Full Description
Museums flourished in post-apartheid South Africa. In older museums, there were renovations on the go, and at least fifty new museums opened. Most sought to depict violence and suffering under apartheid and the growth of resistance. These unlikely journeys are tracked as museums became a primary setting for contesting histories. From the renowned Robben Island Museum to the almost unknown Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, the author demonstrates how an institution concerned with the conservation of the past is simultaneously a site for changing history.
Contents
List of illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction: Changing museums, reshaping histories
Chapter 1. Remaking the chameleon: A history of history in South African museums
Chapter 2. History on the beach: Making a museum home in Lwandle
Chapter 3. History at sea: Re-making a museum of eventless history
Chapter 4. A new hippo for a new nation: The journey of a museum 'across the frontier' in post-apartheid South Africa
Chapter 5. The museum, the rabbit and national history: The voice of Robben Island
Chapter 6. 'We are sick of Van Riebeeck, Van Riebeeck. We want to know our history': Y350? and the re-making of settler histories in post-apartheid times
Conclusion: Museums closing and opening
Bibliography
