British Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa, 1960–1994 (Britain and the World)

This book analyses the British government’s use of cultural diplomacy in South Africa from 1960 to 1994. Previously, scholarship on UK-South African relations has focussed mainly on political, economic, or military links; this book makes an important and original intervention by emphasising how the British government sought to use cultural ties as part of its diplomacy in South Africa. The book also highlights the controversy these links generated owing to broader international efforts to ostracise South Africa owing to the racist apartheid system in the country at the time. By examining British policy towards educational exchanges, performing arts tours, radio and television broadcasts, and sporting contact, this book provides a dynamic case study from which to analyse Britain’s use of cultural diplomacy during a period of relative decline, while also adding a new layer to the well-established literature on the UK-South African special relationship. Acknowledgements Contents 1 Introduction Existing Literature Defining Culture, Cultural Diplomacy, and Cultural Relations Policymaking Political and Cultural Changes in White South African Society Methodology and Sources Chapter Structure Terminology Part I Educational Policy 2 Racialised Educational Diplomacy: Scholarships and Race, 1960 to 1964 Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan Maintaining Contact with the Republic of South Africa: British Council Expansion Archibald Mafeje’s British Council Award and United Nations Resolution 191 Labour Elected Conclusion 3 UK-South African Educational Cooperation in the Years of ‘High’ Apartheid, 1964 to 1979 Successes and Limits of the Labour Government’s Changes Robert Birley: The ‘Quasi-Diplomat’ Beyers Naudé and the Christian Institute Exchange Programme Educational Assistance to the Homelands Forging Links with Future Leaders Conclusion 4 Forging Ties with the ‘Successor Generation’, 1979 to 1994 Funding for Educational Work in South Africa in the Age of Monetarism Expansion of Contacts Picking the Right Side: Identifying Future Leaders from Within the Trade Union Movement The Continued Complexity of Engagement with the Homelands The Attitude of the South African Government The Experiences of Scholars and Sponsored Visitors to the UK in the 1980s and 1990s Conclusion Part II Cultural and Sporting Contact 5 The British Broadcasting Company: Asset or Hindrance to the Perception of the UK in Apartheid South Africa? Relations with the South African Broadcasting Service (SABC) and the Sale of the BBC Transcription Service after South Africa’s Exit from the Commonwealth A False Dawn: The Introduction of Television, 1970 to 1976 Continued Controversy at Home and Abroad Improving BBC Radio Audibility BBC Correspondents Working in South Africa Conclusion 6 British ‘Cultural Manifestations’ in South Africa, 1960 to 1994 Sharpeville and the Establishment of the Cultural Boycott Britain’s Response to Vorster’s ‘Outward Policy’ The Dryden Society’s Tour The 1820 Settler One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Celebrations, 1970 Increased Cultural Ostracism and the Opening of Sun City Counterculture Inside South Africa and the Ending of the Cultural Boycott Conclusion 7 UK Policy Towards Sporting Contact with South Africa, 1960 to 1977 Continuation of the Status Quo, 1960 to 1966 The ‘D’Oliveira Affair’ Stop the Seventy Tour Cricketing Contact After 1970 The 1974 Lions Rugby Tour Increased Ostracism Conclusion 8 UK Policy Towards Sporting Contact with South Africa, 1977 to 1994 Interpreting the Gleneagles Agreement Barbarians and Lions Tours, 1979 to 1980 Increased International Pressure Rebel Tours and the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games The British Government and South Africa’s Reintegration into International Sports Conclusion 9 Conclusion Bibliography Index