The 'Beyond' as Bhaba1 (1994:1) conceives it, is "neither a
new horizon, nor a leaving behind of the past"; rather it is the
borders to the present.
These boundaries of the present are the "that from which
something begins its essential unfolding", according to
Heidegger (1978:356). Unfolding as a consequence of the
intersection of time and space, produces complex, as
opposed to unitary or reductive, figures of difference and
identity in Bhaba's (1994:2) view.
It is with these 'complex figure of difference and identity' which
enact 'hindsight' to re-describe our cultural contemporaneity;
to re-inscribe our human, historic commonality, that this
study is interested in. Within the context of nation branding,
these figures offer an alternative to the archetypal western
approach to identity construction.
The western approach to nation branding is based on two
critical assumptions; firstly, that modern nations are composed
of homogeneous societies, and secondly, that these societies
share a common culture.
It is here that the problem lies, for at its essence, South Africa
is pluralistic. We are a multicultural rainbow nation. We do not
have typical shared myths, historical memories and a mass
public culture due to historical and more recent political
struggles within our country. Consequently, we do not follow
the typical western approach to nation branding. It is therefore the intention of this study to make use of Bhaba's
(1994) theory of the 'Beyond' and his notions of Interstices and
Cultural Hybridity as adjectives and means of complex culture
production, introduced above, to propose an alternative
multicultural South African identity to be spatially transcribed
into the South African pavilion at the Expo 2020, Dubai UAE.
To this end, the study conducted a Hermeneutical, Social
Visual Semiotic and Lexical analysis of I-JUSI, the selected
hybrid culture. The results of the examination produced
seven brand indicators. These indicators in conjunction with
a set of design principals; established via a precedent study
of artifacts, interiors, buildings and landscapes that explored
or expressed the nation's new emerging collective national
identity, will be used to spatially embody the design concept
for the pavilion.
Die "Anderkant" (1994:1) soos Bhaba dit verstaan, is nie 'n
"nuwe horison" maar ook nie " 'n vergeet van die verlede" nie,
dit is liewer die grense van die huidige.
Hierdie grense van die huidige is "dit wat waarvan iets
sy noodsaaklike ontplooing begin", volgens Heidegger
(1978:356). Ontplooing, as 'n gevolg van die kruising van tyd
en ruimte, skep komplekse beelde in kontras met die unit?re
of reduserende, beelde met verskille en identiteite uit Bhaba
(1994:2) se oogpunt.
Dit is met hierdie "komplekse beeld van verskil en identiteit"
wat "nawete" implementeer dat ons ons kulturele
tydelikheid kan her-definieer; om ons menslike, historiese
ooreenkomste te her-graveer, dit is die studie waarmee ons
onself mee bemoei. Binne die die begrip van handelsmerking
bied hierdie beelde 'n alternatief tot die argetipiese westerse
benadering tot identiteits konstruksie.
Die westerse benadering tot handelsmerking is gebaseer op
twee kritiese aannames: eerstens, dat moderne nasies van
homogene samelewings saamgestel is, en tweedens, dat
hierdie samelewings 'n algemene kultuur deel.
Dit is hier waar die probleem l?, want Suid Afrika is wesentlik
pluristies. Ons is 'n multi-kulturele re?nboog nasie . Ons besit nie
tipiese legendes wat gedeel word onder ons nie en historise
herinneringe en 'n massa publiek as gevolg van historiese en
meer onlangse politiese stryd in ons land. Dus as 'n gevolg,
volg ons nie die tipiese westerse benadering tot nasie
handelsmerking nie.
Die doel van hierdie studie is dus om gebruik te maak van
Bhaba (1994) se teorie van die "Anderkant" en sy nasies
van tussenruimtes en kulturele hibridisasie as byvoeglike
naamwoorde, en wyses van kompleks kultuur produksie, soos
hierbo bekendgestel, om 'n alternatiewe multikulturele Suid
Arikaanse identiteit voor te stel en om die studie op 'n ruimtelike
wyse op skrif te stel binne die Suid Afrikaanse Paviljoen by die
"Expo 2020, Dubai UAE".
Vir hierdie doel omvat die studie 'n hermeneutiese, sosiaal
visuele semoitiese en leksikale analise van l-JUSI, die verkose
hibried kultuur. Die resultate van die ondersoek het sewe
handels indikators gewerf. Hierdie merke, tesame met 'n stel
ontwerp beginsels ,het deur middel van 'n presedent studie
van artefakte, interieurs, geboue en landskappe wat die nasie
se nuwe ontluikende kollektiwe persoonlike identiteit uitdruk,
gaan gebruik word om die ontwerp konsep van die pawiljoen
ruimtelik uit te druk.
