"Presents one of the few important and critical reflections on the politics of memorialization after the end of apartheid in South Africa." --Ulf Engel, Connections Following the birth of democracy in South Africa in 1994, Robben Island, once a symbol of pain, injustice, and closed spaces, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a global symbol of the commitment to democracy, tolerance, and human dignity. In the years that followed, however, conflict marred the high hopes for this cherished location. Robben Island Rainbow Dreamsoffers a behind-the-scenes account of the creation of the Robben Island Museum and the debate over democratic South Africa''s first national heritage institution. CONTENTS: • Prologue--A. Odendaal. • DRAFT ONE OF THE MAKING OF THE ROBBEN ISLAND MUSEUM. • The Liberation Struggle as Incubator for RIM--A. Odendaal. • UWC''s Mayibuye Centre: The Conceptual Base for RIM--A. Odendaal. • Lobbying and Planning: A New South African Museums and Heritage Sector, 1990-1994--A. Odendaal. • Defining the Vision: "The Triumph of the Human Spirit"--Address by Ahmed Kathrada. • The Mandate: Cabinet''s Decision on the Future of the Island, 1994-1996--A. Odendaal. • Throwing Open the Prison Doors, 1 January 1997--A. Odendaal. • Official Launch of RIM, 24 September 1997--Address by Nelson Mandela. • Consolidation, Commemoration, Celebration: On the Way to UNESCO World Heritage Site Status, 1998-2000--A. Odendaal. • Putting in Place Building Blocks for the Future--A. Odendaal. • A Dirty Tricks Campaign Unfolds, 2001--A. Odendaal et al. • The Pressure on RIM Intensifies--A. Odendaal. • The Rupture, July 2002--A. Odendaal. • Downward Spiral of an Institution and Its Vision--A. Odendaal. • FOUNDATIONS FOR PERMANENCY. • Narrative Design and Memory-Making as Healing Modality: The Ethos of Early RIM Education and Public Programming--D. Prins-Solani. • Creating a New Generation of Heritage and Museum Leaders: The Inception of the Robben Island Training Programme--K.k. Mpumlwana and G. Corsane. • From Mayibuye Centre to the UWC/Robben Island Mayibuye Archives--A. Josias. • Signature in the City: Building the Nelson Mandela Gateway Building--L. Le Grange. • Preparing for South Africa''s First UNESCO World Heritage Site--J. Pastor. • Challenges in Preventative Conservation: Artifacts as a Means of Triggering Memory and a Process of Healing--I. Mafune. • Conservation Management Planning and Robben Island''s Layered History--H. Deacon. • Conserving the Island''s Environment--S. Davis. • An Ex-Political Prisoner''s Memories of Living and Working on Robben Island--L. Davis. • Building a New Community on the Island: The Robben Island Village Association--L. Damon and R. Damon. • Making the Intangible Tangible: The First Tour Guides and the Social Memory of Robben Island--V. Mitchell. • Appeasing the Ancestors: Art and Culture as a Way of Giving Meaning to RIM--R. Carneson. • EXHIBITIONS AND MEMORY-MAKING PROCESS IN A SACRED SPACE. • Memories of Working in RIM''s First Exhibitions Unit, 1999-2008--G. Cheminais. • Participation in Progress: The Story of Robben Island''s Ex-Political Prisoner Reference Groups--R. Meintjes et al. • Research Unit Experiences in Memorializing and Archiving Robben Island Prisoner Memories Through Oral History--N. Solani and O. Makhalemele. • Journey to Sithebe Village: In Search of the First Political Prisoners in Robben Island Maximum Security Prison--N.L.l. Ramoupi et al. • Restoring Dignity to the 12 Robben Island Prisoners Buried as Paupers in Stikland Cemetery by the Apartheid Regine--N. Tongo-Cetywayo and M. Fullard. • The Making and Demise of the Nelson Mandela Gateway Exhibition, 2001-2010--M. Smallberg. • VOICES AND DEBATES FROM WITHIN. • The Saint of the Struggle: RIM and the Debate About Deconstructing the Mandela Myth--N. Solani. • Pan Africanist and Black Consciousness Perspectives: Beneath the Surface of the Robben Island Museum Images--L.M. Dondolo. • The Role of the Robben Island Museum in the Transformation of South Africa''s Cultural Landscape--K. ka Mpumlwana and N.L.I. Ramoupi. • See the Seagulls Fly: A Message to My Daughter--A. Forbes. • CURIOUS COINCIDENCES. • Fast Forward from RIM Rupture to State Capture--A. Odendaal. • Mr. K. and the Replica of His Cell--A. Odendaal.