The Group Areas Act and Port Elizabeth's heritage: a study of memorial recollection in the South End Museum

Abstract

The second half of the 1990's was marked by a significant reworking of memory and history in South Africa. WHilst the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was involved in its hearings on amnesty applications and gross human rights violations, new museums were emerging and older ones began reshaping their displays. This thesis interrogated the changing representations of history, culture, identity and heritage in one South African city, Port Elizabeth, which in 2005 was re-named the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipal area. This discussion examined, at times, the historical era prior to South Africa's democracy and the period after the first democratic elections of 27 April 1994.