South Africa's 'Border War' Contested Narratives and Conflicting Memories

by Baines, Gary; McVeigh, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781474255059
• ISBN10: 1474255051
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-08-27
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

South Africa's 'Border War' provides a timely study of the 'war of words' waged by retired South African Defence Force (SADF) generals and other veterans against critics and detractors. The book explores the impact of the 'Border War' on South African culture and society during apartheid and in the new dispensation and discusses the lasting legacy or 'afterlife' of the war in great detail. It also offers an appraisal of the secondary literature of the 'Border War', supplemented by archival research, interviews and an analysis of articles, newspaper reports, reviews and blogs.
Adopting a genuinely multidisciplinary approach that borrows from the study of history, literature, visual culture, memory, politics and international relations, South Africa's 'Border War' is an important volume for anyone interested in the study of war and memory or the modern history of South Africa.

Author Biography

Gary Baines is Professor of History at Rhodes University, South Africa.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Writing on the Wrong Side of History? SADF Soldier-Authors Reclaim the Border War
2. The Spectre of Vietnam: Lessons and Legacies of the Border War
3. The Cultural Construction of Combat: Narrative Templates of the Border War
4. Codes of Conduct in Captivity: Narratives of South African POWs in Angola
5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Victimhood: A South African War Veteran's Story
6. The Battle for Cassinga: Competing Narratives and Complicating Histories
7. The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale: Successful Stalemate and Vicarious Victory
8. Digging up the Past: Revisiting the 1989 Namibian Ceasefire Violation
9. The Freedom Park Fracas: Memorialising the Border War
10. Veteranhood and the National Service Generation
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index