Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch Universiteit, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study the role played by literature or fiction in historiography is investigated. Firstly, the problem of representing an "objective reality" is outlined, and subsequently applied to the domain of historiography by questioning terms such as "objectivity", "reality" and "truth". Due attention is given to changing perceptions about the nature of history writing. It is indicated that historiography cannot render or recreate the past as something which is present here-and-now and, therefore, that history writing is of necessity always an interpreted and subjectively construed representation of an ephemeral "reality". Against this background the thesis focuses on that part of South African history (slavery) which for a variety of reasons lacks a formalised historiography. It is indicated how the "gaps" created by the failures of formalised historiography can be "filled" by the suggestive power of the literary imagination. Wilma Stockenstrëm's Die kremetartekspedisie (1981) is used to exemplify the above claims by specifically noting how the personal slave experience is described through the literary imagination in Die kremetartekspedisie. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie word daar ondersoek ingestel na die moontlike rol wat letterkunde of fiksie kan speel in die geskiedskrywingsproses. As agtergrond word die problematiek rondom die bestaan en voorstelling van 'n 'objektiewe werklikheid' bespreek en uitgebrei na die terrein van die historiografie deur die bevraagtekening van terme soos 'objektiwiteit', 'werklikheid' en 'waarheid'. Daar word aandag geskenk aan verskuiwende persepsies oor die aard van geskiedskrywing en aangedui dat historiografie nooit die verlede teenwoordig kan stel nie en dat geskiedskrywing altyd 'n geïnterpreteerde en subjektief-gekonstrueerde representasie van 'n verbygegane 'werklikheid' is. Teen hierdie agtergrond word daar spesifiek gelet op 'n gedeelte van die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis wat, as gevolg van verskeie redes, 'ontbreek' in formele geskiedskrywing, naamlik slawerny. Daar word aangedui hoe hierdie gapings op suggestiewe wyse deur die literêre verbeelding 'gevul' kan word. Die kremetartekspedisie deur Wilma Stockenstr6m dien as voorbeeldteks om bogenoemde punt te illustreer deur spesifiek te let op die wyse waarop 'n slavin moontlik haar persoonlike ervaring van haar slaafskap sou kon verwoord soos dit in Die kremetartekspedisie deur die literêre verbeelding gedoen word.

Bibliography: pages 164-177. / This dissertation is primarily concerned with the functioning of the law in the Cape Colony in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as it pertained to slaves and masters (and to a lesser extent Khoi servants). It examines the operation of the law in one particular rural district, namely, Stellenbosch in the years c.1760-1820. The chief primary sources include criminal -- and on a smaller scale civil -- records of the local and central courts of the colony. Travellers' accounts have also been utilised. The study of one particular rural district reveals the extent to which the law was intricately woven into the fabric of the settler 'community'. Despite differentials of wealth, the settlers in Stellenbosch district were essentially part of a community of slaveholders. The contours of the settler community fundamentally influenced every step of the legal process. Members of the settler community were in a situation of face-to-face interaction. This meant that often, in conflicts between settlers, recourse to the law was seen as a last resort and mo.re emphasis was placed on the maintenance of personal social relationships. However, this community, of which a landed elite stood in the forefront, had discordant features and domination of the poor by the rich did not go without any struggle. The features of the settler community also fundamentally influenced the position of slaves in the law. Access to the courts for the slaves for complaints against their masters was very significantly determined by conflicts which existed amongst slaveholders. In court the extent of solidarity amongst members of the community could ultimately determine the chances of success for slaves. Another way in which concerns of community influenced the legal process was by the importance which was attached to the reputations of individual slaveowners. Often such concerns overrode strictly legal ones. Even in determining the severity of sentences in criminal cases reputations of individuals were of primary importance. The VOC not only served to bolster the authority of slaveowners but also to keep the wider society in control. Therefore, it could not allow slaveholder tyranny over their labourers to go unchecked. Moreover, the legal system had to be more than simply an instrument in the hands of the master class. At the local level, the VOC could be seen to be acting in the interests of the wider society by listening to the complaints of slaves and prosecuting individual masters. Roman common law, as opposed to statutory law, was the law most commonly used in criminal cases involving slaves. This had two important implications. Firstly, Roman law did not deny the slave any personality and prosecutors constantly reminded slaveowners that slaves were persons. Secondly, Roman law had an apparent universality in that its dictates were made applicable to all in society. These factors combined to make the law perform a hegemonic function.

Please read the abstract (Summary) in the section, 20summary of this document Copyright 2002, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bauermeester, EM 2002, Die Kaapse slawe in kultuurhistoriese perspektief - 1652-1838 (Afrikaans), MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11082007-092819 / > / Dissertation (MA (Cultural History))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Historical and Heritage Studies / Unrestricted

Thesis (MA(VA))--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines the extent to which the cuff and the collar as semiotic entities played a significant role in the symbolic expression of power and oppression in the seventeenth century Cape of Good Hope. These entities were visually naturalised by the Eurocentric imperialist hegemony at the Cape and offered as undisputed ‘truth’. These symbols permeated the collective consciousness of the society at the Cape on both a physical and cognitive level. The white ruff and cuffs, and the shackles of the slaves represented physical restraints, whilst mentally the slaves were confronted with identity construction and deconstruction. ‘The self’ was pitted against ‘the Other’, and these European values and hierarchies were enforced on the society at the Cape by creating dualistic relationships. An identity implies a certain amount of power. For this reason, the Europeans stripped the slaves of their identities in order to gain control over them. This theory, together with the investigation into the hybrid characteristic of culture as a product of colonialism and slavery at the Cape, will be established concurrently with the aim of my practical work — The Ruff/Rough Collection, The Shackle Collection, and The Soft Steel Collection. This body of work aims to deconstruct the boundaries and hierarchies established by the cuff and the collar (as symbols of the power and oppression paradigm) at the Cape. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die mate waarin die mouboordjie (‘cuff’) en die kraag (‘collar’) as semiotiese entiteite ’n beduidende rol gespeel het in die simboliese uitdrukking van mag en onderdrukking aan die Kaap de Goede Hoop in die sewentiende eeu. Hierdie simbole is visueel deur die Eurosentriese imperialistiese leierskap ingevoer en as onbetwisbare waarheid van hul mag en heerskappy voorgehou. Dié simbole het die kollektiewe bewussyn van die samelewing aan die Kaap op ’n fisieke en geestelike vlak geïnfiltreer. Die wit plooikraag (‘ruff’) wat die Europeërs gedra het om hulself as ‘meesters’ te vestig, en die boeie van die slawe het fisieke beperkings verteenwoordig, terwyl die slawe geestelik gekonfronteer is met die opbou en afbreek van hulle identiteit. ‘Die ek’ is teen ‘die Ander’gestel en Europese waardes is op grond van die Eurosentriese ingesteldheid van die ‘meesters’ op die samelewing afgedwing as ‘n dualistiese verhouding. ’n Identiteit impliseer ’n sekere graad van mag. Daarom het die Europeërs die slawe van hulle identiteit gestroop om sodoende mag oor hulle te verkry. Hierdie teorie, asook die ondersoek na die hibridiese eienskap van kultuur as ’n produk van kolonialisme en slawerny aan die Kaap, sal konkurrent met die doel van my praktiese werk — The Ruff/Rough Collection, The Shackle Collection en The Soft Steel Collection — gevestig word. Die doel van hierdie versameling kontemporêre juweliersware is om die grense en hiërargieë te dekonstrueer, wat deur die mouboordjie (‘cuff’) en die kraag (‘collar’) (as simbole van die mag- en onderdrukkingsparadigma) tot stand gebring is aan die Kaap de Goede Hoop.

After South Africa entered into democracy in 1994, a mediation period of change was set in motion. It was an invitation for South Africans to imagine and envision themselves anew (Gqola 2010). Slave memory; a neglected past, that was previously silenced came to the fore and is currently in the process of being renegotiated in post-apartheid South Africa. In the light of this, I believe that the study of the Cape Minstrel Carnival which has its social roots in slavery lends itself for an insightful interpretation within an art historical framework. While institutionally the memory of slavery was officially marginalized: comparatively, on the streets of Cape Town, the community preserved it in elusive ways embodied in the procession of Carnival through the city. This thesis explores the imagery of creolisation, through an analysis of the Cape Minstrel Carnival. Zimitri Erasmus (Erasmus 200:14) defines creolisation as cultural production that happens under the specific conditions of slavery. Before I decode some of the motifs embedded in the imagery of creolisation, in chapter one I provide an in depth analysis; of the contextual conditions of which the practice of carnival originated. My analysis is informed extensively by post-colonial theories on race, identity, and creolisation. The route of the procession of carnival reveals an alternative and clandestine history of the city of Cape Town which I believe deserves focus. In chapter two I discuss its site specificity in relation to key urban sites, such as the District Six Museum, the Slave Lodge Museum and the Bo-Kaap Museum. This thesis explores the use of performance as a corporeal tool to demarcate the city. In the process of this analysis, a repertoire of movement becomes salient in the construction of creolised identities. In chapter three I discuss the motif of the “coon” as the most salient image of creolisation in the parade; I trace its iconographic roots to the performance of blackface minstrelsy that originated from the slave plantations of the United States of America. By unpacking the racist iconography bound up in the initial construction of the “coon”, it becomes clear that its derogative meaning was subverted when it was appropriated as a symbol of celebration into the New Year’s parades. As a result of its complicated history, some residents deride the parade as perpetuating racial stereotypes, by portraying “coloured” people as buffoons. Class snobbery has played a big part in the criticism. Therefore the procession of “the coons” or euphemistically the minstrels represents a cultural cringe for some and a festive celebration for others and both these sentiments coexist simultaneously. The Cape Town Minstrel Carnival can be interpreted on multiple shifting levels because it takes on an ambivalent and ambiguous position as far as meaning is concerned.