Social Change, Order and Stability in the New South Africa

Flitse van sosiale verandering in enkele postmodernistiese Afrikaanse romans

Literator ◽

10.4102/lit.v18i3.551 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 91-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

D. H. Steenberg

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Social Change ◽

South African ◽

New South ◽

Social Transition ◽

African Society ◽

Historiographic Metafiction ◽

South African Society ◽

Black And White ◽

Multicultural Community

Glimpses of social change in some postmodernist Afrikaans novelsPostmodernist novels, and thus also Afrikaans postmodernist novels, are radically anti-traditional. In one respect, however, they maintain the tradition of Afrikaans fiction: they open perspectives on the development of the society from which they originate. Functioning in a multicultural community, the novelists' awareness often concerns the development of relations between different racial groupings in the South African society, which is seen as basically African. The breaking down of the (colonial) barriers between black and white by writers of historiographic metafiction - like John Miles and André Letoit - can perhaps be regarded the first step in the direction of social transition. Letoit hails Africa as the continent of promise, and authors like Berta Smit, Eben Venter and Etienne van Heerden present visions of a growing harmony between black and white in the new South Africa.

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Broadening Postcolonial Studies, Decolonizing Queer Studies: Disciplinary Transitions and Social Change in the “New” South Africa

Imperialism within the Margins ◽

10.1057/9781403983664_2 ◽

2006 ◽

pp. 16-32

Author(s):

William J. Spurlin

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Social Change ◽

Queer Studies ◽

New South ◽

Postcolonial Studies

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Religion as a Source of Social Change in the New South Africa

Journal of Religion in Africa ◽

10.1163/157006600x00555 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 310-343 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Robert C. Garner

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Social Change ◽

South African ◽

New South ◽

Potential Influence ◽

Differential Impact ◽

Christian Churches ◽

The Social ◽

Micro Level ◽

South African Township

AbstractIn the scholarship of recent decades, religion has been accorded little power as a source of social change, either 'from above' (via changes at the macro-level) or 'from below' (at the micro-level). However, as the attention of various disciplines has been drawn to developing societies, an awareness of the potential influence of religion has grown. Based on research in a South African township, conducted after the macro-transition to democratic government, this article explores the social and economic mechanisms at work in a variety of Christian churches. It argues that their capacity to effect social change 'from below' is uneven, and that the most powerful are those which maximise four variables: indoctrination, religious experience, exclusion and socialisation. These variables are often highest in Pentecostalism, and in certain types of AIC. The differential impact of church types on their members is then illustrated with reference to financial, social and cultural behaviour.

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