Robben Island Research Articles

Seasonality of breeding by Chukar Partridge Alectoris chukar on Robben Island

Eight records suggest that the timing of breeding of the introduced Chukar Partridge Alectoris chukar on Robben Island can tentatively be described as from September to November.

First record of African Dusky Flycatcher on Robben Island

An African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta was observed on 23 May 2024 on Robben Island, Table Bay, South Africa. This brings the total number of bird species recorded on Robben Island to 166; the number reported since 2000 is 135.

Second bibliography of biodiversity research on Robben Island

This bibliography of published output of research relating to Robben Island, Table Bay, South Africa, covers the period 2016–2024. The previous bibliography covered the period up to 2016. All authors are grateful to the Robben Island Museum for support for this research, which is a contribution to the knowledge record of this World Heritage Site.

Leprosy in Robben Island: Historical and medical insights and a comparative study with India.

Leprosy in Robben Island: Historical and medical insights and a comparative study with India.

Non-colonial ground-nesting birds on Robben Island: positive impact of the removal of feral cats on the abundance of Chukar Partridge and Fiery-necked Nightjar

The near complete removal of feral cats Felis catus was one of five major drivers of change at Robben Island in the first decades of the 21st century. This note demonstrates that the abundance of Chukar Partridge and of Fiery-necked Nightjar has increased during this period.

The Road Not Travelled: Tracking Love in Frank Anthony’s The Journey: The Revolutionary Anguish of Comrade B

The Journey (1991) is a virtually unknown “struggle” novel by Frank Anthony (d. 1993), a senior member of the African People’s Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA), who was incarcerated on Robben Island for six years. The novel and its author have been elided from South African history as a racialized literary establishment and the defensiveness of the resistance organization of which he was a member reinforced each other in tacit censorship. Anthony’s novel presents revealing insights into the repression of the personal in the anti-apartheid movement, which reflected the “liquidation” of love in leftist discourse of the period. The importance of love, especially romantic love– the highly volatile emotion which is often boundary-breaking and radically transformative–has been recognized in contemporary postMarxism and critical race theory. Blindness to the potential of love in dominant struggle politics is reflected in the protagonist of The Journey, whose passion for social justice leads, paradoxically, to repression of the empowerment and emancipation of self(lessness) through other(s), enabled by eros.

Hacking the Museum: Mandela27 – A Democratic DIY Pop-Up Installation

In Mandela27 the museum was ‘hacked’ to create a democratic Do-it-Yourself (DIY) pop-up exhibition, inspired by the story of Nelson Mandela’s incarceration. The installation tells the story of the journey from apartheid to democracy and reconciliation in South Africa through a 360 video, archival photographs, a digital game and an interactive timeline – all displayed from within a symbolic reconstruction of Mandela’s cell in Robben Island Prison. The project succeeded in involving a range of diverse audiences, including visitors from under-represented social groups, through its design as a low-cost, pop-up physical/digital installation. It was the design of Mandela27 that allowed it to be made available and freely accessible online across Europe and South Africa, where it has been displayed in multiple ways by local communities. Since 2015, the installation has been exhibited at over 50 venues to over 184,000 people and was still touring in 2023.

Robben Island and the Culture of Reconstruction in South Africa

AbstractOn the fifth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release after twenty-seven years in political prison, and nine months after his election as South Africa’s president, his new government and its allies held an important event. On February 11, 1995, 1,200 ex–political prisoners traveled to Cape Town for the Robben Island Reunion. The first day was held at the former maximum-security prison, the site of subjugation and struggle for many of the participants. The day culminated with a creative happening, as the former prisoners enthusiastically smashed rocks in the Limestone Quarry, negating this once oppressive labor and transforming it into an affirmation of freedom. On ensuing days, the reunion celebrated and demanded support for the ex-prisoners and set Robben Island on the path to becoming the country’s first national peoples’ museum and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Drawing on oral histories and photographs, this article examines the museum’s process of becoming and its subsequent trajectory in the continuing struggle for liberation.

Spotted Gully Shark Triakis megalopterus at Robben Island, Table Bay, South Africa

We report a sighting of a Spotted Gully Shark Triakis megalopterus at Robben Island, 7 km from the nearest mainland, in Table Bay, South Africa. The sighting was made on 18 February 2023 within an hour of high tide.

A Modern-Day Florestan: Fidelio on Robben Island and South Africa's Early Democratic Project

AbstractIn 2004, Cape Town Opera mounted a production of Beethoven's Fidelio at the former apartheid prison on Robben Island. Sponsored by Den Norske Opera, and endorsed by the South African government, the production was presented as a celebration of the country's tenth year of democracy. This article investigates the vision of democracy performed by Fidelio on Robben Island and asks how it interacts with the founding principles of the new South African political order. Situating the production within the context of contemporaneous debates about cultural identity and representation in a democratic South Africa, I argue that Fidelio on Robben Island performed a legitimizing function designed to endorse the validity of the state and of opera as a democratic cultural form.

Diffractive swimming: Learning though a Robben Island crossing SPECIAL ISSUE

This is an experimental piece following 30 years of implementation work in sexual and reproductive justice. In 2021, I started my PhD and wild water swimming. While separate initiatives, my time in the sea enabled deep, slow, focused diffractive process in which my thoughts, connections, obstacles, engagements, relationships, memories, and writing flowed with the human embodiment of ocean watery swimming. After my proposal was finalised, I ventured further, wanting to spend time swimming distances. I joined a group training to do a Robben Island crossing. This paper documents the slow journey of my mind and body in regular practice and process. I remember some who have passed on known and unknown as Robben Island evokes ideas of individual and collective struggle. On the day of the crossing, it was clear then cloudy and rough. I was left with mist and turbulence and yet, I came to shore and my PhD continues.

A wave-driven surface circulation feature in Table Bay

Table Bay, located in the Cape Peninsula region of South Africa, supports a variety of human and ecological interests. Notably it hosts a major port, with significant shipping and smaller maritime activity in and near the bay. Despite this, knowledge of its circulation dynamics remains cursory. In this study, surface gravity waves, particularly those with longer periods and higher wave heights such as swells, are shown to be important in driving near surface currents and establishing circulation patterns within Table Bay. A surface circulation feature, linked to large wave conditions and established by strong wave-driven flows near Robben Island, is identified and described by means of two coastal ocean model simulations. One simulation is dynamically coupled to a wave model and includes current forcing due to waves, whereas the other neglects waves. The influence of these wave-driven currents is relevant at the event scale, but also affects the monthly means of the simulation periods. Finally, the importance of including accurate surface gravity wave forcing in simulations of coastal currents, for applications of coastal models, is elucidated. This is achieved by analysing differences in the drift of a series of drogues deployed in the coupled and uncoupled simulations. Trajectories, drift speeds and drogue fates differed materially between the two configurations, underscoring the implications of wave-driven currents for common use cases.

Grazing capacity change on a small Mediterranean-type South African offshore island following the control of invasive alien European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the most important factors driving extinction rates worldwide. Among the IAS, the impacts of introduced mammals on native biodiversity are most severe, with the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) being the most problematic. Globally, European rabbits have been introduced to five continents and more than 800 islands or island groups where they are a threat to biodiversity and human livelihoods. The impacts of European rabbits on biodiversity and human livelihoods have been extensively studied across the globe. However, some regions of the world, such as the offshore islands along Africa’s southern coast, have been sparsely studied. In this study, we monitored change in grazing capacity on a South African offshore island, Robben Island, following an attempt to eradicate European rabbits between 2008 and 2009. Grazing capacity on the island increased following rabbit control, driven by the recovery of palatable plant species in response to release from herbivory. There was no change in grazing capacity at sites under Eucalyptus plantations because of the inhibitory effects of the alien trees on understory vegetation dynamics. We believe that grazing capacity changes on Robben Island are indicative of potential vegetation changes on other southern African offshore islands.

Intercolony variation in reproductive skipping in the African penguin.

In long‐lived species, reproductive skipping is a common strategy whereby sexually mature animals skip a breeding season, potentially reducing population growth. This may be an adaptive decision to protect survival, or a non‐adaptive decision driven by individual‐specific constraints. Understanding the presence and drivers of reproductive skipping behavior can be important for effective population management, yet in many species such as the endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), these factors remain unknown. This study uses multistate mark‐recapture methods to estimate African penguin survival and breeding probabilities at two colonies between 2013 and 2020. Overall, survival (mean ± SE) was higher at Stony Point (0.82 ± 0.01) than at Robben Island (0.77 ± 0.02). Inter‐colony differences were linked to food availability; under decreasing sardine (Sardinops sagax) abundance, survival decreased at Robben Island and increased at Stony Point. Additionally, reproductive skipping was evident across both colonies; at Robben Island the probability of a breeder becoming a nonbreeder was ~0.22, versus ~0.1 at Stony Point. Penguins skipping reproduction had a lower probability of future breeding than breeding individuals; this lack of adaptive benefit suggests reproductive skipping is driven by individual‐specific constraints. Lower survival and breeding propensity at Robben Island places this colony in greater need of conservation action. However, further research on the drivers of inter‐colony differences is needed.

The Robben Island Diversity Experience: It's about the Journey, Not the RIDE.

The Robben Island diversity experience (RIDE), a conference using a group relations training model, was held annually from 2000 to 2013, (with RIDE not taking place in 2004). During RIDE, underlying, unconscious, and covert South African diversity dynamics are studied as they manifest among managers and officials in the fields of change, diversity management, transformation, and human resources management. The participants (staff and membership) of the conference collectively form a temporary organisation in which they explore unconscious dynamics and processes as they relate to dealing with diversity challenges. A qualitative, analytic auto-ethnographic research approach was used to elicit data. The data consisted of different sets of process notes compiled during my involvement in RIDE (2000 to 2014). Thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data to allow insights into diversity dynamics. The findings suggest that in the early events RIDE citizens displayed a preoccupation with race which was expressed through attempts to re-organise the race hierarchy in the unconscious, and the need to form good-enough relationships with old enemies through searching for the absent white-man. In more recent years it became evident that groups are reluctant to explore differences of organisational position and socio-economic status in racial sameness. The experimentation with leadership within and across race groups and gender was a preoccupation of members in a more recent RIDE. Further, the marginalisation of women, through the intersection between diversity characteristics, also became apparent. It seems that through RIDE as a container, the consultants as containers, and the willingness of the participants to engage with their diversity challenges, more diversity dynamics have become accessible to the RIDE citizens. This understanding of diversity dynamics can be used in South African and international organisations by researchers, consultants, and managers to enhance their understanding of diversity dynamics in organisations and inform the nature of the different diversity management initiatives implemented in these organisations.

Change in moult behaviour of African penguins Spheniscus demersus on Robben Island

This paper reports a change in the location of moulting adult African penguins on Robben Island over the period 1998 to 2020. Until 2004, the birds tended to moult along the coastline. By 2020, nearly all the birds moulting on the island appear to do so inland at or near to their nest sites. This behavioural change has implications for estimates of total population size made using counts of moulting birds that do not include the inland moulters.

Narrating Memory: Weighing up the Testimony

Memory is the ability to store, maintain and recall information and experiences. Although predominantly an individual attribute, memory coincides with the life-world, with consciousness and with the ability to define reality – all of which are shared with others. When analysing narratives the sociologist needs to situate individual memory within its broader context. The article follows the argument that individuals acquire their memories within a broader social context. They also recall and localise their memories within a broader social context. This article interprets a remarkable testimony: the story of a former political prisoner who circumcised a large number of young fellow inmates in the notorious prison on Robben Island, South Africa, during the period of Nelson Mandela‟s incarceration. The article relates the narrative in question to the life-world of the narrator and to his experiences whilst serving his 18-year prison sentence. It reflects on the epistemological questions regarding memories. Memory as recollection, as reconstruction of events and information, and as process of re-membering come under the spotlight. Narratives that are often repeated start taking on a life of their own – particularly in the case of trauma memories. When analysing these narratives, the sociologist needs to distinguish between objective markers and subjective interpretation. Memory does not constitute pure recall by the individual. The article illustrates the effect of intersubjective and collective factors on the process of remembering. It calls for a reflexive process to identify, re-interpret and unpack the process of remembering.

Correction to 'Bayesian inference reveals positive but subtle effects of experimental fishery closures on marine predator demographics'.

Correction to 'Bayesian inference reveals positive but subtle effects of experimental fishery closures on marine predator demographics'.

My Own Liberator: A South African Story

Abstract Dikgang Moseneke was born in Pretoria, South Africa in December 1947. He was imprisoned on Robben Island, where most political prisoners were kept, off the coast of Cape Town for 10 years as a young man for his political activity. While in prison, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science and later completed a Bachelor of Laws degree. After his release from prison, he was admitted as an attorney in 1978 and in 1983 was called to the Pretoria Bar as a Senior Counsel. During the 1980s he worked underground for the Pan-African Congress and became its deputy president when it was unbanned in 1990. Moseneke also served on the technical committee that drafted the interim South African constitution of 1993. After a corporate career between 1995 and 2001, President Thabo Mbeki appointed him to the High Court in Pretoria and in 2002 as a judge in the Constitutional Court. In June 2005, he became the Court’s Deputy Chief Justice, a position from which he retired in May 2016. In this essay, he chronicles his years of protest, political activity, and imprisonment as a young man. The essay is an excerpt from his memoir, My Own Liberator, which is published by Picador Africa (2018), and is available online and at all good bookstores.

African Oystercatchers on Robben Island, South Africa: The 2019/2020 breeding season in its two decadal context

African Oystercatchers on Robben Island, South Africa: The 2019/2020 breeding season in its two decadal context