The hidden history of supporting actors in the first human-to-human heart transplant, c.1958-1967

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dc.contributor.advisorSwart, Sandra S.en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorStyan, James-Brenten_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-11T13:37:38Z
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-29T09:42:04Z
dc.date.available2022-03-11T13:37:38Z
dc.date.available2022-04-29T09:42:04Z
dc.date.issued2022-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: The first successful human-to-human heart transplant occurred in South Africa on the evening and early morning of 2 and 3 December 1967. It was a groundbreaking moment in world history and became the most publicized medical event in history. The leader of the transplant team, prof. Christiaan Barnard, was propelled into stardom and became the global face of heart transplantation for years. The first heart transplantation took place while South Africa was an Apartheid state and the event was a propaganda coup for the Nationalist government of the time. At the time of the event and following the operation, numerous controversies erupted at various times, including allegations that Barnard had ‘stolen the research others had done’ and that Barnard had never acknowledged the rest of his team. The events of that operation have been well documented and uncontested until 2002, a year after Barnard’s death when another narrative appeared in newspaper reports. The new narrative stated that there were other people involved in the transplantation, characters who history deliberately forgot, people who were never acknowledged. In the popular retelling of this narrative, these are ‘black’ and ‘coloured’ people who were – according to the new narrative – deliberately excluded from the successes of the first historic transplantation. At the forefront of this revisionist retelling is a black surgical assistant named Hamilton Naki whose role during the first heart transplantation continues to be controversial. My study starts from the idea of revisiting conventional triumphalist medical history, with the white male star at the centre and focuses on reconstructing the stories of the liminal people who have been forgotten. Who were the people who worked behind the scenes helping to ensure the success of the first transplantation? Were they ever acknowledged or were they indeed deliberately excluded from the narrative? Given the Apartheid context, was there a larger conspiracy to deliberately blot anyone out because of their race? The study will seek to understand the role of supporting actors, not just the so-called ‘star’. It also explores the retellings of the event, affected by media, mythologizing and memory in the years that followed. Ultimately, this thesis attempts a reconstruction of the historical transplantation event, one based in the socio-political context and one that reconstructs the role of marginalized figures.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eerste suksesvolle poging om ’n hart oor te plant tussen twee mense het in Suid-Afrika plaasgevind op die aand en vroeë oggend van 2 en 3 Desember 1967. Dit was ’n baanbrekersoomblik in die geskiedenis van die mediese wêreld en het die bekendste mediese deurbraak in die moderne geskiedenis geword. Die leier van die hartoorplantingspan, prof. Christiaan Barnard, was oornag wêreldbekend en het vinnig die gesig geword van hartoorplanting. Die eerste hartoorplanting het plaasgevind op ’n tydstip toe Suid-Afrika nog ’n apartheid-staat was en hierdie geskiedkundige oomblik het ontaard in ’n propaganda-hulpmiddel van groot waarde vir die Nasionale Party regering. Na die hartoorplanting het verskeie gerugte en bewerings die ronde gedoen wat tot groot omstredendheid gelei het, onder meer dat Barnard die navorsing van andere gesteel het en dat Barnard nooit enige van die lede van sy span erken het nie. Wat was die ware toedrag van sake? Die feite van die operasie is oor die jare heen deeglik opgeteken en nooit betwis nie, tot na Barnard se dood, toe ’n nuwe omstredenheid gevorm het, naamlik oor die rol van Hamilton Naki, ’n swart man wat deel was van die eksperimentele span in die laboratorium waar Barnard sy navorsing gedoen het. Die Naki-storie het tot gevolg gehad dat nuwe teorieë ontwikkel het, insluitende vrae oor die rol van die apartheid-staat voor en tydens die eerste hartoorplanting en die invloed van swart en bruin lede van Barnard se span, mense wat volgens die nuwe narratief na Barnard se dood, met opset uit die geskiedenis geskryf is. Hierdie navorsingstuk se doel is om die verhaal van die eerste hartoorplanting te herondersoek met die fokus op die ondersteuningspan van Barnard, die mense wie se stories tot vandag toe nie vertel is nie, dog mense wie se rol integraal was tot die sukses wat behaal is daardie oggend in Kaapstad. Wie was die mense agter die skerms, die mense wie se bydraes vergete is? Waarom is hulle bydraes vergete? Het hulle ooit enige erkenning ontvang of is hulle met opset uit die geskiedenis geskryf? Binne die konteks van apartheid, was daar inderdaad ’n groter komplot in plek gestel om die rol van swart en bruin lede van die hartoorplantingspan toe te smeer? Hierdie studie poog om die verhaal van die gewone man en vrou te vertel, die mense wat agter Barnard gestaan het en wie se stories belangrik is indien die verhaal van die eerste hartoorplanting korrek vertel wil word. Dit is ’n poging om die historiese hartoorplanting oor te vertel met inagneming van ’n spesifieke sosio-politieke konteks en met die fokus op die mense wat vir so lank vergete is.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.format.extent149 pages : illustrationsen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/124933
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subjectHeart transplantation controversiesen_ZA
dc.subjectCardiac surgery -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subjectNaki, Hamiltonen_ZA
dc.subjectHistory of medicine -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subjectHeart -- Transplantation -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subjectBarnard, Christiaan, 1922-2001en_ZA
dc.subjectApartheid -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.titleThe hidden history of supporting actors in the first human-to-human heart transplant, c.1958-1967en_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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