| Summary: | This dissertation entitled The Afrikaner Nationalism and the Production of a White
Cultural Heritage: An analysis of selected works undertaken by Dirk Visser and
Gabriel Fagan from 1967-1993 examines the construct of a white settler heritage
as promoted and implemented through various restorations and reconstructions of
DutchNOC buildings. The primary rationale of this study is to critically assess the
actions of the main protagonists in the creation of this heritage, that is, the
Department of Public Works, the National Monuments Council, Anton Rupert (and
his Historic Homes of South Africa), the Simon van der Stel Foundation, the
Institute of South African Architects and the provincial institutes. Directly related to
this issue is the assessment as to whether the isolationist nature of the South
Africa contributed to the plethora of stylistic restoration and reconstructions
undertaken during the apartheid era.
This study comprises two sections: first, the examination of the intellectual
theoretical texts of Foucault, Nora and others pertaining to power, ideology, history
and memory, as well as the seminal texts of Jokilehto and Choay which discuss
the stylistic and historicist conservation theories of Viollet-le-Duc; and second, the
analysis of selected case studies undertaken by Fagan on behalf of the state (The
Castle of Good Hope and De Tuynhuys) and Visser on behalf of Rupert and
Historic Homes of South Africa (Drostdy of Graaff-Reinet).
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