"As a product of their own past, museums are struggling with the pressures of the present. A renewed social consciousness, based on expanding awareness of community and the reinterpretation of traditional roles, is shaped not only by the rapid and dramatic changes occurring in the world today but by new expectations and demands for accountability and relevance." (Spielbauer 1990:109).

Nowhere is this statement more true than in South Africa. Museums reflect the ideas of society prevalent at the time and as the political situation in South Africa changes, so too are several museums undergoing transformation. This paper will briefly trace the emergence and development of museums in South Africa.

The first museum in South Africa, the South African Museum (SAM), was established in Cape Town in 1825 and was limited to zoological material (Naudé and Brown 1977).
Layard, a museum worker appointed in 1854, believed that the museum should have "something for everybody" and a description of the museum at the time indicates that it was something of a cabinet of curiosities (Naudè and Brown 1977:63).

By the late nineteenth century, however, the focus of the museum had changed from one concerned with display to a centre of research.¹ The second oldest museum in the country is the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, and this, too, was a natural history museum containing geological, palaeontological and botanical collections.

This initial focus on natural history museums can be explained by an early recognition of South Africa's rich zoological, botanical and mineralogical material. Little appreciation was initially given to the culture of the indigenous peoples as they were not considered of great importance as can be seen by the following quotation by H. Fransen from the South African Museums Association (SAMA): to the end of last century this country had no pure artistic tradition to speak of, while its rich cultural history, the "sub"-culture, at least of its European population, only became "history" about the same time (Fransen 1969:2).

Patricia Davison (1990:150) showed that in South Africa, as elsewhere, scientific advancement was equated with progress on the scale of civilization. For the literate upper and middle classes of industrialised nineteenth-century Europe, their culture represented a pinnacle of civilisation, a concept that was affirmed by their perception of non-literate and non-industrial cultures as "primitive" or "uncivilised". A conceptual boundary existed between "them" and "us". This distinction found tangible expression in the grouping of anthropology collections with natural history (Davison 1990:151).

These Eurocentric (and often racist) interpretations of history in museums continued into the apartheid era. Denver Webb (1994) shows that South African museums depict the triumph and progress of "white civilization" over the "the forces of barbarism" (ibid. 21). For example, the recently (1993) close museum at Fort Schanskop, a military museum, propagated and promoted ideas about Afrikaner superiority at the expense of other nations. This museum was reconstructed in the 1970s, at a time when Afrikaner nationalism was at its peak and is a tribute to "The Afrikaner". Implicit in the messages portrayed in these diplays (cf. Levitz 1996) is the justification of Afrikaner rights to land, and the prominence of Afrikaners in South Africa. This example is in many ways typical of the nationalism presented in several museums at that time, including, for example, the Voortrekker Museum and the Simonstown's Tempastorie Museum (cf. Webb 1994). Webb (1994) accurately points to the fact that often black history was avoided by museums as it did not fit the prevailing ideology. Black culture was dealt with only in ethnohraphic or anthropology museums (history museums were reserved for whites only). The choice of which objects are exhibited and the way they are displayed, reflects patronising and paternalistic behaviour of the whites. Primitive aspects of African history at the expense of their urban history is displayed, thereby reinforcing racial stereotypes both implicitly and explicitly.

These colonial and Afrikaner nationalistic attitudes continue to pervade many of the museums in South Africa, for example, the SAM still displays body casts of Khoisan people presented in painted and idealised dioramas (Skotnes 1996). Many ethnographic museums continue to make an "us" and "them" distinction. History museums, when they do portray black people, do so in an extremely biased way (Wilmot 1986; Bozolli 1987; Wright & Mazel 1987); while science museums often marginalise blacks and women (Levitz 1996). The biases in museums, their architecture, their location, the language and style of communication and past policies, are reflected in visitor patterns which show that the majority of South Africans do not visit museums (Mathers 1994).

Museum professionals in South Africa realise that in order to proceed into the future, museums must prove to be relevant to all communities living in the country. Museums are now being challenged to actively confront past iniquities, increase their standards of museology and conduct research programmes that are closely related tot educational programmes.³ Museums are also expected to become part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)⁴ and define their goals in terms of the objectives of the RDP.⁵

Consideration of the role of museums in the RDP is seen by certain museum professionals as an opportunity for museums in South Africa to find a common vision and mission for the future. For some, museums are seen as part of the RDP as "they are there for the people, and their principal mission is to aid in the protection and sustainable utilisation of our country's natural and cultural heritage" (Küsel et al. 1994:1). Discussions over the role that museums will play in South Africa continue.

As part of this transformation a "Museum Park" is being designed in Pretoria; while in Johannesburg the Associated Scientific & Technical Societies of South Africa, together with the Johannesburg City Council and the Handspring Trust and Theatre for Africa are planning a science and Technology "exploratorium" in the old Power Station in the Newtown area of Johannesburg (cf. Rayner and Levitz 1994). This will form part of the proposed Newtown cultural precinct, and will include MuseumAfrica (itself recently relocated and refurbished), the newly established Workers Museum and the Market theatre.⁶

The information included in many displays is also undergoing rapid change. Old museums refurbish their displays in an attempt to provide a more balanced history of South Africans, while new museums, concerned with hitherto neglected topics, such as the Mayibuye Centre, the museum of the struggle against apartheid at the University of the Western Cape, and the Workers Museum, are emerging. The Workers'Library Museum is an example of a museum established for the workers. It provides an account of the harsh realities of migrant workers. The museum is being erected in the Newton Municipal Workers Hostel, and visitors wille be able to witness the living conditions of the migrant workers.

The Africana Museum reopened its exhibition in its new setting in Market Precinct in Johannesburg city centre, in August 1994. Its move from the Johannesburg Public Library and its change of name to MuseumAfrica was a way of redesigning the museum. This museum now attempts to include black history by exhibiting previously occupied shacks from Tokoza and Alexandra. Aspects of history, previously not discussed, such as the material on the 1956-1961 Treason Trial (Mlangeni 1996) is being exhibited. Further topics such as Sharpeville Day and the 1976 student uprisings will be displayed in the future.

A new concept, that of environmental museums, is also emerging. These museums are developed for the benefit, and with the participation of, the communities in the surrounding areas. For example, the Soutpan museum which is situated 40 km to the North West of Pretoria consists of a unique geological feature - a meteorite impact crater with a saline lake, preserves the site, provides local people with jobs and involves them in the project.

The above examples show the desire that curators of museums have to include previously excluded communities into their displays and portray black history.

Museums worldwide are reassessing heir traditional responsibilities to society. New demands are constantly being placed on museums to be accountable and relevant to communities (Spielbauer 1990, Pearced 1990, Vergo 1989). In South Africa this process of "new" museology is heightened by the political changes that are taking place.Museums, in order to survive, have to shake off their past elitist image and exclusive nature and be more aware of, and sensitive to the society at large. Museums are actively expected to cotribute to the reshaping of attitudes towards social and political reconciliation (Morris 1989). It is this task that museums in South Africa are expected to fulfil.

This paper is based on the following research: Levitz, C. (1996). The politics, ideology and social practice of science and technology museums in South Africa. Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.

I would like to thank the staff of the Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam for their support, Jeanne Hogenboom, for her encouragement and Dick Rayner for his continual assistance.