Institutions of Public Culture

2002-2003 Fellows

Derek Hook (Department of Psychology, University of the Witswatersrand) pursued a project entitled Power-Identity-Place in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Case of Strijdom Square and the South African Security-Park. A security-park is a South African variation of the gated community-a place where the residents separate themselves physically and politically from the society at large. Strijdom Square is in the center of Pretoria, named after J.G. Strijdom, Prime Minister and National Party Leader from 1954-1958 and known for his vision of racial segregation and independence from the commonwealth. Through its name, monuments, and spatial arrangement, Strijdom Square constitutes a city block devoted to Afrikaner heritage, culture, and accomplishment. Hook undertook a comparative study of these two places, examining ideas of space, power, and identity associated with and created through each, including the division between the public and the private, and the dynamics of entitlement and dispossession. The comparison provides a way to consider transformations and connections between apartheid and postapartheid society. Hook's previous work has focused on topics in critical psychology, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. He has been convenor of the annual South African Qualitative Methods Conference for the past six years. (Fall Semester)

Anne Mager (Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town) is working on a multi-faceted project on commercial beer brewing in South Africa. She deals with representations of drinkers, drinks and drinking in literature, heritage sites and advertising as well as analyzing the entrepreneurs, liquor monopolies, and state involvement in the South African liquor industry. While at Emory, Mager concentrated on South African Breweries' Museums and an African Shebeen Route: An Exploration of Heritage, a comparative study of corporate museums, including the South African Breweries' "museums" in Cape Town and Johannesburg and the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. Mager's research and teaching interests include economic history, gender and history, social history, African nationalism, development studies, and liquor and cultures of consumption in twentieth century southern Africa. (Spring Semester)

Jeremy Silvester (History Department, University of Namibia) has written widely on public and visual history in Namibia and is a leading historian of southern Namibia. He worked on two projects while at Emory, the first a paper for a volume titled Imag(in)ing the Colony: German Colonial and Mission Photography/Deutsche Kolonial-und Missionphtographie. He also worked on Packaging the Past: Public History in Namibia, a book that considers how discussions and debates since Namibian independence in 1990 have changed the ways that the Namibian past is publicly represented. Since 1997, Silvester has written a biweekly column, "Picturing the Past", for the national newspaper, The Namibian. In addition to teaching courses in Namibian history and public history, Silvester is also the Information and Publications Officer for the Museums Association of Namibia and serves on other committees related to collections and archival management in Namibia. He has curated a number of exhibitions, co-edited both The Colonising Camera and Namibia Under South African Rule, and has also served as an external examiner for the Postgraduate Diploma in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape. (Spring Semester)

Qanita Lilla (University of Cape Town, M.A. student in art history) is interested in the museum space, including how the space is constructed, how it serves the public, and its potential as a device for rewriting history. Her M.A. thesis, Collections of Consequence: the Dynamics of Change at the South African National Gallery, examines shifts in collection practice at the South African National Gallery during the transition from British colonial rule to Afrikaner nationalist rule in the 1940s. Lilla first studied fine art (sculpture and installations) before changing her academic focus to art history. In addition to her studies, she has worked at the District Six Museum, doing research and curatorial work for the Digging Deeper exhibition, and for the Protea Village exhibition, which looks at forced removals in an area outside District Six. After she receives her M.A. degree, Lilla would like to pursue an academic career, while continuing to do research in community-centered projects. After fellowship at Emory, Lilla did a summer internship at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.

Thanduxolo Lungile (South African Heritage Resources Agency, Grahamstown) serves as Provincial Manager for the Eastern Cape branch of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), which manages and protects heritage resources throughout South Africa. He is interested in examining how Living Heritage can be appropriately incorporated into the current framework of heritage policy and procedures, which was formulated primarily in relation to archaeology. This issue is of critical importance now as tourism develops extensively in South Africa and as SAHRA's scope and policies are still taking shape (SAHRA replaced the National Monuments Council, taking on a significantly broader mandate). Lungile is also involved in a number of community activities as a volunteer, including the promotion of cultural activities in local schools and participation in monument projects involving local communities. Previously, Lungile was a high school teacher, teaching history, English, Xhosa, and media studies. Following his student fellowship at Emory, Lungile completed a summer internship at the National Park Service Southeastern Division of Culture Resources in Atlanta.

Inez Stephney (Robben Island Museum) was a researcher at Robben Island Museum prior to her fellowship at Emory and completed her M.A. in history at the University of the Witwatersrand. Stephney's thesis, Race, History and the Internet, dealt with the use of the internet in white supremacist propaganda and manipulation of history, particularly in late 1990s South Africa. At Robben Island, Stephney created a database of sites on the island, conducted interviews with former political prisoners and warders, and helped to write the conservation management plan for the maximum security prison. Prior to joining the staff at the Robben Island Museum, Stephney worked for Mindwalks on a project commissioned by the South African Heritage Resources Agency and the Constitutional Hill Committee in Johannesburg, writing a history of the Johannesburg Fort (another historically and politically significant prison) with the goal of formulating a conservation plan for the site. Stephney is also interested in the role of memory in narrating history, a concern that results from her experience conducting oral interviews for various projects. Following her period of study at Emory, Stephney spent her summer internship at the Chicago Historical Society.