Out in the cold : science and environment in the history of South Africa’s involvement in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic in the twentieth century

• Main Author: Van der Watt, Susanna Maria Elizabeth (Lize-Marie)
• Other Authors: Swart, Sandra, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2012
• Subjects: Antarctica > History; Prince Edward Islands > History; Marion Island > History; Antarctic Treaty System; South Africa > Foreign policy; South Africa and science; Dissertations > History; Theses > History; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Antarktika; Marion Island; Prince Edward Islands
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/20055

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study addresses a little-known but important part of South Africa’s history: its involvement with the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic in the twentieth century. It has a three-fold approach. Firstly, it provides insight into the motives driving South Africa’s investment in the region, from the first call for a South African Antarctic expedition in 1919 to the post-apartheid recommitment to the South African Antarctic Programme. Interrogating of the reasons behind South Africa’s activities in this region – including those that failed –throws into relief broader issues about how and where South Africa saw itself in the geopolitical order. As such, this dissertation is situated within a body of Antarctic scholarship that seeks to subvert the prevailing homogenising narrative of the continent as simply the preserve of scientists and heroes. In particular, it investigates how tropes of imperialism and nationalism functioned in these remote corners of the world. Secondly, this dissertation investigates how changing perceptions of the extreme environment of Antarctica, and specifically the Prince Edward Islands, can add to our understanding of environmental history. It also shows how the values projected onto and invested in the environment as ‘nature’ changed over time. Thirdly, it takes into account the humans that were South Africa’s presence in the region and how the underlying patterns in the fabric of South African society, including race and gender, crystalized on the Antarctic continent. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is gerig op ʼn minder bekende, maar belangrike aspek van Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis: die land se betrokkenheid by die sub-Antarktiese gebied en Antarktika in die twintigste eeu. Die studie volg van ʼn drie-ledige benadering. Eerstens, verskaf dit insig in die dryfvere agter Suid-Afrika se investering in die streek – vanaf die eerste beroep op ʼn Suid-Afrikaanse Antarktiese ekspedisie in 1919, tot die post-apartheid regering se ...