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‘Shadows asking an echo to dance’ Navigating ambiguity: How former conscripts (1980-1990) navigate memories of induction into the SADF and whiteness in post post-apartheid society.
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Call-up papers were issued to all white males from the age of 17
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Conscript photos from SA Army Basic Training in the SADF (1980s)
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SA Navy conscripts: Bierman Company, SAS Saldanha (1990)
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
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“Beach party”, SA Navy conscripts: Bierman Company,
SAS Saldanha (1990)
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
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Situating itself within the interdisciplinary nexus of gender,
memory and visual studies, my thesis focuses on
recollections of the transitionary phase of registration for
military service (initially occurring within a secondary school
environment), induction and basic training of conscripts in the
SADF, as well as the place / role / guises of these typically highly
gendered memories within post-apartheid South Africa.
While the Border War and conflict in the townships has drawn
much discussion and research, the induction phase and basic
training within the SADF remains a largely unexplored domain,
particularly within the disciplinary framework of this study. The
thesis responds to this gap, highlighting not the battlefield
but the induction and training phase of SADF conscripts.
Border War literature – histories & commentary
Border War literature – photographic and conscript narratives
Border War literature – novels, plays & poetry
According to sociologist, George Lipsitz,
counter-memory unearths the past exposing
the "hidden histories" excluded from dominant
narratives — to present fresh perspectives on
past events.
The induction phase acknowledged and
underwrote a deterministic view of race,
duty and hegemonic masculinities
inculcated in young white South African
men since early childhood.
The Secondary School Cadets system was established
in the mid 70s and fell under the auspices of the SADF.
By entering parental roles, ex-conscripts are forced to pose
deeper questions relating to apartheid era parental compliance
with conscription.
However, discourse (written, spoken and visual) is also crucial
to individual cathartic processes of necessary forgetting, not
necessarily as an antidote to memory, but as a means of
relinquishing redundant notions of masculinity.
The Archive as counter-memory
Letters to the author.
These are objects (including photographs) that act as evidence
of past events or traces of subjugated histories, and once
contextualised, begin to function as counter-memories.
The archive as counter-memory
Standard issue South African Defence Force R1 rifle bayonet
The archive as counter-memory
Inspection checklist & small arms safety manual, Feb. 1990
The archive as counter-memory
Standard issue South African Defence Force R1 rifle. This rifle was a locally manufactured copy of the Belgiun FN FAL rifle.
The archive as counter-memory
SAS Simonstown, Marine Naval Base inspection
The archive as counter-memory
SADF Pattern 70 webbing. During basic training webbing was often filled with
a sandbag during route marches and physical training.
Excerpt from a letter to the author, Feb. 1990
Conscript portrait archive
All the following photographs were taken during basic
training as SAS Saldana Naval Training Base during
basic training in February & March 1990.
All the photographs were taken on a Minolta XG 1
analogue camera with no flash using Kodak E3 slide film.
The photograph as counter-memory
For Barthes, “not only is the photograph never, in essence a memory ... but
it actually blocks memory, (and) quickly becomes a counter-memory.”
(Barthes 1981:91)
2. Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography . New York, Hill and Wang, 1981, 91.
The photograph as counter-memory
Barthes perceives memory as more sensation than frozen image. We as
the viewer can only imagine and never smell, touch, taste, or feel what
is pictured in the photograph.
2. Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography . New York, Hill and Wang, 1981, 91.
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Film: Kodak E3 Slide film, Camera: Minolta XG 1, no flash
SA Navy Conscript birthday celebration, Bierman Company,
SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
Conscript photo archive
Basic Training
“Route march”, SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval
Base, Feb. 1990
“Route march”, SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval
Base, Feb. 1990
“Completion of a route march”, SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS
Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
“Passing out parade”, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
“Route march”, SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company,
SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
“Smoke break during PT”, SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base,
Feb. 1990
“Inspection”, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
“SA Navy PT instructor”,SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
SA Navy Conscripts, Bierman Company, SAS Saldana Naval Base, Feb. 1990
This study may also be of relevance to
transitional contexts elsewhere in which
men who were conscripted into a system
that was eventually vanquished and much
castigated seek means of reintegration
into the society they call home.
Thank you