ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss three interrelated themes concerning post-truth history in the South African historiographical context. These themes are apartheid denial and attempts by historians to challenge propaganda myths; the South African historians’ debate on truth and the contested museum space. The chapter argues that post-1994 South Africa has been dominated by a post-truth paradigm for reconciliation in historiography as reflected in education and museums. Attempts to decolonise historiography (and reconciliation paradigms that favour post-truth) need to take into account the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to historical writing and interpretation to challenge the often-covert denial of truths as ‘post-truth’. The South African case study of history in a post-truth world offers insight into the limitations of the disciplinary canon in contesting compromising postcolonial political pressures of our time. An innovative interdisciplinary approach asking new and different types of questions in historical scholarship is an imperative. These questions are related to the process and methods of finding the truth or truths (rather than the outcome of truth finding in itself) and have implications for historiographical practice also in museums.
