Role of documentaries in the construction of national identity: Project 10 documentary series, South Africa

Abstract

This study analyses the role of the media generally, and the documentary mode specifically, in the construction of national identity. It focuses on the Project 10 documentary series in South Africa. Chapter one, lays the foundation for the study by discussing the concepts, theories and debates on the notion of ‘the nation’, ‘national identity’, ‘nation building’ and the documentary mode. Chapter two argues that nations are in a constant state of (re)birth, (re)definition and (re)invention and interrogates how the documentary mode attempts to sustain what Benedict Anderson (1991) calls a sense of ‘imagined community’. Chapter three focuses on the role and position of an individual citizen vis-à-vis ‘nation’ and ‘nation building’, and how the documentaries in the Project 10 series explore this concern. Chapter four examines the effects and manifestations of previous leadership regimes in the present-day South Africa and how this affects the process of building contemporary South Africa.