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ABSTRACT
This article discusses the establishment of a British Council presence in South Africa through the appointment of a cultural advisor at the British High Commission in 1958. It analyses the role of cultural advisor, what policymakers hoped to achieve by creating it, and why they were initially hesitant about establishing a British Council presence in South Africa. The article will highlight how the decision to appoint a cultural advisor was predicated on fears that the rise of Afrikaner cultural nationalism jeopardised British interests in South Africa. It, therefore, contributes to the emerging scholarship which positions Britain’s relationship with the independent Commonwealth members in the 1950s and 1960s within the established literature on the political decolonisation which was taking place at that time. The article also analyses the cultural advisor’s initial work focussing, in particular, on Britain’s contribution to the 1960 Union Festival. The debates over how best to represent British culture at the festival will be highlighted, and the reasons why a tour by the Royal Ballet Company was ultimately chosen as the main contribution will be discussed. Finally, the article will analyse the controversies surrounding this tour, and how the British government responded to them. This included the omission of Johaar Mossaval, a South African-born ‘coloured’ dancer from the touring party, and the decision to complete the tour as planned in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Nick White, Chris Vaughan, Dean Clay, Jan Ludvigsen, Malcolm Craig and James Brocklesby for their comments on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers whose comments helped improve this work considerably.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 It should also be noted that coloured is not an offensive term in South Africa but refers to a specific ethnic group of mixed racial heritage.
2 See Hopkins, “Rethinking Decolonization,” 211–47; Hopkins, “Globalisation and Decolonisation,” 729–45; Cain and Hopkins, British Imperialism, Chaps 21 and 26; Ward, Australia and the British Embrace; Buckner, Canada and the British Empire.
3 See for example Popescu, “The Battle of Conferences,” 163–82; Huygens, “Developing a Decolonisation Practice,” 53–81; Oyedemi, “Postcolonial Casualties,” 214–22.
4 See Knudsen and Andersen “Affective Politics,” 239–58.
5 Dube, “Afrikaans Must Fall,” 13–27.
6 See Labuschagne, “Memorial Complexity,”142–54.
7 See Nomaswazi Nkosi, “Street Name Battle in Pretoria.” IOL News, Jan 12, 2016. Available at https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/street-name-battle-in-pretoria-1969633 [Accessed 2 Aug 2021]; Kabelo Khumalo, “Battle for Soul of Afrikaans at SA Universities Rages.” Sunday World, Aug 17, 2020. Available at https://sundayworld.co.za/education/battle-for-soul-of-afrikaans-at-sa-universities-rages/ [Accessed 2 Aug 2021].
8 Oyedemi, “Postcolonial Casualties,” 216.
9 Hyam and Henshaw, The Lion and the Springbok, 14; Berridge, Economic Power, 35–36; Barber and Barratt, South Africa's Foreign Policy, 51.
10 See Berridge, Economic Power, 65; Barber and Barratt, South Africa's Foreign Policy, 51.
11 Henshaw, “Britain, South Africa and the Sterling Area,” 197–223; Dubow, “New Approaches to High Apartheid,” 314.
12 Phimister, “Developing and Defending Britain,” 751.
13 See Mlombo, Southern Rhodesia – South Africa Relations, 176–77.
14 See Berridge, Economic Power, 69–107; Spence and Berridge, “The Simonstown Agreements 1955,” 195–202; Henshaw, “The Transfer of Simonstown,” 419–44; Hyam and Henshaw, The Lion and the Springbok, 230–53.
15 Hyam, “The Geopolitical Origins,” 146. For more on the CAF see Mlombo, Southern Rhodesia – South Africa Relations; Cohen, The Politics and Economics of Decolonization.
16 Percivale Liesching, British High Commissioner South Africa, to Earl Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 26 July 1956, The National Archives (TNA), London, DO/35/9459.
17 Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind, 13.
18 Ibid., 12. When using the term black I am referring collectively to African, Asian and Coloured South Africans as has become common practice in most literature on the subject.
19 Percivale Liesching, British High Commissioner South Africa, to Earl Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 26 July 1956, The National Archives (TNA), London, DO/35/9459.
20 Martin to Cockram, 30 Jan 1956, TNA, DO35/9459.
21 Liesching to the Earl of Home, 26 July 1956, TNA, DO/35/9459.
22 Notable exceptions include Jablonski, “The Road Taken,” 153–65; Kizlari and Valenza, “A Balancing Act?” 1–26.
23 Richard Arndt cited in Jablonski, “The Road Taken,” 153.
24 E.E.R. Church, Controller Establishments to O.G. Forster, CRO, 10 Feb 1958, TNA, DO35/9459.
25 Background Note on Royal Ballet Tour to South Africa, Comments by British Council, Dec 1959, TNA, BW/1/308.
26 Vaughan, “A Certain Idea of Britain,” 151–68.
27 Ibid., 152.
28 Wainwright, “A Special Relationship,” 5.
29 See for example Richmond, Cultural Exchange and the Cold War; McDaniel, American–Soviet Cultural Diplomacy; Miller-Davenport, Gateway State; Geduld, “Dancing Diplomacy,” 44–81; Gerits, “Hungry Minds,”594–619; Parks, Hearts, Minds, Voices; See Nicholas, “Fellow Travellers,” 83–105; Gonçalves, “Ballet, propaganda,” 171–86.
30 Lee, “British Cultural Diplomacy,” 113.
31 Connelly, “Taking Off the Cold War Lens,” 739–69.
32 Council Work in South Africa, The British Council Executive Committee, 3 May 1960, TNA, BW/107/9.
33 For more on the cultural boycott see Stevens, “Boycotts and Sanctions,” 82–104; Toulson, “Culture is a Weapon,” 25–79; Morgan, “Into the Struggle,” 98–152; Nixon, Harlem, Homelands and Hollywood, 155–72. Thörn, Anti-Apartheid, 63; Fieldhouse, Anti-Apartheid, 103.
34 Stevens, “Boycotts and Sanctions,” 91.
35 Ibid.
36 Nixon, Harlem, Homelands and Hollywood, 157.
37 Ibid. 158.
38 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 615, 7 Dec 1959, 107–78.
39 Ibid.
40 New Age, 10 Dec 1959, 6.
41 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 615, 9 Dec 1959, 516–20.
42 Clark and Worger, South Africa, 60.
43 See Lodge, Black Politics in South Africa Since 1945, 72. These groups included the ANC, the Indian National Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions, the Coloured People’s Congress and the South African Congress of Democrats.
44 Frankel, An Ordinary Atrocity, 8.
45 Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 279.
46 Lodge, Sharpeville, 71.
47 Frankel, An Ordinary Atrocity, 150–56.
48 Kenney, Architect of Apartheid, 10.
49 Westhuizen, White Power, 39.
50 Dubow, “Macmillan, Verwoerd,” 21.
51 Ibid., 34. While Afrikaans was the language spoken at home by most Afrikaners, Dutch was used in more formal settings such as education.
52 Sargent cited in Giliomee, The Afrikaners, 361–62.
53 Barber, South Africa, 33.
54 Ibid., 48.
55 Giliomee, The Afrikaners, 398.
56 Inter-Imperial Relations Committee, Report, Proceedings, and Memoranda, Imperial Conference 1926, available at https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/cth11_doc_1926.pdf [Accessed 19 Aug 2021].
57 Statute of Westminster, 1931, available at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf [Accessed 19 Aug 2021].
58 Giliomee, The Afrikaners, 400–01.
59 Ibid., 401.
60 Ibid., 422.
61 Ibid., 491.
62 See Welsh, The Rise and Fall, 16; Mlombo, Southern Rhodesia – South Africa Relations, 121.
63 Welsh, The Rise and Fall, 17. The Ossewabrandwag was a right-wing paramilitary organisation with connections to Nazi Germany. It implemented a sabotage campaign against the Smuts government in an effort to derail the war effort. Several of its members, including future Prime Minister John Vorster, were interned during World War II. See Kleynhans, Hitler’s Spies.
64 Dubow, Apartheid, 5.
65 Ibid., 5.
66 Posel, “Whiteness and Power,” 104.
67 Boulter, “Afrikaner Nationalism in Action,” 437–59.
68 Giliomee, The Afrikaners, 493.
69 Posel, “Whiteness and Power,” 105.
70 Gilliomee, The Afrikaners, 494.
71 Hopkins, “Rethinking Decolonization,” 211.
72 Prime Minister’s African Tour, April 1960, TNA, CAB/129/101.
73 The Guardian, 4 Feb 1960, 1.
74 Dubow, “Macmillan, Verwoerd,” 21.
75 The literature on the ‘wind of change’ speech includes, but is by no means limited to Makin, “Britain, South Africa and the Commonwealth,” 74–88; Dubow, “Macmillan, Verwoerd,” 20–47; Ovendale, “Macmillan and the Wind of Change,” 455–77.
76 Prime Minister’s African Tour, April 1960, TNA, CAB/129/101.
77 Ibid.
78 Snelling to Hamilton, 26 Oct 1955, TNA, DO/35/9459.
79 Phimister, “Developing and Defending Britain,” 763.
80 Snelling to Hamilton, 26 Oct 1955, TNA, DO/35/9459.
81 Overseas Information Services: Report of the Drogheda Committee, 13 Nov 1953, TNA, CAB/129/64.
82 Snelling to Hamilton, 26 Oct 1955, TNA, DO/35/9459.
83 Ibid.
84 Liesching to the Earl of Home, 26 July 1956, TNA, DO/35/9459.
85 Smedley to Martin, 17 Sep 1956, TNA, DO/35/9459.
86 Martin to Garner, 17 Sep 1956, TNA, DO/35/9459.
87 Wright to Miles, 28 Aug 1958, TNA, DO/35/9459.
88 Belcher to Cockram, 24 Feb 1958, TNA, DO/35/9459.
89 Liesching to Home 26 July 1956, TNA, DO/35/9459.
90 Church to Forster, 10 Feb 1958, TNA, DO/35/9459.
91 Johnston to Cockram, 16 Sep 1959, TNA, DO/35/9460.
92 Office of the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in the Union of South Africa: Report of the Cultural Advisor, Oct 1958 to April 1960, TNA, BW/107/26.
93 Office of the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in the Union of South Africa: Report of the Cultural Advisor, April 1960 to March 1962, TNA, BW/107/26.
94 Butlin to Newton Thompson, 20 Aug 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
95 Office of the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in the Union of South Africa: Report of the Cultural Advisor, April 1960 to March 1962, TNA, BW/107/26.
96 Clutterbuck to Miss Haddon, Secretary Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, 22 March 1960, TNA, BW/107/3.
97 Extract from Note on Proposals for Cultural Projects in the Union of South Africa Festival, 1960, enclosed with Mr Jasper’s letter to Controller, 27 Aug 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
98 Ibid.
99 Dundas to British Council Director General, 4 Dec 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
100 Ibid.
101 Telegram CRO to United Kingdom Information Office Johannesburg, 14 Nov 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
102 Dundas to Director General, British Council, 4 Dec 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
103 Telegram CRO to Pretoria, 14 Nov 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
104 Dundas to Regional Officer, South Africa, 16 Dec 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
105 Telegram Pretoria to CRO, 17 Nov 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
106 Maud, Golden Jubilee Celebrations in South Africa, 8 Sep 1960, TNA, DO/35/10574.
107 Butlin to Newton-Thompson, 20 Aug 1959, TNA, BW/107/3.
108 The Guardian, 25 Oct 1959, 17.
109 The British Council Executive Committee, Royal Ballet Visit to South Africa, 5 Jan 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
110 Ibid.
111 Bourne, “Black British Ballet,” 204.
112 Background Note on Royal Ballet Tour to South Africa, Comments by British Council, Dec 1959, TNA, BW/1/308.
113 Ibid.
114 Rand Daily Mail, 9 Dec 1959, 1.
115 Background Note on Royal Ballet Tour to South Africa, Comments by British Council, Dec 1959, TNA, BW/1/308.
116 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 615, 9 Dec 1959, 516–20.
117 Ibid.
118 Ibid.
119 The Guardian, 10 Dec 1959, 2.
120 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 615, 9 Dec 1959, 516–20.
121 British Council Executive Committee Meeting, 4 Oct 1960, TNA, BW/107/9.
122 Rand Daily Mail, 16 Dec 1959, 16.
123 Rand Daily Mail, 22 Jan 1960, 10.
124 Rand Daily Mail, 1 Feb 1960, 19.
125 Ever Mayer Schay, Of Exile and Music, 158.
126 Rand Daily Mail, 17 March 1960, 7.
127 Ever Mayer Schay, Of Exile and Music, 159.
128 Lodge, Sharpeville, 148.
129 Ibid., 236–37.
130 Dubow, Apartheid, 81.
131 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 621, 7 April 1960, 561–62.
132 Ibid.
133 Telegram Cape Town to CRO, 4 April 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
134 Ibid.
135 Malherbe, Never a Dull Moment.
136 Ibid., 316.
137 Ibid., 315.
138 Ever Mayer Schay, Of Exile and Music, 159.
139 Dubow, “Scientism, Social Research,” 134.
140 Parliamentary Question, 7 April 1960, Notes for Supplementaires, TNA, BW/1/308.
141 Telegram Pretoria to CRO, 4 April 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
142 Parliamentary Question, 7 April 1960, Notes for Supplementaires, TNA, BW/1/308.
143 Office of the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in the Union of South Africa: Report of the Cultural Advisor, Oct to April 1960, TNA, BW/107/26.
144 Ibid.
145 Ibid.
146 Maud to Earl of Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 24 May 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
147 Ibid.
148 Telegram Cape Town to CRO, 29 April 1960, TNA, DO/35/9460.
149 New Age, 3 March 1960, 1.
150 Kader Hassim Interview, 24 June 2002, “Voices of Resistance”, University of Durban-Westville Documentation Centre Oral History Project, 46. Available at https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Kader%20Hassim%20interview%202002-06-24.pdf [Accessed 16 Aug 2021].
151 Telegram Cape Town to CRO, 11.45, 26 April 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
152 Ibid.
153 Ibid.
154 Telegram Cape Town to CRO, 17.30, 26 April 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
155 Ibid.
156 Pistorius, “Coloured Opera as Subversive Forgetting,” 231.
157 La Guma cited in Roos, The La Traviata Affair, 3.
158 Telegram Cape Town to CRO, 17.30, 26 April 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
159 Ibid.
160 Rand Daily Mail, 29 Jan 1960, 2.
161 Maud to Earl of Home, 24 May 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
162 Ibid.
163 Roos, The La Traviata Affair, 5.
164 Prime Minister’s African Tour, April 1960, TNA, CAB/129/101.
165 See Anderson, Histories of the Hanged.
166 Maud to Earl of Home, 24 May 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
167 Ibid.
168 Maud, Golden Jubilee Celebrations in South Africa, 8 Sep 1960, TNA, DO/35/10574.
169 Maud to Earl of Home, 24 May 1960, TNA, BW/1/308.
170 Ibid.
171 Hyam and Henshaw, The Lion and the Springbok, 165.
172 Ibid., 261.
173 Fieldhouse, Anti-Apartheid, 103.
174 The Colour Bar, 1965, Actors’ Equity Association Archive, London, GSO1, File 1.
175 The Guardian, 29 March 1961, 1.
176 Thörn, Anti-Apartheid, 63.
177 This is best emphasised by the failed attempt by British Ambassador to South Africa, Sir John Nicholls, to persuade the Foreign Secretary to sanction a ‘fact finding mission’ to South Africa in 1968 in an effort to persuade Equity and the Musicians Union to moderate their policies. Nicholls felt the stipulations the unions placed on their members made it very difficult for the British government to fully utilise the potential of performing arts tours of South Africa. See Nicholls to Brown, 8 Jan 1968, TNA, FCO/13/102.