{"id":5723,"date":"2021-02-11T10:54:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T08:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/?p=5723"},"modified":"2022-12-07T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T13:04:33","slug":"la-figure-de-mandela-vers-un-retour-critique-the-figure-of-mandela-towards-a-critical-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/uncategorized\/la-figure-de-mandela-vers-un-retour-critique-the-figure-of-mandela-towards-a-critical-return\/","title":{"rendered":"La figure de Mandela : vers un retour critique ?\/ The figure of Mandela: towards a critical return?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a9 “Nelson Mandela”, Illustration by Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Depuis sa cr\u00e9ation en 1995, l\u2019IFAS a accompagn\u00e9 de nombreuses recherches portant sur l\u2019histoire sud-africaine r\u00e9cente, et notamment l\u2019histoire de la lutte contre le r\u00e9gime d\u2019apartheid. Il y a peu, il a ainsi \u00e9t\u00e9 partie prenante du programme de num\u00e9risation des archives du proc\u00e8s de Rivonia<\/a>, men\u00e9 en coop\u00e9ration avec plusieurs partenaires fran\u00e7ais. L\u2019IFAS-Recherche a quant \u00e0 lui contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019organisation de nombreux s\u00e9minaires et rencontres universitaires sur l\u2019Afrique du Sud au XXe<\/sup> si\u00e8cle. Il accompagnera \u00e9galement, dans un futur proche, un projet consacr\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019histoire de Robben Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaque anniversaire incite tout naturellement \u00e0 la relecture des \u00e9v\u00e9nements. La figure de Nelson Mandela conserve une aura consid\u00e9rable en Afrique du Sud et sur la sc\u00e8ne internationale. Sa lib\u00e9ration, dont on comm\u00e9more le 31e<\/sup>\u00a0anniversaire, est largement salu\u00e9e et appara\u00eet comme un tournant historique marquant la fin d\u2019un r\u00e9gime d\u2019oppression. C\u2019est le sens qui lui est donn\u00e9 dans l\u2019\u00e9mission\u00a0Quand l\u2019histoire fait date<\/a><\/em>, s\u00e9rie documentaire qui a pour objet de r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir \u00e0 ce qu\u2019est un fait historique, comment il devient un \u00e9v\u00e9nement, et plus g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement pourquoi une date c\u00e9l\u00e8bre est conserv\u00e9e en m\u00e9moire, symbolisant pour l\u2019histoire un point tournant, un marqueur\u00a0\u2013\u00a0quelque chose dont il faut se souvenir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Par-del\u00e0 le moment de f\u00e9vrier 1990 et la personne de Mandela, toute une relecture historiographique s\u2019op\u00e8re depuis quelques ann\u00e9es \u00e0 propos de la transition qui a mis fin \u00e0 l\u2019apartheid. Divers travaux scientifiques consacr\u00e9s \u00e0 l\u2019ANC en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral et \u00e0 Mandela en particulier donnent lieu aujourd\u2019hui \u00e0 des analyses critiques, bas\u00e9es sur la vaste documentation d\u00e9sormais disponible (archives, sources orales, etc.). Cette volont\u00e9 de r\u00e9appr\u00e9ciation et de d\u00e9constrution d\u2019un r\u00e9cit centr\u00e9 sur une organisation ou sur quelques figures remet en cause les aspects trop lisses du roman national sud-africain et l\u00e9zarde les r\u00e9cits quasi-hagiographiques entourant les principaux leaders de la lutte. Alors que le temps de l\u2019histoire \u00ab chaude \u00bb s\u2019\u00e9loigne un peu, les m\u00e9thodes de la discipline historique \u2014 qui cherchent \u00e0 restituer les ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes dans leur complexit\u00e9 \u2014 s\u2019affranchissent des approximations consensuelles port\u00e9es par une m\u00e9moire nationale (et internationale) largement instrumentalis\u00e9e par les autorit\u00e9s politiques. Enfin, le vaste mouvement enclench\u00e9 sur les campus \u00e0 l\u2019appel de Rhodesmustfall<\/em>, conduit \u00e0 repenser la place de l\u2019Afrique du Sud dans les dynamiques des d\u00e9colonisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliographie<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African Democracy Education Trust, 2020, \u00ab The road to democracy in South Africa \u00bb, Cape Town : Pan African University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VAN VUUREN, H., 2017, \u00ab Apartheid guns and money : a tale of profit \u00bb, Auckland Park , South Africa : Jacana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/p>\n\n\n

Since its establishment in 1995, IFAS has supported a great deal of research into recent South African history, particularly the history of the struggle against the apartheid regime. Recently, IFAS has been involved in the digitisation programme of the archives of the Rivonia trial<\/a>, carried out in cooperation with several French partners. IFAS-Research has contributed to the organisation of numerous seminars and academic meetings on South Africa in the 20th century. In the near future, it will also support a project dedicated to the history of Robben Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each anniversary is a natural incentive to re-read the events. The figure of Nelson Mandela retains a considerable aura in South Africa and on the international scene. His liberation, whose 31st anniversary is being commemorated, is widely hailed as a historic turning point marking the end of an oppressive regime. This is the meaning given to it in Quand l’histoire fait dates<\/a><\/em>, a documentary series that aims to reflect on what a historical fact is, how it becomes an event, and more generally why a famous date is kept in memory, symbolising for history a turning point, a marker \u2013 something to be remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the moment of February 1990 and the person of Mandela, a whole historiographical re-reading has been taking place in recent years about the transition that ended apartheid. Various scientific works devoted to the ANC in general and to Mandela in particular are now giving rise to critical analyses based on the vast documentation now available (archives, oral sources, etc.). This desire to reappraise and deconstruct a narrative centred on an organisation or a few figures challenges the overly smooth aspects of the South African national novel and cracks the quasi-hagiographical narratives surrounding the main leaders of the struggle. While the era of ‘hot’ history is moving a little further away, the methods of historical discipline – which seek to reconstruct phenomena in all their complexity – are freeing themselves from the consensual approximations carried by a national (and international) memory that is largely instrumentalized by the political authorities. Finally, the vast movement set in motion on campuses at the call of Rhodesmustfall<\/em> is leading to a rethinking of South Africa’s place in the dynamics of decolonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African Democracy Education Trust, 2020, \u201cThe road to democracy in South Africa\u201d, Cape Town : Pan African University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VAN VUUREN, H., 2017, \u201cApartheid guns and money : a tale of profit\u201d, Auckland Park , South Africa : Jacana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Depuis sa cr\u00e9ation en 1995, l\u2019IFAS a accompagn\u00e9 de nombreuses recherches portant sur l\u2019histoire sud-africaine r\u00e9cente, et notamment l\u2019histoire de la lutte contre le r\u00e9gime d\u2019apartheid. Il y a peu, il a ainsi \u00e9t\u00e9 partie prenante du programme de num\u00e9risation des archives du proc\u00e8s de Rivonia, men\u00e9 en coop\u00e9ration avec plusieurs partenaires fran\u00e7ais. L\u2019IFAS-Recherche […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5747,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions\/5747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}