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The Routledge Handbook of Memory and Place

Sarah De Nardi, Hilary Orange, Steven High, Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto

Uncanny

Publication details https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780815354260-5 Sean Field Published online on: 06 Sep 2019

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There traces: are also many material onthesite, inpeople’s homes, andthosecuratedat symbolically empty. What remains is a proliferation of hauntings and other meanings (Jonker land,’ ‘empty traumaticspace,’ andothervariations. nor Butthisso-calledemptyspaceisneithermaterially archivefamily by racismandovershadowed Sixstory. by theiconic District displacements. This chapterisalsoanexcavation andoralremains of photographic obscured withinmy aboutcommunity lifebefore tive patterns memory beautyofthelandscapeandrecurrentnostalgic my meaningsofthispublic space. centralfocusisratherthepersonal This sitecontradictsboththeseduc- District Six Museum and former residents. SixMuseumandformer District the city. steered by strategies the memorial and the post- about its history Much has been written developmentthis apartheid aim. To thepresent day, of Sixloomslargeinthepopularimagination District The stateplannedawealthy whiteinner-citysuburb, residents resisted but thisdidnothappenasformer Sixwasarchitecture bulldozed intosmithereens, ofDistrict onlyplacesofworship were notdemolished. Sixresidents across stateforcibly allDistrict thecityandbeyond.the apartheid displacedanddispersed The South wereAfricans racially classified coloured, black, Asian, and white. And, under the Group Areas Act, communitya pre-apartheid erasedthrough racistforced displacements. Inthe1950s, underapartheid, all wasteland andweeds ofrubble Sixcommunity oncelived where theDistrict (Figure 3.1). Sixwas District painful sitesofmemory. Paradoxically, hidinginplainsight, ontheedgeofcitycentre istheperceived bysurrounded mountainsand oceans. But thisenvironmental conceal beauty and its appealingsurfaces The cityofCape Town isstunninglybeautiful. colonialcentre nestleswithinthecitybowl Itshistoric area and unconscious –create uncanny sensesofplace. temporalities –conscious andpsychoanalytic modes ofthinkingtoexplainhow differing both historical affects are childhoods, especially unconscious early childhood. This means we need to discursively deploy that uncanny associationsare evoked by spacesand objectsinthepresent but thepastsources forsuch – where District SixthrivedThe bleak before space –where erasure District – isfrequently referredtoas ‘empty,’ ‘empty Removals, remains, anddeferred regeneration UNCANNY DISTRICTSIX 1 sketch the District Six history before andafterremovals, Sixhistory I sketch theDistrict but Introduction Sean Field – theuncanny – thatemergesfrom thefamiliar. 3 31 & Till 2009; 2 I argue Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 across generations. with here isin no way Sixcommunity that still reverberates than the pain ofthe District more important Six. lived Myfamily there from 1956to1962andwere notforcibly removed. archiveThe family I engage strangeness (Royle 2003). Secondly, itisevoked by working through my dynamicslinked family toDistrict several have shapedby authors abouttheuncannyitsambiguityand isnecessarily notedthatwriting with reflections about the deferred regeneration of District Six. with reflections aboutthedeferred regeneration ofDistrict provide pathways toanalyseacity’s orbeautifulsurfaces. asmore thanitsnostalgic memoryscape I conclude Six, of District out ofplacewithpublic memories but a psychoanalytic reading shows that uncanny evocations Six.other parental issuessincemy in1961District birth I arguethattheuncanny mightbe perceived as Figure 3.1 Anxious ambivalences have ofthischapter. dominatedthewriting There are three broad reasons. Firstly, is experienced and erupt inthepresent. anderupt is experienced and desire, are etched deep in living memory, through which the city a supervening grid form ofthecity. discourses temporary Just city, ass/hehaunts thepost-apartheid itslinesof yearning The figure oftheforcibly removed akindofabsentpresence atthecentre ofthe con- forms A city view locationofourLemmington from theprior Terrace home. 3 Thirdly, aboutearlychildhoodinvolves writing withmy encounters parents’ racismand Before andafter removals Sean Field 32 (Murray, Shepherd & Hall2007) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 remembered thereafter. towillneitherbethecommunity beforespatially return erasure northecommunity imaginatively social regeneration, but andin-process itremains partial (Field2012). The kindofcommunity people Six. ofDistrict imaginings These public projects have rebuilt community networks of andare aform and public education programs, which creates a social framework to hold memories, emotions, and tore-connectresidents witheachotheratexhibitions, withopportunities book launches, music events, symbolically ‘returns’ residents (Coombes 2004; former 2001). McEachern former The museum offers entrance flooroftheMuseum(Figure 3.2) andworks asamnemonicdevice, whichrecalls placeand Six(Rassool &Prosalendishomes ontoastreet 2001). mapofDistrict The mapislocatedbeneaththe both selfandcommunity identity. theirfamily The mostprofound residents writing activity isformer and are interviewed onsite. The rekindling ofplacestimulates theimaginative ‘holding together’ of andpublic cloths dialogues. ontomemory visitor experiences theirstories residents inscribe Former success thatitdeveloped museum. intoapermanent The Museumplacedconsiderable emphasison Sixwas foronlytwo plannedtorun exhibitionaboutDistrict weeks.rary Butitwas suchapopular Six. the westernsideofDistrict (Jeppie & Soudien1990). The oneexceptionwas thecontroversial ofauniversity construction campuson District-Six’ campaign. They were largely successful at blocking economic development in the 1980s coalitionoforganisations, ofananti-apartheid impetus totheformation forexample, ‘The Hands-off- suburbs (Field2001). The widespread anguishandangerthatwas evoked by theseracistremovals gave of theCapeFlatsbecameknown asthe ‘dumping grounds’ ofpeopledisplacedfrom theolderinner-city , Hanover Park, Mitchells Plein, andothernew townships. designedtownshipsThe apartheid to theso-calledrural out theregion ‘homelands’) andpeopleclassifiedas ‘coloured’ went toBonteheuwel, Sixer’sDistrict classifiedas ‘African’ were township relocated totheapartheid ofGuguletu(orendorsed Six andover 200,000across thecityinwhatwas amassive program ofsocialre-engineering. apartheid whenthey werefamilies toberemoved. More than60,000peoplewere forcibly removed from District uitous ‘knock onthedoor’ was thedreaded momentwhenGroup Areas cametoinform inspectors potential anditsculturaldiversity was anathematotheonsetofapartheid. Sixwas deemeda District ‘slum’ by anditsproximity cityplanners tothecity centre gave iteconomic found employment inthenearby citycentre, theharbour, factories. Bythe1940s, andtextilegarment pie & Soudien1990; Mainguard 2017). Italso hadanetworkshops, andstreet oftraders corner andmany musicvarious genres, dancebands, New Year’s carnivals, youth gangs, andathriving ‘bioscope’ scene (Jep- Wars found a home there. More significantly, the area had a diverse popular cultural life, which included Six. District and many sailors, migrants, andpassingtravelers from andEastfoundresidence innearby theNorth gence of Kimberlydiamond and Johannesburg gold mining, grew port imperial as a British century, ‘coloured identityhadcrystallized’ 2005: (Adhikari 2). Moreover, from the1860swithemer- and slaves from Asia and Africa, adoptedthelabel whogradually ‘coloured’ and, by thelatenineteenth neous untilthelate1950s(Field2001). Mowbray, , Claremont, Retreat, andotherspaceswere, tovaryingdegrees, culturallyheteroge - often exaggeratedinliberalimaginaries, inCape Town, residential Six, pockets suchasDistrict Woodstock, entrenched racialdivisionsernments through jobandaccommodationreservation across thecountry. While known erasure. urbanexamplesofapartheid Before 1948, South colonialandsegregationist gov- African SixinCape District Town, Sophia Town inJohannesburg, andCatoManorinDurbanare themostwell- The Hands-Off campaign was a forerunner to the formation ofthe Museum.The Hands-Offcampaign was to the formation a forerunner In1995a tempo - After District Sixwas zoneda After District ‘white area’ in1966, removals from occurred 1968to1982. The ubiq- In thetwentieth century, from returning theSouth soldiers African War (1899–1901)andboth World inthe1830sandmany earlyresidents were Sixoriginated emancipatedindigenousKhoiSan District Uncanny Six District 33 4

Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 above ahighway, thencalledDe Waal Drive, Sixisdirectly belowthehighway whereas District Figure 3.2). mington Terrace home, which my parents referred to as being in the suburb of . That suburb is two siblings, 1953).Yvonne 1951)andRonald(born (born aboutourLem - I grew upwithmany stories to 1962. there I was in 1961but have born spaces. ofthishomeandthesurrounding nomemories have I ofmytograph motherwithme; thirdly, withmy interview mother. anoralhistory tracesfrom archive:memory thefamily firstly, aconversational disclosure by my brother; secondly, apho- which were toldaboutmy others mirrored upbringing. tomethrough three I interpret overlapping stories discursive psychoanalysistomake senseof. This acknowledged, I explore tracesofmy earlychildhood, embodied memories, anduncanny sensationsfrom earlychildhood, but suchelusive phenomenarequire damental experiences in those early years. damental experiences It is strange that the initial three years of human life remain outside conscious memory. Yet we have fun- Figure 3.2 The firsttrace. lived My family inanarrow semi-detachedhouseonLemmington Terrace from 1956 frightening? familiar. How isthispossible, becomeuncanny inwhatcircumstances and canthefamiliar whichleadsbacktowhatisknownthe uncanny ofoldandlong is thatclassofthefrightening District SixMuseumfloormap.District SeeConstitutionStreet, below De Waal Drive. 5 In later life stages, we might have flashbacks, echoes, auditory Family remains Sean Field 34 (Freud 1919: 220) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 moment: my parents hadconflictingpositive/negativegroups, blood cameinto andhence therhesus-factor glimpse ofthathouse, and arare linkingoforalandvisual traces. on to, itwas tanandwhite, thisisthestepsofLemmington Terrace, sittingwithyou.’ This ismy only visual have robe onthatwas – itwas achristening – Ihave inthefamily from my apretty motheroriginally dress a Madonnapose. Perhaps composedthe scene. my andphotographer Catholicfather Inherwords, ‘You (Figure 3.3).at meinherarms Itwas taken on11December 1961, day. my christening Mymotheradopts was amistake, but he was alovely mistake.’ issmall(8x9 cm).The photograph Itshows my mothersmiling I were ofthosepolicies. beneficiaries forgotten, statewas but theapartheid alsoawelfare stateforthewhiteworking class, andmy and family that department’s minister, PWBotha, Minister. Prime apartheid wholaterbecameaninfamous Itisoften housing project oftheapartheid, ofCommunity Development. Department The suburb was namedafter neighbourhood. In1969, they moved suburbs. from MaitlandtoBothaziginthenorthern Bothazigwas a in 1948.Africa In 1962, my moved family Six to Maitland, from District which was a whiteworking-class had three years ofhighschoolinBirmingham, before joiningtheBritish in1940,Army comingtoSouth only hadoneyear compelledhertoleave ofhighschoolwhenherfather schooltowork, andmy father my mother. hinterlandofthe intherural Herparents were tenantfarmers Western Cape. Mymother African, inhabitantsseekingafootholdinthecity, andwhiterural thatwas girl suchastheunskilledfarm like veteran army soldiers my father. British former Six absorbedmigrant And itabsorbedpoorcoloured, co-incidencethatmy livedwas Six, family justahistorical inDistrict but itwas noco-incidence. District many labellingofwhere engagedinthesameracistdenialsorincorrect they lived (Field1996). withwhiteworking-classinterviews residents ofotherculturallydiverse communities, suchasKensington, ‘underestimated emotionofenvy’ (Steedman1986: 6). This isnotexceptional; whenI was conductingPhD fromdistance thefamily South ofcolour,Africans toimprove andefforts positionentailedthe theirmaterial harder, soyou canbebetteroffthanwe are.’ Their desire forupward classmobilityinvolved attemptsto desire tobe and throughout‘better off’ my intomy childhoodmy drummed head, father ‘you must study fuelled by theirshameover thefamily’s positioningwithinaracialisedclasshierarchy. They hadadeep Sixisindeedevidence ofracism.together withtheoraldenialofourhomebeinginDistrict This was partly but indicatesourhomeaddress as: ‘63 Lemmington Terrace, offDe Waal.’ Drive fudging This documentary speaks ofcoloured children playing intheroad asifthey came from mysteriously elsewhere. there were too. coloured families certainly Yet my motherportrays ‘all’ ofLemmington Terrace aswhite, and only beganseveral blocks below from where we lived. Lemmington Terrace hadseveral but whitefamilies mother’s narrative, as Sixwas described District ‘down there’ or ‘down where itwas rough,’ Six asifDistrict 1956 move toLemmington Terrace was familyhousethey significant asit rented.was thefirst Butin my on theedgeofarea. From 1953to1956my rented in family Vredehoek where ‘we hadrooms,’ but the of other residentsfrom it was the stories Six community, unequivocally of the District seen as part albeit tution Street’). Upper Constitution Street according Six and to municipal maps is very much in District Lemmington Terrace was onUpperConstitutionStreet (someresidents infact refer toitas ‘old Consti- Vredehoek. Mybrother’s me: corrective response surprised aconversationDuring withmy brother – inthelate1980sIreferredtoourtimeLemmington Terrace, She lookshappy inthephotograph, but theimagedepictsmore thanthat. was Mybirth alifeordeath The secondtrace. With noirony, my physical by conceptionwas my constantly described motheras, ‘Sean Before I beganexcavating my archive family (Field2013), forotherarticles I usedtobelieve thatit – completedby my certificate My officialbirth mother – doesnotindicatethesuburb where we lived trict Six,trict sothey toldeveryone we lived in Vredehoek becausethatisawhitearea. coloured neighbours. Lemmington Terrace Six. isinDistrict They were ashamedwe lived inDis- That wasn’t in Vredehoek, you know how racistdadandmomare, they saidthatbecausewe had Uncanny Six District 35 6 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 29 May ‘in thecot’ nexttotheparental beduntilagethree. And I stay intheparental bedroom inMaitlanduntil it framesnotjusthappinessbut alsoherimmenserelief atmy survival. wasphotograph roughly taken aweek inLemmington aftermy arrival Terrace aftertwo months in hospital, I went andsaw you every day, even hitch-hiked onDe Waal Drive’ togetGroote Schuur hospital. This of therhesusfactor), whichwas compoundedby themother-childseparation. Repeatedly shesaid, ‘But bator andtwo monthsinthehospital. was Mybirth a ‘shock tohersystem’ knowledge (shehadnoprior two-months premature, severely jaundiced, weighing onlythree pounds. I hadaten-day stay inanincu- presence. This was five beforeyears the invention of in-utero blood transfusions. So, I conflict withmeasthethird child. In-utero, my mother’s anti-bodies were attacking my blood asanalien Figure 3.3 My near-death birth marked,My near-deathbirth whatsheadmits, ofher thebeginning ‘over-protectiveness.’ Shekeeps me 1969, the day we moved to Bothazig. I On thestepsof63Lemmington Terrace. was exactly seven years and ten months old. see this Others Sean Field 36 was a rhesus baby, Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 pursuit abroaderpursuit aim: to make Sixanditsmany mirrors. senseofuncanny District the bestshewas able toprovide. This self-reflexive process hasbeenproductive writing andallows meto ofherrelentlessers anxiety. – whichleftmuch I now unseen –was acceptthatherconditionalmirroring Schuur hospital, Six, thenDistrict andintothecity. asI passthesespatialremind Mybodysilentlyshudders - continued inothercommunity spaces. Over theyears, I have driven alongthehighway thatpassesGroote to excavate Sixand fragmentsofmy beneathherengulfingbehaviour selfburied thatbeganinDistrict ter, source, historical I insteadchosetoempathicallytrackthatimpulseitsinfantile whichallowed me Sixrecedes.District For many years I dismissed this narcissism as disingenuous. thischap- Butby writing In working through thesetracesinrelation tomy mother, my narcissistic impulsetobeplacedwithin explore spacesbeyond hercontrol. The mother-childdynamicis: couldnotprovide.ally detachedfather Shewas alsothreatened by herchildren’s needtoindependently life. Mymotherwas achildlike parent, constantlycraving positive andlove, mirroring whichmy emotion - Her love andwas knew driven noboundaries by herchildhoodtraumasandunfulfilledneedsinadult tonurtureadmiration forherconsiderable me. efforts Ontheotherhand, my angeratherinabilitytoletgo. feelings thatmorning. mother hadjustdied. anddeathasexitevokedThe closetimingoflifeasentry anuncanny mixture of of in-utero movements child, ofourfirst Ella. Five minutes later, usthat my father phonedtoinform my morning 31 July morning conducted eightmonthsaftershewas diagnosedwithfrontal lobedementia. At about5.30am, Sunday me contextualisemy birth, stories, family thephotograph. andtointerpret However, were theseinterviews ofheranxieties. the familiarity asaperfectpicturephotograph ofmotherlylove, but tomeitfeelsalienwithuncanny echoesfrom within in family photograph collections, photograph in family oralmemories, and conservative politicalsensibilitiesofolder coloured colonialism and liberal paternalism. can still be found discourses that drawsA hankering on such imperial diverse haven post-emancipationBritish obscures during ofthiscommunity how occurred theformation ofracistdisplacement.ries However, Sixasaculturally District ofpre-apartheid constructions nostalgic and beyond. Six painfully sedimented that iconic image through erasure the inju- of District The apartheid ofpeoplewhoself-identify as coloured across theCape Six toiconicstatuswithinthe popular imaginaries still tobewritten. genealogy willmakeThat historical more elevation explicable theimagined ofDistrict (1806–1910)is regime imperial theBritish (1652–1806)andduring from thelateDutch colonialperiod on theproduction ofcoloured identitiesandspaces(Erasmus 2001), agenealogy ofthecategory ‘coloured’ 2005). 2013)andpopularagencies (Adhikari creolisation (Constant-Martin While there isahistoriography reducible toso-calledmiscegenationbut are, inpart, and, acolonialpoliticalconstruct inpart, aproduct of through Six. popular cultural processes incolonialinner-cityspacessuchasDistrict These identitiesare not umbrella category The nineteenth-century ‘coloured’ ofcreole identities, maskstheclustering whichcohere While listening to the interviews ofmyWhile listeningtotheinterviews deceasedmother, voice herfamiliar evoked, ontheonehand, an The third trace. In1999, I conductedthree sessionswithmy interview mother. helped These interviews . transformations andexternal internal less significantandidentifiable asanobjectthana process thatisidentifiedwith cumulative of rapport withtheotherwasof rapport theessenceoflifebefore words existed. inbeing,experience ratherthanmind, becausethey ofuswhere express theexperience thatpart erential, but are fundamentally outside of cognitive experience. They are registered through an 2001, my then wife told me to feel her pregnant stomach so I Uncanny Six District Uncanny Six District . . theuncanny: suchmomentsfeelfamiliar, sacred, rev- 37 could have my touch first (Bollas 1987: 32) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 affects. Foucault’s framingof ‘heterotopia’ couldbeusefullydeployed ofcolonial a spatialhistory inwriting Heterotopia holdsutopianand dystopic views, at times inconflictingtemporalsequenceand withuncanny lated. The answer liesinheterotopia asthespaceofmixed mirrors. extremities,in mindtheseimagined we- needtocreate holdingframesforotherpossibilitiestobearticu reinforces binary: negation. acrude perfectionanddystopiaasimagined utopiaasimagined While bearing times’ commenced. This split-view asutopiaversus ofbefore thedystopiaofpresent apartheid andfuture fine before apartheid, during ‘thegoodpeacefultimes,’ destroyed but apartheid everything and ‘badviolent to gain restitution continues. Temporally, narrative is asfollows: Six nostalgic the District everything was Paradoxically, removes nostalgia thesubjectfrom history, whilethedesireand tobemirrored inhistory displacement. alsoinvolves Butnostalgia desire or, more significantly, unfulfilleddesires: dynamicsbefore offamily aspectsofintra-communitying ofuncomfortable contestationsandhistories tions from how functionsandhow childhoodinunderstanding nostalgia itinducestheforgettingorsilenc- section (see also O’Connell 2015) heid removals managedtoforge ‘new communities’ ontheCapeFlats (Salo 2005). provide thedailystresses oftheunsafepresent. somesolacewhileenduring And, yet,- thevictimsofapart were all happy together’ is a common response. Inthiscontext, of nostalgia it is little wonder that forms Sixasa safe andpeacefulcommunity ofthepre-erasure wherestruction District ‘we hadnothing, but we violenceofpovertystructural lives dominateprecarious ontheCapeFlats. For oldergenerations, arecon- governance.has dramatically increased under post-apartheid violence and the Both common law criminal abuse, drugs, andothervicissitudesofworking-class life. Notealsothatpoverty, inequality, andviolence are saturatedwithnarrativescourses ofbroken damagedby families domestic and gangviolence, sexual violent ganglandsacross theCapeFlats, amajoreveryday issafety. concern These anxioussafe/unsafedis- networks (Field2012: 87–100). Moreover, forthethousandswhohave fordecadeslived inpoverty-stricken, self-cohesion inthepost-removals contextmarked by thesocialfragmentationofcommunity andfamily mentalplaceswereas iftheirinner-selfwas of tosustainadegree fragmentedandimaginary reconstructed removalsrienced asthesevering ofemotional attachments totheir community spaces. For many it was also and community Sixandwhoexpe- whichwas especiallydevastating andraisedinDistrict forthoseborn reinforced with others. through patterns shared memory loss of home This is a response to the historical the uncanny, andthehappySix. tropeforapre-erasure family thatdominatesthenostalgia District generations. inmind,With thesediscourses I focusspecificallyonthe losses,relationship between historical These interweaving explanationsare crucial, archives family but engaging – asIhave doneintheprior isanimaginativeNostalgia process offramingevocative driven by psychicdefensesand memories space. occurs,time andourhistory thespacethatclaws andgnaws atus, isalso initselfaheterogeneous The spaceinwhichwe live, whichdraws usout ofourselves, inwhichtheerosion ofourlives, our this virtual pointwhichisoverthis virtual there. As forheterotopias assuchhow canthey bedescribed? itandabsolutelyunreal,space thatsurrounds sincein order tobeperceived ithastopass through at themomentwhenI lookmyself intheglassatonceabsolutelyreal, connectedwithallthe intohistory.time andspacebefore entry values, for anabsolute, a nostalgia ahome that isboth physical and spiritual, the Edenic unity of ing fortheimpossibilityofreturn, forthelossofanenchantedworld withclearbordersand forahomethatnolongerexistsor hasneverA longing existed . . . . functionsasaheterotopiaThe mirror inthisrespect: itmakes thisplacethatI occupy – suggests that more attention needs to be given to the uncanny evoca - Sean Field 38 . - . isamourn nostalgia modern (Foucault 1986: 23–24) (Boym 2001: xiii) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 1,260 families were1,260 families andwere toreturn given promised thelegalright housing, but they are stillwaiting. Mandela handedthekeys to24families, but sincethenonlyanother 115 houseshave been built. A further sitehasbeenrepeatedly stalled. totheoriginal community return At a2004ceremony, President former is significant. The Museum named its new public education space ‘the HomecomingCentre.’ Butthe heals norfulfilsthedesired toa emotionalstate. mythical pre-injurious return (Kohon 2016: withthecitylandscape. 13)andincongruent The siteremains asaspatial wound thatnever has become nostalgia ‘strangely familiar’ and the site of erasure continues to be ‘disquietly unfamiliar’ In summary, Sixmemoryscape: theundecidability oftheuncanny dominatestheDistrict where on-going myths thatframe people’s intersubjective attachmentstospacesandwhatunfoldsafterforced displacement. memories, tothemixtureand psychicconditionsofpossibilitythatgive ofnostalgic rise fantasies, and andaffectivitybetween ofspaces. themateriality We thesocio-political, alsoneedtohistoricise economic, converge andevoke uncanny sensesofplace. objects are encountered, orpeoplemove through spaces, affectstravel from thesetemporaldirections to the-present unconscioustransmission ofenigmaticmessagesthatemanatefrom childhood. As mnemonic ofheterotopia anddystopia),the mirrors (which includenostalgia andontheotherhand, thepast-to- temporalities wherediffering potential answers lie. On theone hand, the present-to-the past reminders from in ofthemselves toexplaintheafterwardsness oftraumaortheuncanny. Itisthrough theintersectionbetween violenceare sufficientexplanations ofexterior scenesnortheintrusions ofchildhoodfamily the interiority early childhoodscenesandlaterlifeevents toproduce traumatictraces(Laplanche1976). Inbrief, neither syndrome (PTSD) –andprefer theLaplanchianview, whichfocusesonthetemporaldialecticbetween istered inlanguage. Moreover, I differwith ‘event-centred’ notionsoftrauma –suchaspost-traumaticstress the relationship between trauma and the uncanny (Masschelen 2011), given that both are not directly reg- trauma. But there is an unresolved conceptual problem, has not clearly worked psychoanalytic theory out but itspre-linguistic childhoodsource meansthatitisaweird traumaticinorigin companionto necessarily ofchildren’sering emotionalattachmentstohomes, streets, andothercommunal spaces. The uncanny isnot are fueledby uncanny affectsfrom pre-linguistic andearlychildhoodcompoundedby apartheid’s sev- state’s suchastheapartheid family Sixcommunity. dismantlingoftheDistrict family life or losses inflicted in later by institutions beyond and comprehend)to register the historical the andcomprehendscenes constituteunconsciousframesthrough (orare unable whichpeopleexperience silences orconcealsthesedifficultpainfulaspectsofparent-child relationships. Theseearlychildhood mirroring,of faulty tovaryingdegrees, occurwithinallfamilies, but thehappy trope family ofnostalgia causeofnarcissist wounding,mary acentralpsychoanalytic conception(Freud 1991[1914]). These forms 1977). Earlychildhoodlossesandexclusionsproduce problematic mirroring,- orfaulty whichare thepri an early childhoodlossesmightbebettertermed ‘absence’ (LaCapra2001)ora ‘constitutive lack’ (Lacan exclusion; lives shapethemselves around thissenseofbeingcutoffanddenied’ (1986: 6). However, such contrast to those that occur at later life stages. As Steedman puts it, loss, a first ‘All children experience a first the happy family. emotionalstate,unrealisable toapre-injurious fantasy toreturn through whichisarticulated thetrope of desires are foraspatialreturn notbeingfulfilled. Therealisable overlaps foraspatialreturn hope withan displacements across apartheid the city. who experienced and others continues as legitimate But mourning andways residents memories foridentitiestobeempathicallymirrored backtoformer a rangeofimagined SixMuseumhave oftheDistrict created strategies suchaheterotopicThe curatorial framework thatholds heterotopia provides aconceptualframetoapprehend andmeanings. thepublic circulation ofmemories planning,and apartheid regulation, Six. andgovernance ofinner-cityspacessuchasDistrict Moreover, Finally, residents Sixcommunity by andtheMuseum regeneration former oftheDistrict thepartial forfutureThese are tracethediscursive conceptualcontours research my webs tohistorically brief Sixspaceoftoday hasbeencalled The District ‘haunted’ by many (Jonker & Till 2009). These hauntings childhoodin during The trope ofthehappy oflossexperienced requires family ustodistinguishforms Uncanny Six District 39 Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 residents passonandbothrestitution andregeneration are repeatedly deferred. Sixwillbecome.space andcommunity thatDistrict Sadly, even asformer are fading suchopportunities residents willbetoseetheirchildren, former aging grandchildren, living grandchildren orgreat inthenew ofrestorationdegrees ofselfthrough community isconceivable. What mightbethemostmeaningfulfor When thehomecomingeventually happensforthiscommunity andcyclesofsociallifeare rekindled, Bennett, putit: shamesbothcityandnational governmentreturn departments. SixMuseumdirector,As the District Bonita Sixclaimantshave District (Rawoot beenreported 3,000 former 2016). However, process of theerratic Moreover, with the national re-opening of calls for restitution claims in 2014, a waiting list of a further Coombes, A.(2004). Constant-Martin, D. (2013). SoundingtheCape: Music, identityandpoliticsinSouth .Africa Cape Town:Boym, Minds African S. (2001). Thefutureofnostalgia. New York: Basic Books. Bollas, C. (1987). Theshadowoftheobject, psychoanalysis. oftheunthoughtknown New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press. Bennett, B. (2018). Sixwell CapeTimes, isourfinest District weapon. Remembering 9February. The Accessed 2Decem- Adhikari, M. (2005). Notwhiteenough, notblackenough, racial identityintheSouth Cape Town: colouredcommunity.African 6 5 4 3 2 1 Field, S. (2001). Lostcommunities, livingmemories: forcedremovals Remembering inCape Town. Cape Town: David Philip Field, S. (1996). The power ofexclusion: from Movingmemories totheCapeFlats,Windermere 1920sto1990s . PhD, University Erasmus, Z. (2001). Ebrahim, N. (1999). Noor’s story, my. Six life inDistrict Cape Town: SixMuseum. District conducted by theauthorwithMrs. (2, FieldatHermanus Hermie 4, and12 1999). April This was anunrecorded conversation withmy brother. All otheroralquotationsare from recorded sessions interview unconsciously configured. symbolic world oflanguage. And, by agefive, ‘object relationships’ between thechild’s senseofselfandthe world are ror stage’ between sixtoninemonths); towalk (between learning nineandfifteenmonths); intothe andtheentry Note fourdevelopments: the infant’s caregiver recognition thatitisaseparatebody/beingfrom (‘mir- theprimary fied. Thesecond round ofapplicationsare ongoingsince2016. After the1990s’ first round of restitution applications, over 130,000Cape Town residents had - restitution claims veri (1999). Six, lifeinDistrict Onphotoalbums andfamily seeO’ Connell(2015). Six, from District histories For popularaccountsoffamily (1996), seeFortune Ngcelwane (1998)andEbrahim (Triggnomenological 2012). For different definitionsoftheuncanny: thepsychoanalytic(Freud 1919), (Royle deconstruction 2003), andphe - (2004), Julius (2008), andRassoolProsalendis (2001). Six, ofDistrict For histories seeJeppie andSoudien(1990). SixMuseum, Onthework oftheDistrict seeCoombes Books. ber 2018, www.iol.co.za/capetimes/opinion/remembering-district-six-well-is-our-finest-weapon-13193002 Double Storey Books. Publishers. of Essex, Colchester. Kwela books. University Press. painful. practice hasbeenslow beyond comprehension, occasionallyopaqueinitsprocesses andoften community’s landclaims, theway inwhichtheLandRestitution Act hasfoundexpression in A pallofdisappointmenthangsover Sixcommunity. theDistrict Despitethesuccessesofthis Coloured by history, shaped by place, new perspectives on coloured identities in Cape TownCape Town:. History afterapartheid:History Visual cultureandpublic inademocratic memory South Johannesburg:.Africa Wits References Sean Field Notes 40 (Bennett 2018) Downloaded By: 10.3.98.104 At: 10:58 30 Sep 2021; For: 9780815354260, chapter3, 10.4324/9780815354260-5 Field, S. (2013). “Shooting at Shadows”: Private John Field, and why war he would stories not be interviewed. Field, S. (2012). Oral history, community anddisplacement: South inpost-apartheid Imaginingmemories .Africa New York: Pal- Trigg, D. (2012). ofplace, Thememory aphenomenology oftheuncanny. Athens: OhioUniversity Press. Steedman, C. (1986). Landscapeforagoodwoman: oftwolivesA story . London: Virago Press. Salo, E. (2005). inthenew Negotiatinggenderandpersonhood , adolescentwomen in andgangsters Royle, N. (2003). Theuncanny. Manchester: ManchesterUniversity Press. Rawoot, I. from (2016). theashesofapartheid. torise Sixfails MailandGuardian District , 19February. Accessed 2 Rassool, C., andProsalendis, S. (2001). Recallingcommunity inCape Town. Cape Town: SixMuseum. District O’ Connell, S. (2015). Injury, illuminationandfreedom: Thinking abouttheafterlives through ofapartheid family Ngcelwane, N. (1998). SalaKahle, Six, District an woman’sAfrican perspective. Cape Town: Kwela Books. Murray, N., Shepherd, N., and Hall, M. eds. (2007). Desirelines, space,. city andidentityinthepost-Apartheid memory London: McEachern, C. (2001). Mappingmemories: Politics, Six Museum. place and identity in the District Masschelen, A.(2011). Mainguard, J. (2017). Six, Cinemagoing inDistrict Cape Town, 1920sto1960s: History, politics,LaPlanche, memory. J. Stud - Memory (1976). Lifeanddeathinpsychoanalysis. Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press. LaCapra, D. (2001). history, Writing trauma. writing Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press. Lacan, J. (1977). Ecrits, aselection. London: Routledge. Kohon, G. (2016). Reflectionsontheaestheticexperience, psychoanalysis andtheuncanny. London: Routledge. Julius, C. (2008). deeperthantheeye“Digging approves”: andtheiruseinthe Oralhistories deeper”“Digging exhibi- Jonker, J., and Till, K. (2009). Mappingandexcavating Cape spectraltracesinpost-apartheid Town. Jeppie, Studies,2 Memory S., andSoudien, C. (1990). Six: ThestruggleforDistrict Past andpresent. Cape Town:Freud, BuchuBooks. S. (1991[1914]). Onnarcissism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Freud, S. (1919). Theuncanny. London: Press. Hogarth Foucault, M. (1986). Ofotherspaces: Utopiasandheterotopias, trans. J. Miskowiec., Diacritics 16:Fortune, 22–27. L. (1996). Thehousein Tyne Street, Six. ofDistrict memories childhood Cape Town: Kwela Books. grave Macmillan. culture. Cape Town: David Philip, pp. Manenberg Township ontheCapeFlats. In:S. Robbins, ed.Limits toliberation afterapartheid, citizenship, and governance December 2018, https://mg.co.za/article/2016-02-18-district-six-is-failing-to-rise-from-the-ashes-of-apartheid Six,albums ofDistrict Cape Town. of Journal International Transitional, Justice 1–19. Routledge. ies, 10(1): 17–34. SixMuseum.tion oftheDistrict Kronos. forSouthern ,A Journal histories African 34: 106–138. (3): 303–335. ,History 41(2): 75–86. Social identitiesinthenewSouth .Africa Cape Town: Kwela Books, pp. .The Freudianuncanny theory inlate20thcentury Albany, NY: StateUniversity ofNew York Press. 173–189. Uncanny Six District 41 243–248. In: A. Zegeye, ed. Oral