Francois Cleophas - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Francois Cleophas

Research paper thumbnail of A political-institutional history of the Stellenbosch University physical education department, 1936-1939

Sport in Society, 2021

The article begins with a definition of institutional history and an explanation of the obstacles... more The article begins with a definition of institutional history and an explanation of the obstacles for creating debates on institutional culture. In order to overcome these obstacles, the author mapped a methodology that moved away from managerial history writing that previous historians had employed when they tried to make sense of the department's past. This methodology helps scholars to uncover the links between institutional culture and politics at the department. The article concludes with intervention suggestions for disrupting the vestiges of previous oppressive political-institutional cultures that may still linger at the Stellenbosch University Sport Science Department.

Research paper thumbnail of A historical social overview of athletics in 19th century Cape Colony, South Africa : sport history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Creating a sport historical narrative through a 19th century ‘Afrikaans’ poem

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, Sep 5, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of A historical social overview of athletics in 19th century Cape Colony, South Africa

Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Jun 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Reclaiming school athletics in Cape Town's underclass, 1933-1955

Historia, Jun 16, 2022

This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athl... more This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athletics history in Cape Town. By focusing on certain historical documents, the article explores the state and scope of athletics in black schools in Cape Town prior to 1956, a largely under-researched field in South African sport history. It does so by identifying prominent administrators, outstanding athletes, and participating schools. Many of these histories have disappeared or have been erased from public consciousness. The article shows how organised school athletics in Cape Town's oppressed communities have been shaped by a myriad of teachers, politicians, and sport administrators of varying political and social backgrounds. It also provides details of the Trafalgar High School's Wiener's Day competitions. Next, a history of the Central School Sports Union and its offshoots is unpacked. Finally, the early years of the Western Province School Sports Board are overviewed. The article concludes by suggesting why it is important to reclaim this particular history.

Research paper thumbnail of Creating a decolonising South African physical culture archive: A case study of Ron Eland

African Sun Media eBooks, Apr 1, 2021

attention of an informal nature directed at creating decolonised South African physical culture n... more attention of an informal nature directed at creating decolonised South African physical culture narratives (Cleophas, 2018c). This is best done through the culling of data from private archives. Archives and decolonisation Traditionally, state and official archives provided primary sources for South African sport research. Such archives are however limited in their capacity to constructing decolonised sport narratives. Despite certain limitations that underexploited private archives hold, they constitute a valuable body of evidence (Odendaal, 2018:2). The researcher, however, not the owner or donor, creates the private archive from loose materials. Therefore, what we call private archives today was previously referred to as private manuscripts, historical manuscripts or manuscript collections. The evolving terminology is not without polemics for archivists today, considering the impact and influence of their motive and thought on archives. 'Private archives' is both a more inclusive term than manuscripts in that it more readily encompasses digital records and non-textual media and also expressly applies the word 'archives' to fonds of private provenance, something beyond 'historical manuscripts'. Then there are grey areas that dwell between public and private archives, and personal and corporate archives. Nowhere else, other than the private archive, do black weightlifters, who were and remain marginal figures in South African sport history, get to tell their story in detail and thereby allow historians a glimpse of their lives (Fisher, 2009:7). The aim of this chapter was to create such an archive by discarding and ignoring what has been wrongly written about black sport. Such an attempt is undertaken by an examination of Ron Eland's private archive. Traditional South African weightlifting (the modern-day version of physical culture) narratives reveals a white bias (see Leach & Wilkins, 1992:141-144). During the colonial and apartheid eras, public archives supported this biasness, which therefore limits their usefulness for decolonial sport history research (Lalu, 2008:158). Public archives also no longer hold the sole authority over creating physical culture narratives because they are "processes of preservation and exclusion" (Booth, 2005:85). Private archives, on the other hand, reveal the conditions under which marginalised communities conducted physical culture programmes. Although there is some scholarly interest (Cleophas, 2009; Snyders, 2018) in South African physical culture, it remains a neglected field of research among scholars. However, the participation of William Ron Eland, a black South African weightlifter in the 1948 Olympic Games and a member of the British contingent, is drawing some interest in South African mainstream printed and digital media (Cleophas, 2018c:9; 2018d). Eland's sport career is tied up in his private archive that reveals how he reached the highest echelons in international sport-the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and Mr Universe-but remains an unknown entity in his country of birth. His international contribution to poor communities, his passion, endurance and commitment to furthering his education make him a role model for youths at risk. The absence of data in Eland's archive relating to strength sport Francois Johannes Cleophas (ed). Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media

Research paper thumbnail of Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body: Materialisms, Technologies and Ecologies

Journal of Sport History, Apr 1, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Reclaiming school athletics in Cape Town's underclass, 1933-1955

Historia

This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athl... more This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athletics history in Cape Town. By focusing on certain historical documents, the article explores the state and scope of athletics in black schools in Cape Town prior to 1956, a largely under-researched field in South African sport history. It does so by identifying prominent administrators, outstanding athletes, and participating schools. Many of these histories have disappeared or have been erased from public consciousness. The article shows how organised school athletics in Cape Town's oppressed communities have been shaped by a myriad of teachers, politicians, and sport administrators of varying political and social backgrounds. It also provides details of the Trafalgar High School's Wiener's Day competitions. Next, a history of the Central School Sports Union and its offshoots is unpacked. Finally, the early years of the Western Province School Sports Board are overviewed. T...

Research paper thumbnail of Sport and History: Continuity and Change. Local Stories to Explain Global History

International Journal of The History of Sport, Feb 19, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Mis)representations of class and ‘race’ on and around die braak in Stellenbosch

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, Apr 12, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Non-Racial Sport in South Africa: A Documentary Analysis of the Struggle for International Recognition, 1946–1971

International Journal of The History of Sport, Sep 30, 2021

Abstract This paper traces a historical trajectory of non-racial sport development in South Afric... more Abstract This paper traces a historical trajectory of non-racial sport development in South Africa from 1946 to 1971. The year 1946 has been selected because of a letter that was sent by a South African black weightlifting federation to its international counterpart, thus kick-starting a post-Second World War sport resistance movement. Official minutes of South African sport federations, from across the political spectrum, are used to extract voices about an evolving non-racial movement. In addition, these minutes are supplemented by newspaper accounts and secondary source materials. A terminating date of 1971 concludes the study, as it marks one year from the formation of the Conference of National Non-Racial Sports Organisations. This paper thus provides a descriptive recovery of significant voices between 1946 and 1971 that were involved in the creation of a South African non-racial sport movement, a movement that would be recognized internationally.

Research paper thumbnail of Mapping out an obscured South African sport history landscape through Edward Henderson : sport history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2011

The Western Province Baseball and Softball Union (WPB&SU) met for their 40th anniversary at t... more The Western Province Baseball and Softball Union (WPB&SU) met for their 40th anniversary at the Wittebome Civic Center in Cape Town in 1990. Here Edward Henderson was recognised for serving the Union as secretary from 1954 to 1979 and coached the unbeaten softball team from 1957 to 1979. A former Cape Town baseball player remembered Henderson as a big hitter with a unique style of play. Whereas most batters stepped into the ball he would step back. Henderson grew up in the community classified, Coloured. He made a significant contribution in this community towards the formal establishment of South African baseball, softball and badminton at a national level. This meant he and his fellow administrators operated outside mainstream South African sport. A historical overview of his contribution provides historians with an insight into the development of these codes in racially marginalized communities between 1949 and 1979. Henderson’s life story brings personal and place names, sport facilities and events to the fore that have eluded sport historians till the present. By placing him at the core of research, it is possible to gain historical insight into the so-called minor South African sports of baseball, badminton and softball in racially marginalized communities.

Research paper thumbnail of Physical education and physical culture in the coloured community of the Western Cape: Areview

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jul 28, 2009

To motivate using the term Coloured in this study, such usage needs to be clarified. Contrary to ... more To motivate using the term Coloured in this study, such usage needs to be clarified. Contrary to international usage, in South African histography the term Coloured does not refer to Black people in general. 1 According to the historian Mohammed Adhikari, it points to a socially diverse group with a varied origin in Cape slavery, indigenous South Africans and European settlers. 2 Members of this group, defined as Coloured, invented specific situations which, according to the historian Denis-Constant Martin, gave form, content and substance to otherwise scattered pockets of people. 3 The idea of people with a unique Coloured identity in the Western Cape crystallised in the fabric of colonial society in the late 19 th century. 4 They displayed an acute awareness of physical traits and sensitivity to gradations of colour that blocked the growth of unity within the group. Some of them tended to down play their indigenous origin and highlight their European genealogy. Other Coloured people often referred to such people as "play whites". The Coloured community was therefore divided along lines of race and class. This is because 19 th century Cape society appears as a social patchwork consisting of juxtaposed classes serving the needs of the more affluent members of society. Early in the 19 th century some people carried the racial label, "bastard" 5 in official documents. 6 During the 1830's the newspaper De Zuid-Afrikaan, used the term 1 G.F. van Wyk, A preliminary account of the physical anthropology of the "Cape Coloured people" (Males), 1939, p.1; According to the Oxford dictionary, the term "Coloured" refers to people "belonging to the Negro race" (J. Coulson et al., The shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles, 1933, p.344). A later version defines the term as "not white, partly of Negro descent" (C.T. Carr et al., The Oxford illustrated dictionary, 1962, p.167).

Research paper thumbnail of Contradictions and responses concerning the South African sport colour bar with special reference to the Western Cape : sports history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2011

The South African Colour Bar received wide coverage in the South African press during the 20th ce... more The South African Colour Bar received wide coverage in the South African press during the 20th century. This paper traces the history of this phenomenon within a sport context. The South African Colour Bar was used to counteract a perceived Black peril and to unite the White English and Afrikaans speaking sections of the population. Legislation was passed to protect White interests, resulting in the marginalisation of Black people in education and industry. Resistance against this Colour Bar was not a unified action and sections of the Black community operated within the government organs that promoted it. Throughout all of this, British hegemonic imperialism and culture was not challenged by large sections of South African communities and with time they, particularly the elite amongst them, imitated British discriminatory practices. These practices were extended to the field of sport. This paper proposes that the Colour Bar in sport unfolded in a two-part process. The first, was the result of the social, economic and political defeat of the Afrikaner nation during the Anglo-Boer War (South African War) and the creation of a Black peril. The second was the practice of a Colour Bar in sport by Black (African and Coloured) communities. During the Apartheid era, South African historians shied away from this topic for fear of condoning a racist White regime. Consequently, this research attempts to expose this ‘internal discrimination’. Keywords: Colour bar, sport, South Africa.

Research paper thumbnail of Exercising 'Race' through the coronation physical training competition

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, 2012

During the last decade of the 19 th and first two decades of the 20 th century, the Cape Colony e... more During the last decade of the 19 th and first two decades of the 20 th century, the Cape Colony education authorities employed an instructional method known as physical training or physical training drill. This investigation expands on two previous studies that explored the Coronation Physical Training Competition (1902-1906). The low number of entries indicates that the Education Department was not serious in drawing a mass of learners to the competition. This article investigates the racial considerations behind this. The competition was organised in a post South African War (1899-1902) period where the education authorities asserted British racial superiority through their concern with race. The Coronation Physical Training Competition fitted into this agenda. Despite betrayal by the English during the post South African War negotiations, Black political movements and individuals continued seeking means to prove themselves loyal subjects of the King. Black schools therefore had no problem with competing in the Coronation Competition as second-class citizens. The education authorities held two Coronation competitions under the same banner. The competition was not only divided racially but differed in quality, favouring Whites

Research paper thumbnail of Contexting an ad hoc athletics unity in Natal, 1945-48

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, 2013

This article examines the history of track and field athletics in Natal, South Africa, during the... more This article examines the history of track and field athletics in Natal, South Africa, during the period 1945-1948, placing organised Black sport at the core of the narrative. The official (White) version of this athletics history is ignorant of the complexities of Black sport. This complexity includes a broad range of issues that link athletics to local and international politics, education, community, inadequate facilities, marathon running sponsorship and women. The study covers a historical time period when domestic and world events, in particular India’s looming independence, influenced South African Indian leaders to be politically assertive, as their economic and residential liberties were threatened by a racist regime. This political assertiveness coincided with the Durban Indian Athletic and Cycling Union (DIACU), agitating for a national controlling body, the South African Amateur Athletic and Cycling Board of Control (SAAAC Black unity; Natal; Politics South African Journ...

Research paper thumbnail of Black Physical Culture and Weight Lifting in South Africa

Sports in Africa, Past and Present, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire

This groundbreaking anthology provides a transnational view of the use of physical culture practi... more This groundbreaking anthology provides a transnational view of the use of physical culture practices to strengthen, discipline, and reimagine the human body. Exploring theses of colonialism, gender disparities, and race relations, this international examination of bodily practices is a must read for all sport historians and those interested in physical training and its meanings. Erudite, solid, enlightening, this is a truly valuable book for our field.

Research paper thumbnail of Race and the Politics of Knowledge in Sports Science

Fault Lines: A primer on race, science and society, Apr 1, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Running a history programme outside the classroom. A case study of athletics at Zonnebloem College

Yesterday and Today, 2012

Sport history has been neglected, even ignored, in South African classroom and pedagogy debates. ... more Sport history has been neglected, even ignored, in South African classroom and pedagogy debates. Despite, a large reservoir of South African sport history literature of a formal and informal nature being available for teachers, other historical areas of concern are usually focussed on. This study attempts to break this mould and offer history teachers an opportunity for creating pedagogical opportunities outside the formal history curriculum. In order to achieve this, a history of athletics at the Zonnebloem College during the 19th and early 20th centuries was researched. A brief literature overview of previous research on Zonnebloem history is presented as background material. The study is then introduced with a historical oversight of school athletics in 19th century England. Next, the historical development of sport during the 19th century at Zonnebloem is explored. The crux of the historical account hones in on the history of athletics at Zonnebloem during the 19th and early 20t...

Research paper thumbnail of A political-institutional history of the Stellenbosch University physical education department, 1936-1939

Sport in Society, 2021

The article begins with a definition of institutional history and an explanation of the obstacles... more The article begins with a definition of institutional history and an explanation of the obstacles for creating debates on institutional culture. In order to overcome these obstacles, the author mapped a methodology that moved away from managerial history writing that previous historians had employed when they tried to make sense of the department's past. This methodology helps scholars to uncover the links between institutional culture and politics at the department. The article concludes with intervention suggestions for disrupting the vestiges of previous oppressive political-institutional cultures that may still linger at the Stellenbosch University Sport Science Department.

Research paper thumbnail of A historical social overview of athletics in 19th century Cape Colony, South Africa : sport history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Creating a sport historical narrative through a 19th century ‘Afrikaans’ poem

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, Sep 5, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of A historical social overview of athletics in 19th century Cape Colony, South Africa

Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Jun 1, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Reclaiming school athletics in Cape Town's underclass, 1933-1955

Historia, Jun 16, 2022

This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athl... more This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athletics history in Cape Town. By focusing on certain historical documents, the article explores the state and scope of athletics in black schools in Cape Town prior to 1956, a largely under-researched field in South African sport history. It does so by identifying prominent administrators, outstanding athletes, and participating schools. Many of these histories have disappeared or have been erased from public consciousness. The article shows how organised school athletics in Cape Town's oppressed communities have been shaped by a myriad of teachers, politicians, and sport administrators of varying political and social backgrounds. It also provides details of the Trafalgar High School's Wiener's Day competitions. Next, a history of the Central School Sports Union and its offshoots is unpacked. Finally, the early years of the Western Province School Sports Board are overviewed. The article concludes by suggesting why it is important to reclaim this particular history.

Research paper thumbnail of Creating a decolonising South African physical culture archive: A case study of Ron Eland

African Sun Media eBooks, Apr 1, 2021

attention of an informal nature directed at creating decolonised South African physical culture n... more attention of an informal nature directed at creating decolonised South African physical culture narratives (Cleophas, 2018c). This is best done through the culling of data from private archives. Archives and decolonisation Traditionally, state and official archives provided primary sources for South African sport research. Such archives are however limited in their capacity to constructing decolonised sport narratives. Despite certain limitations that underexploited private archives hold, they constitute a valuable body of evidence (Odendaal, 2018:2). The researcher, however, not the owner or donor, creates the private archive from loose materials. Therefore, what we call private archives today was previously referred to as private manuscripts, historical manuscripts or manuscript collections. The evolving terminology is not without polemics for archivists today, considering the impact and influence of their motive and thought on archives. 'Private archives' is both a more inclusive term than manuscripts in that it more readily encompasses digital records and non-textual media and also expressly applies the word 'archives' to fonds of private provenance, something beyond 'historical manuscripts'. Then there are grey areas that dwell between public and private archives, and personal and corporate archives. Nowhere else, other than the private archive, do black weightlifters, who were and remain marginal figures in South African sport history, get to tell their story in detail and thereby allow historians a glimpse of their lives (Fisher, 2009:7). The aim of this chapter was to create such an archive by discarding and ignoring what has been wrongly written about black sport. Such an attempt is undertaken by an examination of Ron Eland's private archive. Traditional South African weightlifting (the modern-day version of physical culture) narratives reveals a white bias (see Leach & Wilkins, 1992:141-144). During the colonial and apartheid eras, public archives supported this biasness, which therefore limits their usefulness for decolonial sport history research (Lalu, 2008:158). Public archives also no longer hold the sole authority over creating physical culture narratives because they are "processes of preservation and exclusion" (Booth, 2005:85). Private archives, on the other hand, reveal the conditions under which marginalised communities conducted physical culture programmes. Although there is some scholarly interest (Cleophas, 2009; Snyders, 2018) in South African physical culture, it remains a neglected field of research among scholars. However, the participation of William Ron Eland, a black South African weightlifter in the 1948 Olympic Games and a member of the British contingent, is drawing some interest in South African mainstream printed and digital media (Cleophas, 2018c:9; 2018d). Eland's sport career is tied up in his private archive that reveals how he reached the highest echelons in international sport-the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and Mr Universe-but remains an unknown entity in his country of birth. His international contribution to poor communities, his passion, endurance and commitment to furthering his education make him a role model for youths at risk. The absence of data in Eland's archive relating to strength sport Francois Johannes Cleophas (ed). Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media

Research paper thumbnail of Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body: Materialisms, Technologies and Ecologies

Journal of Sport History, Apr 1, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Reclaiming school athletics in Cape Town's underclass, 1933-1955

Historia

This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athl... more This article endeavours to make a significant contribution to the broadening of local school athletics history in Cape Town. By focusing on certain historical documents, the article explores the state and scope of athletics in black schools in Cape Town prior to 1956, a largely under-researched field in South African sport history. It does so by identifying prominent administrators, outstanding athletes, and participating schools. Many of these histories have disappeared or have been erased from public consciousness. The article shows how organised school athletics in Cape Town's oppressed communities have been shaped by a myriad of teachers, politicians, and sport administrators of varying political and social backgrounds. It also provides details of the Trafalgar High School's Wiener's Day competitions. Next, a history of the Central School Sports Union and its offshoots is unpacked. Finally, the early years of the Western Province School Sports Board are overviewed. T...

Research paper thumbnail of Sport and History: Continuity and Change. Local Stories to Explain Global History

International Journal of The History of Sport, Feb 19, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Mis)representations of class and ‘race’ on and around die braak in Stellenbosch

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, Apr 12, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Non-Racial Sport in South Africa: A Documentary Analysis of the Struggle for International Recognition, 1946–1971

International Journal of The History of Sport, Sep 30, 2021

Abstract This paper traces a historical trajectory of non-racial sport development in South Afric... more Abstract This paper traces a historical trajectory of non-racial sport development in South Africa from 1946 to 1971. The year 1946 has been selected because of a letter that was sent by a South African black weightlifting federation to its international counterpart, thus kick-starting a post-Second World War sport resistance movement. Official minutes of South African sport federations, from across the political spectrum, are used to extract voices about an evolving non-racial movement. In addition, these minutes are supplemented by newspaper accounts and secondary source materials. A terminating date of 1971 concludes the study, as it marks one year from the formation of the Conference of National Non-Racial Sports Organisations. This paper thus provides a descriptive recovery of significant voices between 1946 and 1971 that were involved in the creation of a South African non-racial sport movement, a movement that would be recognized internationally.

Research paper thumbnail of Mapping out an obscured South African sport history landscape through Edward Henderson : sport history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2011

The Western Province Baseball and Softball Union (WPB&SU) met for their 40th anniversary at t... more The Western Province Baseball and Softball Union (WPB&SU) met for their 40th anniversary at the Wittebome Civic Center in Cape Town in 1990. Here Edward Henderson was recognised for serving the Union as secretary from 1954 to 1979 and coached the unbeaten softball team from 1957 to 1979. A former Cape Town baseball player remembered Henderson as a big hitter with a unique style of play. Whereas most batters stepped into the ball he would step back. Henderson grew up in the community classified, Coloured. He made a significant contribution in this community towards the formal establishment of South African baseball, softball and badminton at a national level. This meant he and his fellow administrators operated outside mainstream South African sport. A historical overview of his contribution provides historians with an insight into the development of these codes in racially marginalized communities between 1949 and 1979. Henderson’s life story brings personal and place names, sport facilities and events to the fore that have eluded sport historians till the present. By placing him at the core of research, it is possible to gain historical insight into the so-called minor South African sports of baseball, badminton and softball in racially marginalized communities.

Research paper thumbnail of Physical education and physical culture in the coloured community of the Western Cape: Areview

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jul 28, 2009

To motivate using the term Coloured in this study, such usage needs to be clarified. Contrary to ... more To motivate using the term Coloured in this study, such usage needs to be clarified. Contrary to international usage, in South African histography the term Coloured does not refer to Black people in general. 1 According to the historian Mohammed Adhikari, it points to a socially diverse group with a varied origin in Cape slavery, indigenous South Africans and European settlers. 2 Members of this group, defined as Coloured, invented specific situations which, according to the historian Denis-Constant Martin, gave form, content and substance to otherwise scattered pockets of people. 3 The idea of people with a unique Coloured identity in the Western Cape crystallised in the fabric of colonial society in the late 19 th century. 4 They displayed an acute awareness of physical traits and sensitivity to gradations of colour that blocked the growth of unity within the group. Some of them tended to down play their indigenous origin and highlight their European genealogy. Other Coloured people often referred to such people as "play whites". The Coloured community was therefore divided along lines of race and class. This is because 19 th century Cape society appears as a social patchwork consisting of juxtaposed classes serving the needs of the more affluent members of society. Early in the 19 th century some people carried the racial label, "bastard" 5 in official documents. 6 During the 1830's the newspaper De Zuid-Afrikaan, used the term 1 G.F. van Wyk, A preliminary account of the physical anthropology of the "Cape Coloured people" (Males), 1939, p.1; According to the Oxford dictionary, the term "Coloured" refers to people "belonging to the Negro race" (J. Coulson et al., The shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles, 1933, p.344). A later version defines the term as "not white, partly of Negro descent" (C.T. Carr et al., The Oxford illustrated dictionary, 1962, p.167).

Research paper thumbnail of Contradictions and responses concerning the South African sport colour bar with special reference to the Western Cape : sports history

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, Jun 1, 2011

The South African Colour Bar received wide coverage in the South African press during the 20th ce... more The South African Colour Bar received wide coverage in the South African press during the 20th century. This paper traces the history of this phenomenon within a sport context. The South African Colour Bar was used to counteract a perceived Black peril and to unite the White English and Afrikaans speaking sections of the population. Legislation was passed to protect White interests, resulting in the marginalisation of Black people in education and industry. Resistance against this Colour Bar was not a unified action and sections of the Black community operated within the government organs that promoted it. Throughout all of this, British hegemonic imperialism and culture was not challenged by large sections of South African communities and with time they, particularly the elite amongst them, imitated British discriminatory practices. These practices were extended to the field of sport. This paper proposes that the Colour Bar in sport unfolded in a two-part process. The first, was the result of the social, economic and political defeat of the Afrikaner nation during the Anglo-Boer War (South African War) and the creation of a Black peril. The second was the practice of a Colour Bar in sport by Black (African and Coloured) communities. During the Apartheid era, South African historians shied away from this topic for fear of condoning a racist White regime. Consequently, this research attempts to expose this ‘internal discrimination’. Keywords: Colour bar, sport, South Africa.

Research paper thumbnail of Exercising 'Race' through the coronation physical training competition

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, 2012

During the last decade of the 19 th and first two decades of the 20 th century, the Cape Colony e... more During the last decade of the 19 th and first two decades of the 20 th century, the Cape Colony education authorities employed an instructional method known as physical training or physical training drill. This investigation expands on two previous studies that explored the Coronation Physical Training Competition (1902-1906). The low number of entries indicates that the Education Department was not serious in drawing a mass of learners to the competition. This article investigates the racial considerations behind this. The competition was organised in a post South African War (1899-1902) period where the education authorities asserted British racial superiority through their concern with race. The Coronation Physical Training Competition fitted into this agenda. Despite betrayal by the English during the post South African War negotiations, Black political movements and individuals continued seeking means to prove themselves loyal subjects of the King. Black schools therefore had no problem with competing in the Coronation Competition as second-class citizens. The education authorities held two Coronation competitions under the same banner. The competition was not only divided racially but differed in quality, favouring Whites

Research paper thumbnail of Contexting an ad hoc athletics unity in Natal, 1945-48

South African Journal for Research in Sport Physical Education and Recreation, 2013

This article examines the history of track and field athletics in Natal, South Africa, during the... more This article examines the history of track and field athletics in Natal, South Africa, during the period 1945-1948, placing organised Black sport at the core of the narrative. The official (White) version of this athletics history is ignorant of the complexities of Black sport. This complexity includes a broad range of issues that link athletics to local and international politics, education, community, inadequate facilities, marathon running sponsorship and women. The study covers a historical time period when domestic and world events, in particular India’s looming independence, influenced South African Indian leaders to be politically assertive, as their economic and residential liberties were threatened by a racist regime. This political assertiveness coincided with the Durban Indian Athletic and Cycling Union (DIACU), agitating for a national controlling body, the South African Amateur Athletic and Cycling Board of Control (SAAAC Black unity; Natal; Politics South African Journ...

Research paper thumbnail of Black Physical Culture and Weight Lifting in South Africa

Sports in Africa, Past and Present, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire

This groundbreaking anthology provides a transnational view of the use of physical culture practi... more This groundbreaking anthology provides a transnational view of the use of physical culture practices to strengthen, discipline, and reimagine the human body. Exploring theses of colonialism, gender disparities, and race relations, this international examination of bodily practices is a must read for all sport historians and those interested in physical training and its meanings. Erudite, solid, enlightening, this is a truly valuable book for our field.

Research paper thumbnail of Race and the Politics of Knowledge in Sports Science

Fault Lines: A primer on race, science and society, Apr 1, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Running a history programme outside the classroom. A case study of athletics at Zonnebloem College

Yesterday and Today, 2012

Sport history has been neglected, even ignored, in South African classroom and pedagogy debates. ... more Sport history has been neglected, even ignored, in South African classroom and pedagogy debates. Despite, a large reservoir of South African sport history literature of a formal and informal nature being available for teachers, other historical areas of concern are usually focussed on. This study attempts to break this mould and offer history teachers an opportunity for creating pedagogical opportunities outside the formal history curriculum. In order to achieve this, a history of athletics at the Zonnebloem College during the 19th and early 20th centuries was researched. A brief literature overview of previous research on Zonnebloem history is presented as background material. The study is then introduced with a historical oversight of school athletics in 19th century England. Next, the historical development of sport during the 19th century at Zonnebloem is explored. The crux of the historical account hones in on the history of athletics at Zonnebloem during the 19th and early 20t...