Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company

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dc.contributor.advisorHall, Martinen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBrink, Yvonneen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-18T11:25:40Z
dc.date.available2016-11-18T11:25:40Z
dc.date.issued1992en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: pages 221-235.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe main object of study in this thesis is the architectural tradition commonly known as "Cape Dutch". The aim is to make sense of this architecture by answering questions about its coming into being, the people who created it, and their reasons for doing so. Contrary to the suggestions of most existing works on Cape Dutch architecture, an earlier substantial form of domestic architecture, which resembled the town houses of the Netherlands, underlies the tradition. Analysis of existing literature, archaeological excavation, and inventories, indicates that gradual changes towards the basic traditional form during the first decades of the eighteenth century took a dramatic leap during the 1730s. Moving away from the shapes of the dwellings to the people who changed them involves a major theoretical shift, away from formalism towards poststructuralist theory: discourse theory, literary criticism, feminism. These frameworks enable me to identify contradictions underlying historical events; to deconstruct documents, thus revealing their rhetorical devices for constituting subjectivities and establishing social hierarchies; and to see the architecture as a body of works or texts - a discourse. From 1657 free burghers were given land to farm independently. These farmers were an anomalous group whose view of themselves no longer coincided with the lesser subjectivities structured for them by Dutch East India Company (VOC) documents. Together the latter constituted a discourse of domination against which the anomalous group, in the process of establishing new identities for themselves, developed a discourse of resistance. Since the VOC maintained a strict monopoly over the word, the discourse of discontent was manifested in other forms of inscription, most notably in free burgher architecture. Using a particular type of gender theory, it becomes possible to envisage the two discourses in conversation with each other. The theoretical component of the thesis involves, first, writing historical archaeology into the gaps of existing post-structuralist perspectives which were not designed for archaeology; second, demonstrating the two discourses at work in the practice of their everyday existence by the people concerned.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBrink, Y. (1992). <i>Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22580en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBrink, Yvonne. <i>"Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22580en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBrink, Y. 1992. Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Brink, Yvonne AB - The main object of study in this thesis is the architectural tradition commonly known as "Cape Dutch". The aim is to make sense of this architecture by answering questions about its coming into being, the people who created it, and their reasons for doing so. Contrary to the suggestions of most existing works on Cape Dutch architecture, an earlier substantial form of domestic architecture, which resembled the town houses of the Netherlands, underlies the tradition. Analysis of existing literature, archaeological excavation, and inventories, indicates that gradual changes towards the basic traditional form during the first decades of the eighteenth century took a dramatic leap during the 1730s. Moving away from the shapes of the dwellings to the people who changed them involves a major theoretical shift, away from formalism towards poststructuralist theory: discourse theory, literary criticism, feminism. These frameworks enable me to identify contradictions underlying historical events; to deconstruct documents, thus revealing their rhetorical devices for constituting subjectivities and establishing social hierarchies; and to see the architecture as a body of works or texts - a discourse. From 1657 free burghers were given land to farm independently. These farmers were an anomalous group whose view of themselves no longer coincided with the lesser subjectivities structured for them by Dutch East India Company (VOC) documents. Together the latter constituted a discourse of domination against which the anomalous group, in the process of establishing new identities for themselves, developed a discourse of resistance. Since the VOC maintained a strict monopoly over the word, the discourse of discontent was manifested in other forms of inscription, most notably in free burgher architecture. Using a particular type of gender theory, it becomes possible to envisage the two discourses in conversation with each other. The theoretical component of the thesis involves, first, writing historical archaeology into the gaps of existing post-structuralist perspectives which were not designed for archaeology; second, demonstrating the two discourses at work in the practice of their everyday existence by the people concerned. DA - 1992 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1992 T1 - Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company TI - Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22580 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/22580
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBrink Y. Places of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology, 1992 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22580en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Archaeologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherArchitecture - South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherMaterial culture - South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherArchitecture, Domestic - South Africaen_ZA
dc.titlePlaces of discourse and dialogue : a study in the material culture of the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Companyen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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