The ending of apartheid rule in South Africa, contrary to many expectations, has so far not led to major shifts in how South Africa’s history is presented. Radical revisions to school textbooks have not appeared, statues and holidays still tend to be those of the old regime, and blatant historical falsifications are still repeated. With so much emphasis placed on reconciliation, leaders in South Africa today appear determined to leave history as sanitized as possible. The few initiatives taken in favor of historical revisionism are often at the local level, where small museums are beginning to display aspects of the South African past that were hidden during the apartheid era.
