The majority of activities in the first two years consisted of archival research. I have completed surveys of the Hans Adler collection at Wits University, and the Johannesburg Musical Society collection (erroneously titled the Musica Viva Collection) at Wits University. I have also begun work in the SABC archive in Johannesburg, in the Hans Kramer archive in Cape Town, and in the PACT archive in Pretoria. My work has also incorporated research in the Enuga S. Reddy papers and the archive of the South African Institute for Race Relations, where I especially engaged with media reports relating to the cultural boycott. At the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I completed work in the British Anti-Apartheid Movement’s archive. There, I was able to examine documents relating to the cultural boycott, both as it relates to the United Democratic Movement in South Africa, and the UN in New York City.
My research activities thus far have focused on building a dataset from which research towards the project’s interpretive objectives (O.3 and O.4) may proceed. I have spent significant time analysing the material collected from archives, and have constructed a dataset currently comprising 441 names of performers who travelled to South Africa, including the dates and places they visited. This dataset, though not yet complete, is already much larger than originally anticipated. I am also building a secondary dataset of performance routes across the African continent, and a third of performers who refused to perform in South Africa. This work signifies the first attempt to collect comprehensive information on visiting performers, their performing routes, and those who objected to performing under apartheid. These datasets are unique and will serve as an essential basis for significant future research.
