Kimberly Miller Wheaton College (Norton, MA 02766-2322)
FB-55046-10
Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars
Research Programs
|
[Grant products][Media coverage]
Totals:
$50,400 (approved) $50,400 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2010 – 6/30/2011
|
Selective Silencing and the Shaping of Memory in Post-Apartheid South African Visual Culture
My project examines the visual representations of women political activists in South Africa both during and after the struggle against apartheid. I consider the extent to which women's participation in the struggle for democracy is represented and remembered, and in many cases forgotten, in contemporary South African visual culture and commemorative sites. This oversight of women is a particularly troubling trend given the central role the liberation struggle has played, and continues to play, in forging a new South African identity. I argue that the limited representation of women in South Africa's commemorative spaces continues and perpetuates a form of "selective silencing." My project is in conversation with interdisciplinary areas of scholarship on postcolonial studies, art history, history, and women's studies. I hope it will appeal to scholars with interests in public memory, political transformation, history and its representation, and the recovery of women's stories.
|