Bibliography: p. 207-227. / The broad theoretical concern of the thesis is to elucidate the relationship between material culture and social relations, and to counter the analytical separation of cultural form and social practice, which is a pervasive problem in archaeology and material culture studies in general. This problem is addressed with reference to museum practice, focusing in particular on the social role of artefacts in two contextual domains - that of everyday life, as interpreted in ethnographic fieldwork, and that of a museum, which is in itself a complex cultural artefact. These two contexts are linked by the concept of recontextualization, which I suggest is a pivotal process in both museum practice and archaeology. The theory of 'structuration', as formulated by Anthony Giddens, is drawn on to overcome the problematic separation of cultural objects from social subjects. This leads to the conceptualization of meaning in material culture as being socially constituted and context-related, and the relationship of material culture to social relations as being one of mediation rather than objective reflection. Emphasis is thereby given to material culture as a resource that is actively implicated in the construction of social relations and identity. This theoretical approach is applied in two field studies and two museum studies. The former, undertaken in Transkei and the Transvaal Lowveld, investigate material culture in the social matrix of everyday use; the latter, undertaken with reference to the Ethnography section of the South African Museum, illustrate the process of recontextualization, which I regard as operating at both physical and cognitive levels. It is argued that processes of recontextualization, inherent in museum practice, inevitably change both context and the object-subject relationship, and therefore alter the range of meanings that objects evoke once located in a museum. Despite the apparent authenticity of exhibited artefacts, I argue that museum representations are composite artefacts of museum practice, rather than objective reflections of reality. I suggest that reflexive awareness of professional practice as social practice should be built into both archaeological texts and museum representations, through which knowledge of the social past is conveyed to the general public. This is consistent with the argument throughout the dissertation for an integration of object and subject, and a recognition of human agency, past and present. In conclusion, I argue for a more sensitive, reflexive approach to museum practice that would encourage an awareness of social context, and invite a more active participation by viewers in the generation of meaning. The dissertation is a contribution to this end.

Bibliography: pages 127-137. / The original aims of this thesis were to analyze all the material remains from the previous excavations and collate all written reports on Andriesgrond Cave. Only one article has been written on Andriesgrond Cave (Parkington 1978), while several articles have referred to single unpublished reports or additional projects. Artefacts are analyzed and grouped according to their relevant chapters, and in the conclusion an interpretation of these finds is given in conjunction with social psychological theory of stress coping strategies and inter- and intragroup processes.

A sample of 41 vernacular houses from the Verloenvlei and Lange Vlei valleys in the Sandveld on the Cape West coast, have been subjected to a structuralist analysis of their form. As elements of human material culture these houses represent the physical objectification of invisible culture. They are the products of a culturally dictated mental process of design, and in their form reflect the successful mediation by their creators of a set of binary oppositions common to all human experience. The mental rules that guide this process of design, and therefore account for the physical form of the object, are called the artifactual competence. Because, as a product of this competence, an artifact has implicit within its form the set of rules that account for its being, it is theoretically possible, through an inductive analysis of artifactual form, to isolate this set of relational rules. The houses in the sample were all carefully recorded and then compared and contrasted. This resulted in the creation of a statement of architectural competence for Verlorenvlei vernacular architecture, based upon which an explanation of its function as an element of human material culture, and a participant in human social relations was attempted.

Bibliography: pages 221-235. / The main object of study in this thesis is the architectural tradition commonly known as "Cape Dutch". The aim is to make sense of this architecture by answering questions about its coming into being, the people who created it, and their reasons for doing so. Contrary to the suggestions of most existing works on Cape Dutch architecture, an earlier substantial form of domestic architecture, which resembled the town houses of the Netherlands, underlies the tradition. Analysis of existing literature, archaeological excavation, and inventories, indicates that gradual changes towards the basic traditional form during the first decades of the eighteenth century took a dramatic leap during the 1730s. Moving away from the shapes of the dwellings to the people who changed them involves a major theoretical shift, away from formalism towards poststructuralist theory: discourse theory, literary criticism, feminism. These frameworks enable me to identify contradictions underlying historical events; to deconstruct documents, thus revealing their rhetorical devices for constituting subjectivities and establishing social hierarchies; and to see the architecture as a body of works or texts - a discourse. From 1657 free burghers were given land to farm independently. These farmers were an anomalous group whose view of themselves no longer coincided with the lesser subjectivities structured for them by Dutch East India Company (VOC) documents. Together the latter constituted a discourse of domination against which the anomalous group, in the process of establishing new identities for themselves, developed a discourse of resistance. Since the VOC maintained a strict monopoly over the word, the discourse of discontent was manifested in other forms of inscription, most notably in free burgher architecture. Using a particular type of gender theory, it becomes possible to envisage the two discourses in conversation with each other. The theoretical component of the thesis involves, first, writing historical archaeology into the gaps of existing post-structuralist perspectives which were not designed for archaeology; second, demonstrating the two discourses at work in the practice of their everyday existence by the people concerned.

Bibliography: p. 193-208. / The purpose of the research was to study changes that occurred in the material culture of the Cape during the period when the British took over control of the colony from the Dutch. There were three phases for investigation: the colony under the Dutch East India Company in the 18th century, twenty transitional years of interim British and Netherlands governments between 1795 and 1815, and the Cape as a British colony after 1815. An historical archaeological approach was applied to material remains surviving from those years, such as excavated artefacts, documents and buildings, that assumed these sources of material culture reflected the larger cultural, or cognitive, contexts in which they were conceived, made and used. Particular emphasis was placed on examination of household inventory manuscripts (lists of fixed and moveable properties, goods and chattels). Selected information from the inventories of more than 800 households was recorded, and further detailed analysis made of seventy-nine documents. Room-by-room appraisals indicate the layout (house plan), room numbers (house size), room names and activities (functions of spaces) within the house. These probate records thus provided invaluable information about houses, their contents and the placement of objects within the household, and could be investigated from the level of individual rooms on the day of appraisal to a range of houses over a number of years. By constituting the documentary evidence in a form compatible with assemblages of excavated artefacts, as a series uf space and time blocks, integrated information provided enhanced material cultural detail. Patterns were observed through time and across a range of regional and socio-economic situations. The first period covered a "I Dutch" Cape under the control of the eastern arm of the Dutch East India Company, but households were organised in a way distinctive to the Cape. Then there was a short period of relative freedom from governmental control, as transition was made from Dutch to British colonial status and trade options broadened, resulting in the wealthier urban households reflecting fashion, and to the benefit of many farmers. Finally, the Cape was fully incorporated into the networks of the British Empire, undergoing widespread adaptations to colonial society and changes in the material culture of households.

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012. / Judging from the market growth of African-style designs, including beadwork, it is clear that beadwork continues to recur in contemporary fashion, both locally and internationally. This thesis addresses the role traditional South African beadwork plays in contemporary fashion, in an attempt to determine its impact on fashion trends over time. It explores the history of beadwork in South Africa: its development from the pre-colonial era, under colonial rule, and during apartheid. The beadwork of the Ndebele, Zulu and Xhosa are looked at specifically, since beadwork forms a vibrant part of their cultures. The research examines the history of South African beads, as far back as 75 000 years ago, when beads were first made, used and traded. This research is underpinned by the way in which beads contribute to a cultural identity in society. The research considers how South Africa's colonial and apartheid past inhibited the development of beadwork in South African fashion. This thesis describes the process and dynamics of traditional beadwork in contemporary fashion; the way in which beadwork has been infused into fashion; and the reasons for these trends. It also investigates the way in which African designs, patterns, colours and techniques began to playa role in negotiating fashion designers' identities during the African renaissance and at present. This is a qualitative study that through in-depth interviews, analyses the relationship and balance between beadwork and fashion trends. Lastly, the research indicates whether South African fashion consciously affirms beadwork and beading techniques in contemporary fashion design.

M.A. (Anthropology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Bibliography: pages 278-301. / The principal intention of this thesis was to study the archaeologically excavated remains from the site of the Grand Parade in central Cape Town. The main lines of argument are centred around the question of the ceramics and how these can be interpreted to add to the knowledge of everyday life at the Cape. This involved excavation of the site, a descriptive report on the site, formulating a typological system of classification relevant to the sample, and interpretation of the ceramic data, considering its context within the local ceramic tradition and the overarching historical background of the Cape. The typological framework used in the ceramic analysis is largely based on the work by Mary Beaudry and others and the interpretive style draws heavily on the ideas about the food domain postulated by Anne Yentsch. A social history paradigm has been used to study the nature of the local evidence, to investigate how the excavated ceramics can be used to inform in one of the most basic cultural traditions involving the foodways of early Capetonians. It has been found: that the typological framework for the ceramic analysis set out in this thesis, is successful in interpreting the ceramics; that the ideological functions of the ceramics remain a less tangible aspect of recreating the past; that although the local food way tradition of the mid-18th century continues to be a complicated web of cultural interactions, through the use of a multi-disciplinary approach, the archaeological evidence can be successfully integrated with the faw:ial, inventory and other docwnentary sources; and that all the aforementioned are crucial to a better, more holistic understanding of the local Cape foodway tradition of the mid-18th century.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree or Master of Arts. Johannesburg, February 1995. / This study, based on material excavated at Rose Cottage Cave, presents a new theoretical perspective for our understanding of the southern African archaeological record dated to the Pleistocenel Holocene boundary. Over the past twelve years, : NO contesting models for interpreting the Pleistocene! Holocene boundary have been proposed - it has been described as a period of cultural stasis, on the one hand, or, as exhibiting continuous change, on the other hand. This study departs from the position that this debate is at a theoretical impasse. Through the assumption of a theoretical framework that deals concurrently with cultural representation and social strategy, previously unrecognised aspects of the archaeological record are investigated. t explore the r-ctlve constitutive role of material culture and thus remove the false dichotomy between cultural form and functional expediency. In allowing for the active role of human agency, a model for the interpretation of spatial use is developer, through the incorporation of the informative and constraining role of previous spatial patternings. I recognise that meaning is actively created, and exarnple the spatially and chronolcqlcatlv contingent nature of meaning through the unique perspective that deep sequence archaeological deposit offers. / MT2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 1995. / The main concern of this study is the investigation of the events which initiated the symbolic construction of communities in the south-eastern Cape during the Holocene Later Stone Age. To understand and to explain the relationships which existed between different groups in this region a social approach was followed. The data presented in this thesis are a summary of the results obtained from a large number of open-air shell middens, a coastal shelter, Kabeljous River Shelter 1, two coastal caves, Klasies River Caves 1 and 5 along the Cape St Francis coast and The Havens Cave, one of several sites excavated in the adjacent Cape mountains. Lithic evidence from the coastal sites indicates that during the past ·+500 years two distinctly different stone tool industries co-existed side by side along the south-eastern Cape coast. Caves were first occupied between 5800 and 4200 BP by groups with a typical Wilton Industry. At ca 3000 BP the Wilton Indu.rry was 'replaced' in the caves by a macro lithic quartzite cobble industry, named the Kabeljous Industry, but was still present in open-air shell middens until ca 1900 BP. At Klasies River Cave 5 both industries were Pl esent in the cave from 4200 BP to ca 3000 BP. There are no marked differences in the subsistence activities between the two different lithic industries and therefore it is argued that the Kabeljous industry does not reflect technological adaptation to a coastal environment. Instead I argue that the stone tools, as part of material culture production, played an active role in communicating information between groups. Central to the understanding of these social relationships are the concepts of power relations and inclusion. Style was the medium through which groups expressed symbolic group identity and maintained social boundaries. Important however, is the fact that the power rclutinns generated by symbolic identity expression was not aimed at excluding ether groups from their territory, but rather at. inclusion.