"If you have lied about me, you have lied about everything" : Huis Gideon Malherbe : a discussion of the Afrikaans Taal Museum
Within academia it is now accepted that personal experiences, as well social construction influence the way people perceive the world, and thus the research process and findings. Research, no matter how empirical, is not immune to personal quess work and conclusions. The same however, can be said for the establishment of museums and monuments which are meant to commemorate events, or epochs in the history of a nation. For in the establishment of the museum or monument the curators and researchers do choose those events which are deemed important enough as history to be preserved for prosperity. The following thesis is an investigation of the Afrikaans Taal museum, or Afrikaans Language Museum situated in Paarl, Cape Province. The museum aims to reproduce a history of the Afrikaans language, culminating in the eventual recognition of Afrikaans as an official language. In the thesis though, I argue that by choosing to represent certain events in the history of the language, and excluding others, the museum becomes a symbol of/for Afrikanerdom. If South Africa is to heal its wounds caused by Apartheid and the Armed Struggle, all monuments and museums established during the reign of the National Party will have to be investigated, and the feasibility of their existence called into question.
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