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History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s

Little has been written about the Coon Carnival since its inception in the late nineteenth century. This thesis helps remedy the general neglect of popular, "Coloured", working class history during the apartheid years. attempts to situate Cape Town's New Year Carnival within the international debate...

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Main Author: Baxter, Lisa Mary
Other Authors: Bickford-Smith, Vivian
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Historical Studies 2016
Subjects:
Historical Studies
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access_status_str Open Access
author Baxter, Lisa Mary
author2 Bickford-Smith, Vivian
author_browse Baxter, Lisa Mary
Bickford-Smith, Vivian
author_facet Bickford-Smith, Vivian
Baxter, Lisa Mary
author_sort Baxter, Lisa Mary
collection Thesis
description Little has been written about the Coon Carnival since its inception in the late nineteenth century. This thesis helps remedy the general neglect of popular, "Coloured", working class history during the apartheid years. attempts to situate Cape Town's New Year Carnival within the international debate surrounding popular festival and identity. Following a broadly historical line of inquiry, this thesis straddles different disciplines, borrowing from a range of interpretative fields to assess the form and significance of the event during the 1960s and 1970s, a critical period in the Carnival's history. During these years, District Six - the event's symbolic and spiritual home - was declared for "White" residence only under the Group Areas Act. Coloured residents were forcibly removed from this central city suburb to disparate areas on the Cape Flats - the townships surrounding the metropolis. A year later, in 1967, the carnival parade was effectively banned from the city centre's streets; banished to remote and enclosed stadium venues. Thus, in a relatively short space of time the Carnival came under sustained attack. Due to the relative dearth of critical engagement with, or historical commentary on, the Carnival, this thesis relies heavily on oral sources and journalistic, visual and tourist oriented representations. Focussing particularly on the oral testimonies of twenty-four people involved in the event, it explores the notion of continuity and change in the Carnival during this period, through a thorough interrogation of the narratives.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:53:30.797Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Historical Studies
publisherStr Department of Historical Studies
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19684 History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s Baxter, Lisa Mary Bickford-Smith, Vivian Historical Studies Little has been written about the Coon Carnival since its inception in the late nineteenth century. This thesis helps remedy the general neglect of popular, "Coloured", working class history during the apartheid years. attempts to situate Cape Town's New Year Carnival within the international debate surrounding popular festival and identity. Following a broadly historical line of inquiry, this thesis straddles different disciplines, borrowing from a range of interpretative fields to assess the form and significance of the event during the 1960s and 1970s, a critical period in the Carnival's history. During these years, District Six - the event's symbolic and spiritual home - was declared for "White" residence only under the Group Areas Act. Coloured residents were forcibly removed from this central city suburb to disparate areas on the Cape Flats - the townships surrounding the metropolis. A year later, in 1967, the carnival parade was effectively banned from the city centre's streets; banished to remote and enclosed stadium venues. Thus, in a relatively short space of time the Carnival came under sustained attack. Due to the relative dearth of critical engagement with, or historical commentary on, the Carnival, this thesis relies heavily on oral sources and journalistic, visual and tourist oriented representations. Focussing particularly on the oral testimonies of twenty-four people involved in the event, it explores the notion of continuity and change in the Carnival during this period, through a thorough interrogation of the narratives. 2016-05-16T11:59:20Z 2016-05-16T11:59:20Z 1996 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19684 eng application/pdf Department of Historical Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Historical Studies
Baxter, Lisa Mary
History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
thesis_degree_str Master's
title History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
title_full History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
title_fullStr History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
title_full_unstemmed History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
title_short History, identity and meaning : Cape Town's Coon Carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
title_sort history identity and meaning cape town s coon carnival in the 1960s and 1970s
topic Historical Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19684
work_keys_str_mv AT baxterlisamary historyidentityandmeaningcapetownscooncarnivalinthe1960sand1970s

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