Browsing by Author "Esterhuyse, Rene Elizabeth"

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    Remembering erasure: reconstructions of first world war memory in William Kentridge’s the head & the load and David Diop’s at night all blood is black
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Esterhuyse, Rene Elizabeth; Venter, Carina; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is concerned with artistic representations of accounts largely erased from official memory of the First World War: the perspectives of African soldiers and carriers. It thinks through the ways in which the arts can play a role in bringing these previously unacknowledged voices into the foreground, thereby contributing to collective memory of a historical event. An interdisciplinary endeavour straddling the fields of musicological and literary studies, this project comprises a close reading of the stage production, The Head & the Load (directed by William Kentridge, with music by Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi) and the novel, At night all blood is black, by French author David Diop. The former commemorates porters recruited in colonial Africa, aiming to acknowledge their contributions to the war effort and to recognise their suffering. The latter reimagines the familiar setting of the trenches through the eyes of a Senegalese colonial soldier. Both works debuted in 2018, the year of widespread celebrations of the centenary of the Armistice. Through intertwining the history of colonialism with that of the Great War, the shift of perspective in The Head & the Load and At night all blood is black reveals layers of ambiguity that are traditionally excluded from First World War narratives. The analysis is organised thematically. The first chapter addresses the much-debated issue of the ethics involved in the aesthetic representation of others’ traumatic experiences. I critically regard the aesthetic strategy of fragmentation employed in both works, and, following historian Dominick LaCapra’s critiques of this aesthetic strategy, I consider the extent to which these works achieve his ideal ethical position of ‘empathic unsettlement’. The second chapter examines these works’ portrayal of colonial relations within the context of the First World War: both The Head & the Load and At night all blood is black comment on the colonial system as one of dehumanisation and exploitation. Chapter 3 explores the presence of laughter, which I link to questions of power and agency. The Head & the Load employs humorous satire as an instance of the Bakhtinian carnivalesque – a symbolic revolt against colonial authority. In contrast, in At night all blood is black, laughter suggests powerlessness in the face of extraordinarily intense experiences. I conclude by considering the limitations of art when pressed into the service of social justice and historical redress.