A Place that Matters Yet: John Gubbins's MuseumAfrica in the Postcolonial World
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- Synopsis
- "A Place That Matters Yet" unearths the little-known story of JohannesburgOCOs MuseumAfrica, a South African history museum that embodies one of the most dynamic and fraught stories of colonialism and postcolonialism, its life spanning the eras before, during, and after apartheid. Sara Byala, in examining this story, sheds new light not only on racism and its institutionalization in South Africa but also on the problems facing any museum that is charged with navigating colonial history from a postcolonial perspective. aDrawing on thirty years of personal letters and public writings by museum founder John Gubbins, Byala paints a picture of a uniquely progressive colonist, focusing on his philosophical notion of OC three-dimensional thinking, OCO which aimed to transcend binaries and thusOCoquite explicitlyOCoracism. Unfortunately, Gubbins died within weeks of the museumOCOs opening, and his hopes would go unrealized as the museum fell in line with emergent apartheid politics. Following the museum through this transformation and on to its 1994 reconfiguration as a post-apartheid institution, Byala showcases it as a richOCoand problematicOCoarchive of both material culture and the ideas that surround that culture, arguing for its continued importance in the establishment of a unified South Africa.
- Copyright:
- 2013
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9780226030449
- Publisher:
- The University of Chicago Press
- Date of Addition:
- 10/29/15
- Copyrighted By:
- The University of Chicago Press
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Nonfiction, Travel
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.