War on the Homefront: National Division and South Africa's Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945
Author(s): Ian P Harrison
Year: 2018
Summary
In 1939, the Union of South Africa was caught unprepared for war. Lacking a servicable navy, the Union Defense Force was neverthelss tasked with protecting Allied supply lines through the Southern Ocean. Despite establishing a series of coastal defenses and RADAR stations to this end, Allied merchants rounding the Cape continued to suffer heavy casualties. As these losses mounted, competing ethnic, cultural, and political factions within the Union began using the U-boat war as fuel for their pro- or anti-war propaganda. By manipulating the construction of the reader’s maritime landscape, these groups attempted to affect support for the war in their favor. As such, this paper will analyze wartime propaganda in conjunction with the archaeological remains of the Union’s coastal defenses, examining the U-boat war within the broader context of South Africa’s political turmoil and internal divisions.
Cite this Record
War on the Homefront: National Division and South Africa's Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945. Ian P Harrison. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441513)
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Keywords
General
Radar
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south africa
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WWII
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1939-1945
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 282