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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Gestures of Compensation: Post-Apartheid Monuments and Memorials
Author:Marschall, SabineISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa
Issue:55
Pages:78-95
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:monuments
cultural heritage
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Politics and Government
External link:https://muse.jhu.edu/article/181235
Abstract:With the advent of the postapartheid era in South Africa, the heritage sector has been flourishing. New museums have been built, new heritage sites, commemorative monuments, memorials, statues and busts have been set up throughout the country. Drawing on human needs theory, the author considers such sites as symbolic gestures that fulfil basic emotional human needs. She presents new monuments and heritage sites as gestures of compensation. This applies on two levels: first, the declaration of a site as a heritage site and erection of a monument are intended as a symbolic reparation to victims and their descendants, often compensating for the lack of 'real' reparations (i.e. monetary payments). Secondly, the establishment of monuments contributes to the construction of a 'desired past' and the foregrounding of specific memories, as a means of compensating for potential shortcomings and errors that taint the 'real past'. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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