Over three decades of research has shown that memories have significant effect on the behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, and identities of individuals and collectives, revealing also how experiences of trauma and acts of narrativisation have pertinence to the ways in which memories are stored and reconstructed. In this thesis a link is developed between memory, trauma, narrativisation processes and the interpretation of works by Jane Alexander, a contemporary artist whose work is informed by observations about South African life. Alexander’s sculptures are revealed to be not only important vessels of collective memories and experiences, but also evocations of individuals’ countermemories and traumas that remain unarticulated and invisible. Through an exploration of the workings of memory and its relation to her art, it is revealed how the past continues to exert its influence on many of South Africa’s present sociopolitical concerns and interpersonal dynamics. Indeed constantly changing memories have a significant effect on future generations’ perceptions of, and connectedness to, the past. While theories about memory have been deployed in Art History as well as the Humanities in general, Alexander’s work has not previously been considered in light of the influence of these ideas. This thesis thus contributes a new dimension to literature on the artist.

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

South Africa and Russia achieved two of the most remarkable political transformations in modern history, yet significant numbers of their citizens feel a longing for aspects of the old regimes. While there have been some studies of nostalgia among older Russians and South Africans, the following is the first comparative qualitative examination of the phenomenon among young members of the countries’ inaugural “born free” generations: those who came into the world just before or after the fall of Apartheid and Communism, and have had little or no experience of life prior to regime change. Its purpose is to examine how and why young people growing up in post-authoritarian transition societies experience, and long for, the past. I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven South African and five Russian youths, recruited through purposive sampling, who reflected on the ways in which the recent past impacts their lives, self-perceptions and socio-political identities. While they differed in some areas, respondents from both countries identified several broadly shared areas of nostalgia, clustering around a perceived loss of community, moral values, personal safety and social trust; and a concomitant rise in individualism, materialism and anomie. Employing a Marxian engagement with symbolic interactionism and interpretative phenomenological analysis, I analyse their transcribed testimonies in light of the relevant scholarship on nostalgia, social memory and transition studies, alongside theories of post-modernity and critical sociology. I conclude that their nostalgia may be the product of Russia and South Africa’s belated and compressed transition from “modern” to “post-modern” societies; a rebellion against the harsh transition to a Baumanian “liquid” life characterised by economic precariousness and the fraying of social bonds; and/or an expression of profound ambivalence that struggles to reconcile nostalgic regrets about the risks and human costs of globalised capitalist polyarchy, with a hunger to exploit the freedom and opportunities it offers. / Theses (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The original contribution of this thesis is the examination of the official construction of a post-apartheid foundation myth through the analysis of the dead body politics of five iconic South African women that spans the three presidencies that have defined South Africa’s democratic era. This thesis examines the death and funeral of Albertina Sisulu, the return and burial of Sara Baartman, and the commemoration of Charlotte Maxeke, Lilian Ngoyi, and Helen Joseph. Sisulu, Baartman, Maxeke, Ngoyi, and Joseph have been constructed as heroines and as foundational figures for the post-apartheid nation in official rhetoric. It will contend that the dead body politics of these women not only informs a new foundational mythology, but also features in the processes of regime legitimation when the ANC-dominated government faces strong societal criticism. Although such official expressions of nationalism may appear exhausted, this thesis will show that nationalism remains a powerful and dangerous force in South Africa that attempts to silence opposition and critical analysis of perceived failing government policies or inaction. This thesis will indicate that as women’s bodies and legacies are appropriated for nationalist projects they are subsumed in discourses of domestic femininity in official rhetoric that dangerously detract from women’s democratic rights and their ability to exercise responsible and productive citizenship in the post-apartheid state. It will argue that women’s historic political activism is contained within the meta-narrative of ‘The Struggle’ and that women are re-subsumed into the patriarchal discourses of the past that are inherited in the present. This thesis approaches this topic by considering a top-to-bottom construction of post-apartheid nationalism through applying feminist critical discourse analysis to official rhetoric articulated at the public mourning and commemorative rituals of these five women.

Text in English / While intergenerational transmission of trauma has been widely studied, there is a paucity of literature on intergenerational humiliation. Furthermore, humiliation is regarded as a significant feature of transgenerational transmission of trauma and revenge production. Therefore, the present study aimed to contribute to addressing this paucity and to explore and understand intergenerational humiliation as experienced by 20 children and grandchildren of victims of apartheid-era gross human rights violations. Conceptually, historical trauma theory framed the study. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to achieve the aims. Through purposive-criterion sampling, data was collected and analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results show that the consequences of intergenerational humiliation are varied as feelings of hurt and loss perpetuate through the generations. Although positive influences counter these feelings within a generation, they remain alive in memories. This has implications on ethnic and racial inter-group relations as transitional societies such as South Africa seek social cohesion. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology (Research Consultation))