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This book explores the place of memory in post-apartheid South Africa by analysing state sanctioned-performances of the nation. It first explores how the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) archive was created, and what it means to contemporary South Africa. The book then explores creative responses to the TRC. It examines individual narratives that have become iconic; asking why these have been chosen to represent the experiences of the broader majority. It analyses how contemporary cultural practitioners are particularly exploring various non-realistic, highly performative forms in conjunction with verbatim narratives to reflect on diverse lived realities in South Africa. The inherited apartheid archives embody particular narratives of South Africa, especially those that defined separate cultural identities, with their relative worth and histories. The way these archives of memory were constructed and controlled is important, especially insofar as they affected the social structure of the nation, beyond apartheid legislation. The book looks at how at moments of political crisis or transition, specific narratives of history, from particular cultural perspectives, have been performed in public spaces to define national identities. It also explores how Mbeki used the South Africa-Mali project, within the context of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to extend the imagined boundaries of the nation. Finally, the book explores contemporary popular performance and theatrical engagements with history and memory.
compares with how other African countries have approached rewriting their history in the post-colonial context (Neale, 1985). This project takes its starting point from Desmond Tutu’s formulation of post-apartheid South Africa as the ‘rainbow nation’, a formulation that was elaborated on by Mandela (1995) in his first month of office. It was adopted by the ANC as the political symbol of unity for a 134 South African performance and archives of memory country of diverse and divided people. This chapter explores how Mbeki used the South Africa–Mali project, within the
commemoration, has played an important role in formulating a history and national identity for South Africa. The chapter then goes on to explore the renegotiation of the Voortrekker Monument as a site of memory in the postapartheid context, and compares it with Freedom Park, with which it is Introduction 21 twinned, to explore the place of ‘symbolic reparation’ in South Africa’s reinvention of itself. Chapter 4, ‘Performing the African Renaissance and the “rainbow nation”’, analyses how Mbeki used the South Africa-Mali project (2005–08), alongside the New Partnership