Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Contents
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Contradictions in Memorialising Liberation History
- Chapter 2 Memorialisation as a Force for Radical Transformation: The Case of Freedom Park in South Africa
- Chapter 3 Freedom Park as a Place of Memory: Symbolic Reparations, Indigenous African Knowledge Systems and Reconciliation
- Chapter 4 Memory and Socioeconomic Transformation in South Africa
- Chapter 5 Homeland Manifestations—A Postapartheid Denigration of Social Cohesion
- Chapter 6 The Historical Transformation of Male Initiation Politicalcultural Practices and its Role in Nation-Building: The Case of the Western Cape Province
- Chapter 7 Memory, Knowledge and Freedom: From Dismemberment and Re-Membering
- Chapter 8 Memory for Peace in War: A Case of Remembering and Rebuilding Postapartheid South Africa
- Chapter 9 Mending our Wounded Souls: Towards the Possibility of Healing and Social Cohesion
- Chapter 10 Reconciliation and Social Justice in South Africa: Still the Unfinished Business of the Trc?
- Chapter 11 Rising Violence: The Crisis of Broken Individuals
- Chapter 12 Social Memory through Posthumous Remembrance
- Chapter 13 Memorialising the Community Public Health Legacy of the Ribeiros
- Chapter 14 The Place of Memory in the Life and Work of Desmond Tutu
- Chapter 15 Memorialising the Untold Stories of Women, for Transformation
- Chapter 16 On and of Memories: Understanding Women’S Stories, Stitched Perceptions and the Rupture of Violence in their Lives
- Chapter 17 Memories of, and Reflections on, Broadcasting in South Africa
- Chapter 18 Press Freedom 25 years Postindependence: Challenges and Solutions for the South African Model
- Chapter 19 Universities of Science and Technology for Rural Development as Freedom and Justice: The Politics of Evidence and Decision
- Chapter 20 The Centre, the Periphery and Selfhood: Rethinking the Role of African Languages for Radical Transformation
- Chapter 21 Memorialising the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania
- Chapter 22 To Sing or not to Sing: The Protest Song in South Africa Today
- Chapter 23 Shared Dreams: Creative Art—From Collective Memory to Social Transformation
- Chapter 24 (Social) Anchor as Opposite to Tumbleweed: The Naming of “Things” As Memory and Anchor, Repression as Erosion and Dislocation
- Chapter 25 Memorialising Freedom During Covid-19 Lockdown in South Africa
- Chapter 26 The Political Economy and Ethics of Global Solidarity in Covid-19
- About the Contributors
Chapter 17 - Memories of, and Reflections on, Broadcasting in South Africa
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Contents
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Contradictions in Memorialising Liberation History
- Chapter 2 Memorialisation as a Force for Radical Transformation: The Case of Freedom Park in South Africa
- Chapter 3 Freedom Park as a Place of Memory: Symbolic Reparations, Indigenous African Knowledge Systems and Reconciliation
- Chapter 4 Memory and Socioeconomic Transformation in South Africa
- Chapter 5 Homeland Manifestations—A Postapartheid Denigration of Social Cohesion
- Chapter 6 The Historical Transformation of Male Initiation Politicalcultural Practices and its Role in Nation-Building: The Case of the Western Cape Province
- Chapter 7 Memory, Knowledge and Freedom: From Dismemberment and Re-Membering
- Chapter 8 Memory for Peace in War: A Case of Remembering and Rebuilding Postapartheid South Africa
- Chapter 9 Mending our Wounded Souls: Towards the Possibility of Healing and Social Cohesion
- Chapter 10 Reconciliation and Social Justice in South Africa: Still the Unfinished Business of the Trc?
- Chapter 11 Rising Violence: The Crisis of Broken Individuals
- Chapter 12 Social Memory through Posthumous Remembrance
- Chapter 13 Memorialising the Community Public Health Legacy of the Ribeiros
- Chapter 14 The Place of Memory in the Life and Work of Desmond Tutu
- Chapter 15 Memorialising the Untold Stories of Women, for Transformation
- Chapter 16 On and of Memories: Understanding Women’S Stories, Stitched Perceptions and the Rupture of Violence in their Lives
- Chapter 17 Memories of, and Reflections on, Broadcasting in South Africa
- Chapter 18 Press Freedom 25 years Postindependence: Challenges and Solutions for the South African Model
- Chapter 19 Universities of Science and Technology for Rural Development as Freedom and Justice: The Politics of Evidence and Decision
- Chapter 20 The Centre, the Periphery and Selfhood: Rethinking the Role of African Languages for Radical Transformation
- Chapter 21 Memorialising the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania
- Chapter 22 To Sing or not to Sing: The Protest Song in South Africa Today
- Chapter 23 Shared Dreams: Creative Art—From Collective Memory to Social Transformation
- Chapter 24 (Social) Anchor as Opposite to Tumbleweed: The Naming of “Things” As Memory and Anchor, Repression as Erosion and Dislocation
- Chapter 25 Memorialising Freedom During Covid-19 Lockdown in South Africa
- Chapter 26 The Political Economy and Ethics of Global Solidarity in Covid-19
- About the Contributors
Summary
When the television set finally arrived in Toppi Spring's home in 1976, it elicited several emotions infused with pride, excitement, impatience and anticipation. Nothing had prepared me personally for the stoic news bulletin centred around an incomprehensible decree that, in black schools, maths and science, amongst others, would be taught in Afrikaans. I will never forget how, at that confusing moment, our old man's fingers trembled uncontrollably as he switched off the box and his once welcoming eyes darkened with pain—and later when the sirens had died, my mother smuggled us out, only to be humiliated by multiple road blocks and what seemed like hours of interrogation about nebulous things such as the ownership of the car and the books on our back seat.
As was the case in many other homes, Toppi Spring's family impatiently awaited the arrival of the colourful screen. The introduction of television in South Africa had been delayed because of an excessive preoccupation with notions of “extreme cultural protectionism” (Nixon, 1992). The cabinet, as it was constituted then, reasoned that in the absence of a national service provider, there was no means of countering international and culturally unprogressive transmissions beamed into South Africa via new satellite technologies. Ironically, the television they feared would later become a useful coercive instrument for advancing the dominance of the National Party (NP) and entrenching its political interests, albeit increasingly to its own detriment. O’Meara (1996, pp. 170–173) describes how the economy then was negatively affected by the “racially determined nature of consumer demand” and the failure to secure “products on the possibilities of economies of scale”.
Several other self-made crises were generated by the irrational use of live ammunition on thousands protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans-medium lessons, the senseless murder of Steve Biko in detention, and the inexplicable banning of 17 institutions—all occurring against the backdrop of a peaking recession. Paradoxically, the hegemony entrusted to protect Afrikaans culture became primary to its decline, as the Afrikaans language became synonymous with the detested Bantu Education, oppression and exclusion.
Despite unprecedented resistance to Afrikaans, what followed five years later after my first experience of television, was the entrenchment of the Bantustan policy which manifested itself in the physical separation of broadcasting content along racial lines.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Memory as a Force for Social and Economic Transformation , pp. 204 - 211Publisher: University of South AfricaPrint publication year: 2021