Changing Tunes: Narratives of Nation in South African Music-Themed Postage Stamps (1961–2015)

ABSTRACT Postage stamps have in recent years been positioned as token purveyors of nation, with countries disseminating carefully curated ideas of national identity to their own citizens and international audiences. This article complements existing research by using South African music-themed postage stamps to read the changing narratives of the nation, or ‘music nationalism’ in philately. The article analyses music-themed postage stamps issued in South Africa between 1961 and 2015. It confirms that the representation of music nationalism in apartheid philately aligned with Afrikaner nationalist politics, with clear divides between ‘White’ and ‘Black’ genres. Post-apartheid music-themed stamps draw attention to forgotten music histories previously overshadowed by apartheid ideology while still engaging with musical threads of the apartheid past. Most significantly, the article illuminates the other forces at play behind what many accept to be a process solely steered and controlled by the state, revealing much about South Africa’s democracy.