Oral history, Closed Settings and the Formation of Narratives: A South African Example

Abstract

: Leading interviews in prison, in a post-colonial and post-authoritarian democracy, raises many questions as to the problematic definition of consent, the power dynamics at play and the shortcomings of oral history. Focusing on two South African closed settings, this chapter investigates the extent to which oral history methodology, when completed with the study of other sources such as rumours, silence and the body, can still prove useful. This is especially true when one wishes to analyse the role of violence in the formation of past and present narrative. A brief comparative study of prisons transformed into heritage sites worldwide helps understand the gap between prisoners ’ collective memory and the official memory of post-authoritarian democracies, and how they tend to return prisoners ’ voices to the silenced margins of society. between Oxford ’ study of postcolonial African and