Posted on November 15, 2011
Cameron Blake
Struik Publishers
2009
SHORTLY after the Twin Towers fell in 2001, the United States declared war on terrorism. I was attending high school in the United States at the time. I remember listening to some of my fellow classmates, who had recently turned 18 years old, describe how they were required to register with the Selective Service System so that they could be recruited for military service, should the need arise. I recall my sense of disbelief that it was possible, particularly in light of the recent war declaration, that people my age could be recruited to engage in warfare.
By contrast to the unfamiliarity of conscription for me in 2001, Cameron Blake's Troepie: From Call-Up to Camps (2009) details how it was a familiar, compulsory norm under apartheid for 'white' South African men to be trained for service in the South African Defence Force (SADF). Following in the inspirational footsteps of JH Thompson's An Unpopular War (2006), Troepie documents the experiences of men during their time of service. In addition to wanting to 'publish endless personal tales' (xv), Blake hopes that his book will help inform future generations about an aspect of South Africa's recent history about which there is little currently published.
The content of the book lends itself naturally to a progressive structure from aanklaar, or reporting for service, to uitklaar, the end of service. Between the beginning and end lie a plethora of recollections of Basic Training, General Service, and experiences of contact with the enemy, camps and more. Peppered at times with colourful and idiomatic language, and slipping between English and Afrikaans, the accounts express an array of attitudes towards National Service. They begin to surface some of the nuances and complexities of individuals and their beliefs and aspirations, as opposed to presenting flat caricatures of SADF troops. Although the richness of recollections fleshes out individuals from caricatures, the intimacy of the details is counterbalanced by the decision to keep excerpts anonymous. This sets up a barrier between the reader and narrators which is both simultaneously protective and distancing.
Blake's statement that, 'these are subjective recollections; they are based on personal memories and beliefs. I have recounted them here as they were told to me' (xiii) effectively distances those whom he interviewed, as well as himself, from potential criticism for historical inaccuracy. Nevertheless, Blake grounds the accounts historically by including multiple appendixes which provide, among other things, additional contextualisation of the SADF, the war in Angola, and explanations of military-related terms. Blake's inclusion of both appendixes and individual accounts strategically circumnavigates some of the issues debated on regarding the relationship between and politics of memory and history.
Apart from a brief description on his intentions and some of his methodological practices used to obtain the narratives, Blake's voice remains largely absent from the book. Nevertheless, traces of his curatorial fingerprints are visible in the ordering of the excerpts, both in the array of varied experiences presented and through the way in which some of the snippets satisfyingly pick up themes from previous interview segments. One of the advantages of Blake's method of compilation is that he allows readers the freedom to engage with the text in the register(s) of their choosing. The book can be skim read in an ad-hoc manner, offering a reader multiple snippets on a breadth of topics. At the same time, the accounts can be read as primary ethnographic data presented with a preliminary degree of organization that awaits further analysis. One can imagine how future researchers might turn to, and return to, the accounts recorded in Troepie to help make sense of a period of South Africa's history in the same way in which historians comb interviews which constitute part of the James Stuart Archive as a means to make sense of precolonial southern African history.
Another register in which the book can be read is by attending to the modes, methods and inflections of the tellings. Chris Van der Merwe and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (2007) demonstrate how the telling of one's story, particularly in contexts of trauma, helps towards healing and regaining a sense of self. In a post-Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) context, much attention has valuably focused on the trauma and legacy of apartheid. Albeit in a different context, some of the accounts in Troepie allude to another traumatised stratum of the landscape of South Africa's recent past: the sobering reality of South Africa's engagement in war beyond its borders. The TRC helped inform the general public about some of the atrocities of apartheid, while at the same time, affording some individuals a means to reestablish themselves (albeit at times precariously). Similarly, Troepie has the potential to help facilitate broader understanding about a period of South Africa's recent history, as well as the afterlife of its trauma, that impeded and impedes South Africa's past and present, and will impede on its future.
Between presenting accounts of mishaps, deception and precarious relationships, Blake's interviewers detail moments of honour, humour, innovation, and creative subversion of the military system. By doing so, the narratives encapsulate some of the bitter-sweetness that accompanies formative life experiences. They help to provide an explanation to the puzzle of someone who did not complete the compulsory service and commented, mystified, “I can't understand why so many of my friends tell me it was the best two years of their lives that they would never want to do againâ€Â (xii).
As Blake himself acknowledges, Troepie only includes a selection of the contributions he collected, and it is his hope to release a second book in the near future. Blake's task is cut out for him. Not discounting the significance of this publication, a second book affords him the opportunity of stylistic experimentation, such as the inclusion of visuals, and more ethnographic details about the dynamics and relationships forged in the process of collecting the accounts, including his own sentient response. Troepie whets one's appetite for the next course.
Megan Greenwood is a recent Masters graduate (2011) in Social Anthropology (UCT), she works currently for the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative at the University of Cape Town.