Abstract
This chapter assesses museum transformation since the demise of the apartheid government. The literature review was used. The author found that a lot needs to be done in South Africa to integrate South Africa communities. This is because South Africa museums still divide. The review of literature found that most museums still preserve white supremacy museum artefacts.
TopHistorical Background
Museums in colonial territories, such as South Africa, were thus differently focused than those in Europe. South African museums were established to advance apartheid policies and ideologies. Apartheid heritage represented a western countries philosophy of preserving artifacts as a symbol of wealth and power. The emergence of a museum in Europe was the product of earlier exhibition practices whose aim was to demonstrate wealth and power (Strydom 2017, p. 10). The establishment of museums in South Africa is associated with the apartheid political ideology of white supremacy. Museums were associated with apartheid state’s programs of racial discrimination (Strydom 2017, p. 24.). The apartheid laws group people according to racial laws. Museums in South Africa symbolized the dispossession of land and the culture of the white minority through the rapid acquisition of specimens and artifacts (Strydom 2017). This is so because most South African museums exhibit political development. Interpretations of history in museums presented from a colonial perspective. Interpretation of museums during the apartheid period excludes stories of a marginalized community.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Disadvantages People: This is previously disadvantageous people especially black people, particularly women who were not recognized by the heritage sector.
Museum: A building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.
Postcolonial Archives: These are archives created after independence in South Africa. These records are created after the transition to democratic South Africa.
Tangible Heritage: This is a physical artifact produced, maintained, and transmitted intergenerationally in a society. This includes buildings and monuments and other physical or tangible products.
Intangible Heritage: This is non-tangible heritage such as oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge, and practices concerning nature and the universe, and traditional craftsmanship.
Decolonization: Transformation of museums to include indigenous history.
Apartheid: It is a system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race, color introduced by the National Party in 1948 when they came into power in South Africa.