Text in English / In a diachronic and multi-sited study that extended from 2004 through
2012/2013 I deconstructed the sociocultural dynamics of relocating farm graves
from the farm Zevenfontein in northern peri-urban Johannesburg. The graves at
the focus of the study were some seventy-six graves removed from a northern
portion of the farm in 2004 for a huge development project that commenced
construction in 2010, and other graves removed in the 1980s from portions of
the farm developed for residential estates in the 1990s.
The study explored the people who dwelt on the farm and created the
graveyards, the religious processes entailed in relocating the mortal remains of
ancestors, the mortuary processes of exhuming and reburying ancestors, the
disputations between and negotiating processes of landowners and grave
owners, and the demands and demonstrations by farm workers and dwellers
seeking redress for past human and cultural rights infringements.
Although the topic of farm graves is well-referenced in land claims and sense of
place discourses and is not in itself a new topic, this study provides original and
in-depth information and insight on the broader picture of ancestral graves and
their relocation, including the structuring of a community and its leaders and
followers, it suggests answers to the question as to whether ancestral
graves/graveyards can successfully and functionally be relocated. Not only are
religious aspects examined in the study, but also the sociopolitical and economic
dimensions of relocating graves are fully scrutinised in the context of farm
workers and dwellers’ political awareness of and astuteness to the social and
economic potential of farm graves and their relocation. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/20681 |
| Date | 02 1900 |
| Creators | Hill, Cherry Ann |
| Contributors | De Jongh, M. (Michael), 1943-, Van Vuuren, C. J. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xxiv, 371 pages) : colour illustrations, maps |
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