Browsing by Author "Pietersen, Ashrick"
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- Item“There was simply too much water” : exploring the Laingsburg Flood of 1981(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Pietersen, Ashrick; Grundlingh, A. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis provides a revised, inclusive, integrated, pre-and post-apartheid contextual presentation of the Laingsburg flood disaster of 1981, still widely regarded as one of the most devastating natural disasters in South African history. To develop and compile a balanced and comprehensive account of this catastrophe, multiple untapped primary and secondary sources were utilized. The memorialization of this event was also explored and care was exercised to address the lacuna created by the lack of contextual information and the exclusion of “non-white” flood survivors’ narratives. The aim of this thesis was thus broadly two-fold. As far as possible, it attempts to provide an inclusive, comprehensive, politically contextual account of the disaster and then to document the subsequent attempts to memorialize it via commemoration and commercialization.