Voortrekker Monument Analysis
Abstract
This essay focuses on the re-scripting of monuments in a democratic South Africa with reference to the Voortrekker Monument as a case study. With the current political affairs of South Africa it is evident that the cultural significance associated to such monuments is constantly changing and adapting.
It establishes a basis as to why and how the Voortrekker Monument is re-scripted to be incorporated in a democratic South Africa. This essay compares the discourse of the original guide of the Voortrekker Monument (1954) with the current guide (2009) available to the public. It identifies the relationship between the intentions of the architect and political leaders of a certain time and the interpretations of the visitor. It critically analyses the …show more content…
They are valued precisely for their ‘oppressive associations’.” (Marschall, 2009, p.33)
The 1994 Constitution emphasizes that one does not “preserve the heritage of all by destroying the heritage of some. Merely to erase the past of the privileged would leave blank spaces and add one extra dispossession to the historical dispossessions.” (Marschall, 2009, p.27)
Even though, the monument has been re-scripted to an extent to provide an unprejudiced approach, not all who visit the Voortrekker Monument will interpret it as is intended currently; especially those who lived through apartheid and foreign visitors who are not familiar with the history of South Africa. This monument can be accepted and understood through a critical lens, but it cannot request this of all who visit it. Visitors will always interpret objects through their own ideological discourse, and what has been physically and symbolically represented may prevail over what has been adapted through the current text. It is up to the visitor to determine its
This essay focuses on the re-scripting of monuments in a democratic South Africa with reference to the Voortrekker Monument as a case study. With the current political affairs of South Africa it is evident that the cultural significance associated to such monuments is constantly changing and adapting.
It establishes a basis as to why and how the Voortrekker Monument is re-scripted to be incorporated in a democratic South Africa. This essay compares the discourse of the original guide of the Voortrekker Monument (1954) with the current guide (2009) available to the public. It identifies the relationship between the intentions of the architect and political leaders of a certain time and the interpretations of the visitor. It critically analyses the …show more content…
They are valued precisely for their ‘oppressive associations’.” (Marschall, 2009, p.33)
The 1994 Constitution emphasizes that one does not “preserve the heritage of all by destroying the heritage of some. Merely to erase the past of the privileged would leave blank spaces and add one extra dispossession to the historical dispossessions.” (Marschall, 2009, p.27)
Even though, the monument has been re-scripted to an extent to provide an unprejudiced approach, not all who visit the Voortrekker Monument will interpret it as is intended currently; especially those who lived through apartheid and foreign visitors who are not familiar with the history of South Africa. This monument can be accepted and understood through a critical lens, but it cannot request this of all who visit it. Visitors will always interpret objects through their own ideological discourse, and what has been physically and symbolically represented may prevail over what has been adapted through the current text. It is up to the visitor to determine its