“Miriam’s Place”: South African jazz, conviviality and exile

In October 1969, a debate between anti-apartheid activist Bishop Trevor Huddleston and Tory MP Enoch Powell was broadcast on British television. It presented viewers with opposing ideas about immigration, dignity and duty. This article claims that Huddleston's invocation of apartheid as an extreme case of racism turned the debate into a key moment for educating Britons about apartheid and about resistance to it. The paper argues that the debate presents an opportunity to address the absence of television from current scholarship concerning the role of culture in the global anti-apartheid struggle. In addition, it shows that Huddleston used the emerging genre of the televised debate as a platform to appeal for solidarity. Thus this event and the public reaction to it serve as a case study to explore solidarity as it was recently framed by David Featherstone. Huddleston and Powell's screened encounter fused domestic and post-imperial concerns: its analysis thus helps to problematise artificial divides between domestic and imperial historiographies. From a methodological point of view, the analysis of the debate as text and performance is juxtaposed with letters from viewers as well as newspaper coverage. This method illustrates first, the growing place of television as a site of political debate. Second, it positions television recordings as a new archive for scholars working both on the anti-apartheid movement and on racism in Britain. Third, it serves as a lens onto the impact of Powell's and Huddleston's policies on the lives of Britons.

show abstract

“Trevor is ‘News’”: Celebrity as Protest in the Early Anti-Apartheid Struggle, 1948–1960

Zalmanovich

2019

Critical Arts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Celebrity culture was a crucial, though unrecognized, component of the early antiapartheid struggle. Between 1948 and the foundation of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) in Britain in 1960, activists discovered celebrity to be a valuable political tool. The strategic use of celebrity secured media coverage, mobilized support for the struggle, and built a transnational network of activists and collaborative institutions. By analysing celebrity as a tool of protest in the pre-Sharpeville era, this article will illuminate its centrality in the future 'war of representation' between South African authorities and global anti-apartheid protest. I focus on British Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist Trevor Huddleston who reached international fame in the early 1950s as a leader of the moral crusade against apartheid. The South African state increased its offensive on Huddleston as his reputation grew, leading to his recall to England in late 1955. The Huddleston affair instructed both sides about the promises and perils of the use of celebrity in the global war over public opinion. I argue that this standoff was a precursor of the 1970s campaign of propaganda and disinformation that the South African government launched to counter anti-apartheid movements in the West.

show abstract

“Miriam’s Place”: South African jazz, conviviality and exile

Cited by 6 publications

References 32 publications

The Comic Representation of Apartheid on British Television in the Late 1960s

The Comic Representation of Apartheid on British Television in the Late 1960s

Screening Solidarity in Late 1960s Britain: Racism, Anti-Apartheid, and a Televised Debate

“Trevor is ‘News’”: Celebrity as Protest in the Early Anti-Apartheid Struggle, 1948–1960

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About