scholarly journals Racial Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa: J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Roshni Joyso ◽  
Dr. Cynthia Catherine Michael
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
South African ◽  
Entire Body ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Black Skin ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Representative Work

J.M. Coetzee is a South African novelist, critic and an active translator of Dutch and Afrikaans literature. His novels are conspicuous for their well- crafted composition, pregnant dialogues and analytical brilliance. Coetzee’s earlier novels question the apartheid regime, while his later works offer an apocalyptic vision of post- apartheid South Africa. His major works include Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians, Life and Times of Michael K, Boyhood, Age of Iron and The Childhood of Jesus. In 1999, Coetzee has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career, although he has a reputation for avoiding award ceremonies. Coetzee became the first author to be twice awarded the Booker Prize, winning it as second time for Disgrace which portrays the post-apartheid society. Coetzee went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 2003 for his entire body of works. During the years of apartheid, he was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement among writers. Scholar Isadore Dalia labelled J.M Coetzee as one of the most distinguished white writers with an anti-apartheid sentiment. Coetzee’s earlier novels question the apartheid regime, while his later works offer an apocalyptic vision of post- apartheid South Africa. Disgrace can be analyzed as a representative work of the new south Africa where the social problems relating binary oppositions such as black- white, white- immigrant, powerless- powerful, are stressed. This paper attempts to show through the protagonist, David Lurie, that the way to adapt to the changes in the country is to make a fresh start, a way to adapt to the new times, where no ideas of the old are retained. Frantz Fanon’s concepts within the field of post colonialism which he articulated in Black Skin, White Masks (1967) and The Wretched of the Earth (1963) have much relevance in Disgrace. The objective of this paper is to stretch his new ideas in a new direction by applying his theories on nation and culture onto a white subject Lurie, a white native South African. In the light of Fanon’s text, The Wretched of the Earth it can be argued that following the revolutionary political changes in South Africa in 1994, the former colonizer can be seen in the same way as the colonized usually is: a powerless native, regardless of racial identity.

scholarly journals Shouting against Silence: André Brink's Voices of Truth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shelley May Dixon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Female Narratives ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
African Writer ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Eventual Loss ◽  
Geographical Locations

<p>This thesis investigates the notion of 'Truth' upheld by the South African writer André Brink and discusses his deconstruction of the processes of truth-making. I argue that Brink understands fixed narratives, or received 'truth', as constructed to the detriment of alternative narratives, resulting in their subjugation and eventual loss. In response to authoritative discourses, Brink advocates an ongoing and evolving series of challenging narratives which refuse the closure of narrative possibilities. He urges a constant process of un-forgetting and remembering, a contestational activity that undermines the truth-claims of any oppressive group. Three central texts have been chosen as exemplary of Brink's directive to contest fixed truth claims. The first of these, Devil's Valley, offers an opportunity to examine the novelistic (and often postmodernist) blurring of distinctions between binary oppositions such as 'fact' and 'fiction', 'past' and 'present', 'real' and 'unreal'. In undermining the ostensibly dichotomous nature of these pairings, Brink challenges the bases upon which prejudicial systems such as the Apartheid regime rely. In doing so, he reveals the constructions behind both prejudice and hegemonic discourses, and ultimately undermines these foundations. Similarly, Imaginings of Sand provides a means by which to further explore Brink's engagement with prejudice, and most specifically, with the patriarchal oppression of women. I suggest that Brink's female narratives, in which multiplicity and endless possibility are foregrounded, again contest the constraints imposed by a dominant discourse, offering alternative versions. My final textual examination focuses on A Chain of Voices, in which both the polyphonic narration and the thematic content exemplify the concerns discussed previously Brink's usage of various imagery related to oppressive relationships, I claim, provides metaphors for the manner in which binary relationships are co-dependent, rather than dichotomous, undercutting the justifications associated with privileging certain narratives over others. Brink's Truth, I argue, involves an ongoing contestational process of narratorial imagining, a revisionary project central to both the prejudicial environment of Apartheid South Africa, in which much of Brink's work was written, and also to the larger context of prejudice in all its forms and geographical locations.</p>

scholarly journals Shouting against Silence: André Brink's Voices of Truth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shelley May Dixon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Female Narratives ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
African Writer ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Eventual Loss ◽  
Geographical Locations

<p>This thesis investigates the notion of 'Truth' upheld by the South African writer André Brink and discusses his deconstruction of the processes of truth-making. I argue that Brink understands fixed narratives, or received 'truth', as constructed to the detriment of alternative narratives, resulting in their subjugation and eventual loss. In response to authoritative discourses, Brink advocates an ongoing and evolving series of challenging narratives which refuse the closure of narrative possibilities. He urges a constant process of un-forgetting and remembering, a contestational activity that undermines the truth-claims of any oppressive group. Three central texts have been chosen as exemplary of Brink's directive to contest fixed truth claims. The first of these, Devil's Valley, offers an opportunity to examine the novelistic (and often postmodernist) blurring of distinctions between binary oppositions such as 'fact' and 'fiction', 'past' and 'present', 'real' and 'unreal'. In undermining the ostensibly dichotomous nature of these pairings, Brink challenges the bases upon which prejudicial systems such as the Apartheid regime rely. In doing so, he reveals the constructions behind both prejudice and hegemonic discourses, and ultimately undermines these foundations. Similarly, Imaginings of Sand provides a means by which to further explore Brink's engagement with prejudice, and most specifically, with the patriarchal oppression of women. I suggest that Brink's female narratives, in which multiplicity and endless possibility are foregrounded, again contest the constraints imposed by a dominant discourse, offering alternative versions. My final textual examination focuses on A Chain of Voices, in which both the polyphonic narration and the thematic content exemplify the concerns discussed previously Brink's usage of various imagery related to oppressive relationships, I claim, provides metaphors for the manner in which binary relationships are co-dependent, rather than dichotomous, undercutting the justifications associated with privileging certain narratives over others. Brink's Truth, I argue, involves an ongoing contestational process of narratorial imagining, a revisionary project central to both the prejudicial environment of Apartheid South Africa, in which much of Brink's work was written, and also to the larger context of prejudice in all its forms and geographical locations.</p>

Disappointed Remains: Trauma, Testimony, and Reconciliation in Post-apartheid South Africa

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Field
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Trauma Survivors ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Democratic Elections

The apartheid regime in South Africa and the fight against the same, followed by the reconciliation is the crux of this article. The first democratic elections held on April 27, 1994, were surprisingly free of violence. Then, in one of its first pieces of legislation, the new democratic parliament passed the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At the outset, the South African TRC promised to “uncover the truth” about past atrocities, and forge reconciliation across a divided country. As oral historians, we should consider the oral testimonies that were given at the Human Rights Victim hearings and reflect on the reconciliation process and what it means to ask trauma survivors to forgive and reconcile with perpetrators. This article cites several real life examples to explain the trauma and testimony of apartheid and post-apartheid Africa with a hint on the still prevailing disappointments and blurred memories.

PALESTINE, APARTHEID, AND THE RIGHTS DISCOURSE

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raef Zreik
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Main Components

Since the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the oft-made analogy between the South African and Israeli cases has been extended to suggest the applicability to the Palestinian quest for justice through the rights discourse, arguably the most effective mobilizing tool in the anti-apartheid struggle. This essay explores the suitability of the rights approach by examining the South Africa––Israel analogy itself and the relevance of the anti-apartheid model to the three main components of the Palestinian situation: the refugees, the Palestinians of the occupied territories, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It concludes that while the rights discourse has many advantages, it cannot by its very nature——the focus on law at the expense of historical context——address the complexity of the Palestinian problem.

American Opposition to South African Apartheid

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Hostetter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
African American ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
The United States ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Apartheid Regime

American activists who challenged South African apartheid during the Cold War era extended their opposition to racial discrimination in the United States into world politics. US antiapartheid organizations worked in solidarity with forces struggling against the racist regime in South Africa and played a significant role in the global antiapartheid movement. More than four decades of organizing preceded the legislative showdown of 1986, when a bipartisan coalition in Congress overrode President Ronald Reagan’s veto, to enact economic sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Adoption of sanctions by the United States, along with transnational solidarity with the resistance to apartheid by South Africans, helped prompt the apartheid regime to relinquish power and allow the democratic elections that brought Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power in 1994. Drawing on the tactics, strategies and moral authority of the civil rights movement, antiapartheid campaigners mobilized public opinion while increasing African American influence in the formulation of US foreign policy. Long-lasting organizations such as the American Committee on Africa and TransAfrica called for boycotts and divestment while lobbying for economic sanctions. Utilizing tactics such as rallies, demonstrations, and nonviolent civil disobedience actions, antiapartheid activists made their voices heard on college campuses, corporate boardrooms, municipal and state governments, as well as the halls of Congress. Cultural expressions of criticism and resistance served to reinforce public sentiment against apartheid. Novels, plays, movies, and music provided a way for Americans to connect to the struggles of those suffering under apartheid. By extending the moral logic of the movement for African American civil rights, American anti-apartheid activists created a multicultural coalition that brought about institutional and governmental divestment from apartheid, prompted Congress to impose economic sanctions on South Africa, and increased the influence of African Americans regarding issues of race and American foreign policy.

Intercultural exchanges in South Africa: Exploring music teacher experiences, understandings, and practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-266
Author(s):  
Catherine Bennett Walling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Teacher Experiences ◽  
Vast Array ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of four US music educators during and after a 3-week adult choir camp in South Africa. Findings reveal that the camp positively influenced music teacher understandings and practices, both during and after the exchange. Throughout the camp, participants navigated race, privilege and prejudice and expressed value for a vast array of shared experiences with choir mates, teachers, and homestays. Participants reflected regularly on processes of learning new musics, describing growth through authentic and at times challenging activities. Furthermore, all participants recognized that firsthand experiences were essential to deep learning. During the camp, all participants expressed hopes of bringing new ideas and music home; 2 months after returning to their classrooms, 3 of the 4 participants reported the teaching of South African songs along with modified pedagogical approaches. Ultimately, participants shared that the trip had impacted them in various personal ways, noting increased tolerance, patience, kindness, confidence and hope.

scholarly journals Tribalism: Thorny issue towards reconciliation in South Africa – A practical theological appraisal

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah M. Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
South African ◽  
African Government ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The Government ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Practical Theological

The apartheid regime used various strategies to ensure that South Africans formed a divided nation. It was through the differences between ethnic groups and tribes, among other things, that the government of the time managed to manipulate and entrench hatred and a lack of trust among most black South Africans. Tribalism, which existed even before apartheid, became instrumental in inflicting those divisions as perpetuated by the formation of homelands. The various ethnic groups had been turned against one other, and it had become a norm. Nepotism, which is part and parcel of the South African government, is just an extension of tribalism. It is the objective of this article to uncover how tribalism is still rearing its ugly head. From a practical theological perspective, it is important to deal with tribalism as a tool that plays a part in delaying tribal reconciliation, which was orchestrated by apartheid policies in South Africa.

Temporal Adoption, Novelistic Prosthesis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew van der Vlies
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
New South ◽  
Double Negative ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Mechanical Reproduction ◽  
The Future ◽  
Arcades Project ◽  
Representative Work ◽  
Ivan Vladislavic

This chapter argues that the work of Ivan Vladislavić offers a sophisticated response to the dangers of selective memory—and memorialization—that characterizes some responses to the disappointments of the ‘new’ South Africa. Using Svetlana Boym’s differentiation (in The Future of Nostalgia) between reflective and recuperative forms of nostalgia, the chapter considers the turn to nostalgia in South African letters, and places in that context the negotiation of a ‘critical nostalgia’ in representative work by Vladislavić—including ‘Propaganda by Monuments’, The Restless Supermarket (2001), Portrait with Keys (2006), and Double Negative (2010). It assesses the usefulness of Walter Benjamin’s work (including the ‘Theses’, Arcades Project, and ‘Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ essay) for engaging with the affective politics and formal provocativeness of Vladislavić’s work, which balances past and future, disappointment and utopianism, a concern with this place and every place.

South Africa and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alois Mlambo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Major Trading Partner ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Southern Rhodesia ◽  
Military Support ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
The 19Th Century

This article traces the relations between South Africa and Southern Rhodesia/Rhodesia/Zimbabwe from the end of the 19th century until the present with respect to politics; economic, military, ideological, and cultural activities; as well as foreign policy. The conflicted relationship between the two countries went through varying periods of close cooperation and also of tension, especially given the difference in power between the much larger and more economically prosperous South Africa and the smaller society and economy of Southern Rhodesia. Other important factors include the dominant influence of the Afrikaners in South Africa, from the creation of the Union in 1910 onward, and the apprehension felt by a predominantly English-speaking white population of Rhodesia, which arose from a fear of being swallowed up by Afrikaner-dominated South Africa. During the Zimbabwean liberation struggle from the early 1960s onward, South Africa gave military support to Rhodesia, at least in the early part of the conflict; it changed its policy in the mid-1970s and began to advocate for negotiations between Rhodesia’s warring parties. Between Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and the democratic transition in South Africa in 1994, relations between the two countries were fraught with tensions because the Zimbabwean government persistently condemned the apartheid regime and hosted representatives of South African anti-apartheid movements, although Zimbabwe was careful not to allow these movements to launch military attacks on South Africa from its soil, for fear of reprisals. On its part, the South African government conducted a sabotage campaign against its northern neighbor and exerted economic pressure on it. Despite all these tensions, however, South Africa remained Zimbabwe’s major trading partner throughout this period. The tension between the countries lessened when Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, but new tensions arose because of Mandela and Robert Mugabe’s rivalry over the leadership of Southern Africa. On coming to power in 1999, Thabo Mbeki tried to diffuse tensions by adopting a different style of foreign policy that, in Zimbabwe’s case, was known as “quiet diplomacy”—a policy that came under much criticism from Western countries and some sectors in Southern Africa. Mbeki’s successors continued this diplomatic policy toward Zimbabwe, even following a militarily assisted political transition in November 2017, which saw the overthrow of Mugabe and his replacement by Emerson Munangangwa.

The South African Experience: Litigating Remedies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Charles ABRAHAMS
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Black Population ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Occupational Lung Disease ◽  
Legal Remedies ◽  
African Experience ◽  
The Common ◽  
Apartheid Regime

Abstract Many transnational corporations (TNCs) that conducted business in South Africa during apartheid had deemed it profitable and desirable, despite the country’s systemic human rights violations against its majority black population. In the aftermath of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and 1976 student uprising, various United Nations and other international resolutions condemned TNCs for their incestuous relationship with apartheid South Africa and called for international sanctions against the regime. The demise of apartheid in 1994 brought about a new democratic, constitutional dispensation based on respect for human rights. However, attempts at holding TNCs liable for aiding and abetting the apartheid regime were fraught with obstacles and proved unsuccessful. Yet, the pursuit of strategic, class action litigation in areas as diverse as collusive conduct in bread manufacturing to occupational lung disease in South Africa’s goldmining industry have proven to be more successful in developing legal remedies against corporate harm. Areas impacted are extended legal standing under the common law, development of new causes of action and generous application of contingence fees arrangement.

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