of when told stories years, younger their from photographs of assistance the with and, hall community the to returned craft. Similarly, the issue is not how to recover more hidden not hidden is how more recover issue to Similarly, the craft. a as history assert of and howmuch claim aquestion to it not is so that Iwould argue dilemma? the is then What DilemmasThe of Changing in History Museums in April 2007. The museum, she wrote, had played had a she wrote, 2007. museum, April The in 57

. [fig. [fig. 15] . Afterwards, they they . Afterwards, Architecture South South Architecture 55 But now the 56 10

Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa histories. Instead, the challenge of South African historians, as myself, Gary Minkley and Ciraj Rassool asserted at the conference, ‘Telling Stories: Secrecy, Lies and History’ held at the University of the Western Cape in 1999, is whether and how South African historians can broaden the concept of historiography from the limited confines of the academy, visualize their work in the public domain, and make visible and visual the productions of history.58 But making such a leap is not that simple. As Mgijima and Buthelezi, both former curators of the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, have shown in their account of a history of the museum, ‘nothing can be taken for granted, from the physical premises in which to operate and funds to mount exhibitions, to relations with the local community and visitors’.59 But it is not simply in establishing a museum or an historical narrative of its emergence where the difficulties are encountered. All histories are, after all, unpredictable and never simple. The challenges are in the spaces where one acts both as an academically trained historian and as an active member of the museum community. This is what Murray calls the ‘messy in- between space’ where one has to negotiate ‘difficult histories’ where different and competing narratives, claims and priorities constantly come up against each other.60 It is in what Kratz and Karp call the ‘museums frictions’, where ‘disparate communities, interests, goals and perspectives … produce debates, tensions, collaborations, [and] conflicts of many sorts’, that the public historian may be found.61 And, of course, where such transactions occur there is bound to be insecurity. But taking refuge in the safety of one’s knowledge and frameworks as many historians are doing, claiming there is now a crisis in history, and then harking back, with longing and some sense of desperation, to the issues and debates of the 1970s and 80s when South African history was supposedly flourishing, can only lead to stagnation. It is always in the tensions of insecurity and uncertainty that new and exciting knowledges are produced. As an historian one is always loath to make predictions, but it may be that it is in the public historian, who has to constantly negotiate and mediate between histories across a range of disparate domains and interests, that one can begin to visualize a future for the many, varied and different pasts.

11 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM or an account of how public history took root in root took or an account public how history of 8 ‘Who Rassool, and Ciraj Minkley Gary eslie Witz, 7 History’, and SA ‘Post-Mo Etherington, orman 6 Towards a Past? Own olin Bundy, ‘An Its of Image 5 in Popular ‘Developments Odendaal, Andre ee 4 that essays of acollection of his sub-title is the 3 is this position of statement extensive he most 2 CSPS at presentation Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, arbra 1 Notes

of Oral and Public History (Albany: State University University State (Albany: and History Public Oral of and Meaning Craft on the Essays Authority: A Shared Michael Frisch, see idea authority shared of the For 2006). Press, Massachusetts of University Boston: and (Amherst City in aPostindustrial History Public Experiment: Lowell The Stanton, Cathy see USA the F 1999, 1. July 14 11- Cape, Western of University Conference, Society Historical African South and History, Lies Secrecy, Telling Pasts?’, Stories: African South for Speaks L 10. 1996, 44, vol Books, of Review African Southern N 102. Africa, South from al History et Brown In ography’. Histori African and South American of Comparison C 278-286. Africa, South from History al, et Brown in J People’s History’ African ‘South Anthony, David 369-378; Africa, South from History al, et J Brown in Project’, History Your Write Own ‘The Witz, Leslie 258-267 ; Africa, South from History al, et J Brown in Eighties’ in the History ‘Popular Callinicos, Luli 362-367; Africa, South from History al, et Brown 1980s’, in the Cape in Joshua Western in the History S 1991). Press, (Philadelphia: Temple University and Practices Visions Alternative Africa: South from (eds), Delius Peter History Wiener, Belinda Bozzol, Shapiro, Jon Manning, Karin Patrick Joshua Brown, ayear later. abook as re-published 1980s and was the of and histories social radical the of aspects on different 1990) reflected that 46/7 (February Review History Radical in the appeared originally T (2004), 1-23. 51 Journal, Historical African Historians’,with South ‘Conversations Saunders, and Christopher thia Kros Cyn 2007); also see Afrikainstitutet, Nordiska psala: (Up Africa in South Memory Meaning Collective of The Politics: Day and Present Making (ed), History Stolten Hans Erik See Institute. Africa Nordic the of auspices under the Copenhagen, of University the at Studies African of Centre the held at a workshop from emerged that essays of collection edited the T 2001. Museum, Labour Migrant Lwandle Workshop, Culture Public of Institutions B - - - olin Bundy, ‘New Nation, New History: Construct History: New Nation, olin Bundy, ‘New 11 Poli Memory Museums, ‘Community Rassool, iraj 10 ‘Institu Scholarship, Public of Study the for enter 9 oel Solani and Khwezi ka Mpumlwana, ‘Memory, ‘Memory, Mpumlwana, ka and Khwezi Solani oel Individual’, 23. ‘The assool, 24 Individual’, The 36. assool, 23 Individual’, 23. ‘The asssool, 22 21 and Resistance Biography Individual, ‘The Rassool, 20 Afri South of Decades ‘Four Saunders, hristopher Nation’,undy, ‘New 79. 19 Speaks’, 25. ‘Who and Rassool, Minkley itz, 18 Nation’,undy, ‘New 79. 17 16 29. See Africa’, South New in the ‘History tolten, Museums’, 290. ‘Community assool, 15 Museums’, 288. ‘Community assool, 14 13 Vivian and Heyningen van Elizabeth Worden, igel 12

tive’. In Stolten (ed), History Making, 288. Making, tive’. Stolten In (ed), History Perspec APersonal Writing: Historical Academic can University Press, 2006), 307. Press, University Duke NC: (Durham, Cultures Public Transformations/ Global Frictions: Museum Rassool, and Ciraj blett Kirshenblatt-Gim Barbara Buntinx, Gustavo with and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, Szwaja, Lynn A Kratz, Corinne Karp, and Limits’, Possibilities in Ivan tories, His Africa: in South Transformation and Social tics, tee, Institutions of Public Culture, 2005). Culture, Public of Institutions tee, Commit Steering Town (Cape and Atlanta: brochure 2005-6’, Fellowships, poster/ Culture Public of tions C C C 1990). York, New of ment’, South African Museums Association Bulletin, Bulletin, Association Museums African ment’, South Environ in aTransforming Representation of Models New of Possibilities and Representation: Identity N R R R the of 1997, University 7October Cape, 23. Western Seminar, History and Contemporary African South History’, Public African South in C C B W B this position.. of lier statement an ear for History’ and SA ‘Po-mo Etherington, also S R R City a of Town:(Cape Philip, 1998), David Making 250. The Town: Cape Bickford-Smith, N texts in English and inisiXhosa. English texts all its presenting of practices seum’s exhibitionary mu the consistent to be in with order it translate to Idecided but in not isiXhosa was quotation The 78. Making, Stolten In Adam. (ed), History Heribert citing Africa’, South in Post-Apartheid Past ing the ------12 - - - - - 25, 2 (2001), 86. 37 Martin Legassick, ‘Reflections on Practising Applied Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa History in South Africa, 1994-2002: From Skeletons 25 Ciraj Rassool, ‘The Individual, Auto/biography and to Schools’, in H Erik Stolten (ed), History Making, History in South Africa’, PhD thesis, UWC, 2005, 129-147. 269-70. 38 See Noëleen Murray, Nick Shepherd and Martin Hall 26 Noor Nieftagodien, cited in Christopher Saunders (eds), Desire Lines: Space, Memory and Identity in and Cynthia Kros, ‘Conversations with Historians’, the Post-Apartheid City (London: Routledge, 2007). South African Historical Journal 51 (2004), 1. 39 J McGregor and L Schumaker. ‘Heritage in Southern 27 Paul Maylam, cited in Christopher Saunders and Africa: Imagining and Marketing Public Culture and Cynthia Kros, ‘Conversations’, 5. History’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 32, 4 (2006), 665. 28 Kerry Ward and Nigel Worden, ‘Commemorating, Suppressing and Invoking Cape slavery’, in S. Nuttall 40 Henrietta Lidchi, ‘The Poetics and Politics of Ex- and C Coetzee (eds), Negotiating the Past: The Mak- hibiting Other Cultures’, in Stuart Hall (ed), Repre- ing of Memory in South Africa (Cape Town: Oxford sentation: Cultural Representations and Signifying University Press, 1997). Practices (London: Sage, 1997),160

29 Carohn Cornell, ‘Whatever Became of Cape Slavery 41 David William Cohen, The Combing of History (Chi- in Western Cape Museums’, Kronos 25 (1998/99). cago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 23.

30 Patric Tariq Mellet, ‘Biography of Patric Tariq Mellet’, 42 Nsizwa Dlamini, ‘The Battle of Ncome Project: State South African History Online, www.sahistory.org. Memorialisation, Discomforting Spaces’, Southern za/pages/people/bios/mellet.pt.html, accessed 29 African Humanities, 13 (2001), 125-138. October 2008. 43 Premesh Lalu, ‘In the Event of History: On the Post- 31 See, for example, Luli Callinicos, Gold and Workers, colonial Critique of Apartheid’, paper presented at 1886-1924: A People’s History of South Africa, vol 1 the CSPS / African Studies Seminar, Emory Univer- (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1981); Luli Callinicos, sity, 15 February 2007. Working Life, 1886-1940: Factories, Townships and Popular Culture on the Rand: A People’s History of 44 Nico van Gijsen, ‘Wit span’, Rapport 31 January 1988. South Africa, vol 2 (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1987); Luli Callinicos, A Place in the City: The Rand 45 John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London and Harmond- on the Eve of Apartheid: A People’s History of South sworth: BBC and Penguin Books, 1973), 151-2. Africa, vol 3 (Johannesburg and Cape Town: Ravan 46 I borrow, rather liberally, the term from the title of Press and Maskew Millar Longman, 1993). Premesh Lalu’s book, The Deaths of Hintsa. Lalu 32 Leslie Witz and Ciraj Rassool, ‘The Dog, the Rabbit argues for the ‘event of history’ as generated in the and the Reluctant Historians’, South African Histori- writing of history and not simply that which hap- cal Journal, 27 (1992), 242. pened. It is the ‘formation, regulation and transfor- mation of historical statements’. 33 D Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (London: Viking, 1997). 47 Berna Maree, ‘A Spectacle of Colour’, South African Panorama, 33, 6 (June 1988), 4. 34 Jane Carruthers, ‘Heritage and History’, H-Africa, Africa Forum 2, 20 October 1998. 48 Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, ‘Transformation of the Bartolomeu Dias Mu- 35 Nicky Rousseau, ‘Popular History in South Africa in seum Research Brief’, August 2007. the 1980s: The Politics of Production’, MA thesis, University of the Western Cape (1994), 30. See also 49 ‘Transformation of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum Saul Dubow, ‘Thoughts on South Africa: Some Pre- Research Brief’. liminary Ideas’, in Stolten, History Making, 51-2 50 Minutes of Board Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, 36 Jeff Guy, ‘Battling with Banality’, Journal of Natal 29 January 2007. and Zulu History, 18 (1998), 157; see also Christo- 51 Bongani Mgijima and Vusi Buthelezi, ‘Mapping pher Saunders, ‘The Transformation of Heritage in Museum-Community Relations in Lwandle’, Journal the New South Africa’, in H Erik Stolten (ed), History of Southern African Studies, 32, 4 (December 2006), Making, 183-195, for a similar view. 796.

13 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM orinne Kratz and Ivan Karp, ‘Introduction: Museum Museum ‘Introduction: Karp, and Ivan Kratz orinne Inconsistencies’, with 32 ‘Working urray, 61 ‘Mapping Museum’, andgijima Buthelezi, 806. 60 59 ‘Who Rassool, and Ciraj Minkley Gary eslie Witz, 58 and Noëleen Smile Witz to Leslie Lunga mail from Inconsistencies’, with 32. ‘Working urray, 57 56 and Noëleen Smile Witz to Leslie Lunga mail from 55 Inconsistencies and with ‘Working Murray, oëleen ‘Mapping Museum’, andgijima Buthelezi, 805. 54 ‘Mapping Museum’, andgijima Buthelezi, 800. 53 52

Press, 2006), 2. Press, Duke University (Durham: Global Transformations / Cultures Public (eds), Frictions: Rassool Museum and C BKirshenblatt-Gimblett GBuntinx, with and TYbarra-Frausto, LSzwaja Kratz, C.A. IKarp, In /Global Transformations’. Cultures Public Frictions: C M M 27. 1999, July 11-14 Cape, Western of ence, University confer and History’ Lies Secrecy, ‘Tellingat Stories: presented paper Pasts?’, African South for Speaks L June 2007. 12 Murray, E M June 2007. 12 Murray, E 2007), 32. (March/April Africa South Museum’, Architecture Labour LwandleMigrant the at Design and Urban Heritage of Conceptions Competing Discontinuities: N M M - 14 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa Figure 1. McGregor Museum, Kimberley. Photo: Gary Minkley.

Figure 2. Renovation notice, McGregor Museum. Photo: Gary Minkley.

15 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM London Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz. Leslie Photo: Museum. London East participation, for Call 4. Figure Witz. Leslie Photo: Museum. London East Coelacanth, 3. Figure 16 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa Figure 5. Exhibition of settler frontier, Albany Museum, Grahamstown. Photo: Premesh Lalu.

Figure 6. Notice of closure of the diorama, IZIKO South African Museum. Photo: Wendelin Schnippenkoetter.

17 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM Witz. Leslie Photo: Museum. Labour Migrant Lwandle exhibit, Home of to Stories Dilemma attached 8. label Figure Witz. Leslie Photo: Museum. African IZIKO South Gallery, Cultures 7.Figure African 18 Figure 9. Memory cloth and Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa dilemma label, District Six Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz.

Figure 10. Dilemma label in Cell Stories, Robben Island Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz.

19 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz. Leslie Photo: Museum. Labour LwandleMigrant 12. Figure Witz. Bay. Leslie Photo: Mossel complex, Museum Dias Dias, Bartolomeu of voyage the commemorating caravel Reconstructed 11. Figure 20 Figure 13. The fist exhibition in the Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, 1999/2000. Photo: Leslie Witz.

21 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010) Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3(2010) Number Studies, in Museum Papers Working UM Jos Thorne. Jos by to opening designed Invitation Museum. Labour Lwandle Migrant F igure 14. Stories of Home exhibit, exhibit, Home of Stories 14. igure 22 Museums, Histories and the Dilemmas of Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa Figure 15. Opening of Hostel 33 by former women residents, Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz.

Figure 16. Telling stories of life in the hostels, Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum. Photo: Leslie Witz.

23 UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 3 (2010)