The Reflection of Apartheidic Trauma / Traumatic Apartheid in None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Şahin KIZILTAŞ

The world has gone through a trauma for centuries. Almost all nations have experienced all sorts of traumatic events and feelings in this period. Among those nations, the black seem to be the most unlucky and ill-fated suffered from traumatic disasters. However, among those black nations, the natives of South Africa have been the most piteous and wretched ones. Their misfortune began in 1652 with the arrival of white colonists in the country. Since then, the oppression and persecution of white European colonists and settlers on natives increasingly continued. Those native people were displaced from the lands inherited from their ancestors a few centuries ago. They were not allowed to have equal rights with white people and to share same environment in public premises. The natives have put up resistance against the racial and colonial practices of white settlers which excluded them from all living spaces; yet, they could not manage, even they came into power in 1994. Today their exclusion and violence victimization still go on and they are still subjected to inferior treatment by (post)colonial dominant white powers. As a white intellectual and writer who had European origins, Nadine Gordimer witnessed the repression and torturing of European settlers on native people in South Africa. In her novels, she has reflected the racial discrimination practiced by white people who have considered of themselves in a superior position compared to the black. This study aims to focus on how Gordimer has reflected the trauma which the black people of South Africa have experienced as a consequence of racist practices. This will contribute to clarify and get across the real and true-life traumatic narratives of native people in the colonized countries.

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Şahin Kızıltaş ◽  
M. Başak UYSAL

Frantz Fanon is an outstanding figure whose theories are attached great importance in post-colonial studies by researchers and literary critics. His theories particularly on violence and national consciousness have been discussed for many years, even today. The colonizers have charged him with legitimating violence and for them he is responsible for the bloody picture in the colonial world. On the other hand, the colonized people have regarded him as the prophet of the Third World raising national consciousness of the oppressed and the excluded. As a white novelist in South Africa during and after apartheid regime, Nadine Gordimer takes an important place in post-colonial studies due to her attention on political and racial issues. Among her masterpieces, written in 1981 after Soweto Uprising and banned by the white regime, July’s People comes to the forefront. It is the story of a white family, The Smales, fleeing from Johannesburg to the small village of their black servant, July, during the civil war in South Africa. In this requisite travel, the roles of white family and their black servant substitute. The black people become the protectors of the white family who have been the master of the black in the city. However, the white family does not seem to be eager to leave their power, dominion and superiority even in rural area among black society. In this study, the dilemma of this role replacement through racial implications and references according to Frantz Fanon’s theory is aimed to be discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Christina Landman

Dullstroom-Emnotweni is the highest town in South Africa. Cold and misty, it is situated in the eastern Highveld, halfway between the capital Pretoria/Tswane and the Mozambique border. Alongside the main road of the white town, 27 restaurants provide entertainment to tourists on their way to Mozambique or the Kruger National Park. The inhabitants of the black township, Sakhelwe, are remnants of the Southern Ndebele who have lost their land a century ago in wars against the whites. They are mainly dependent on employment as cleaners and waitresses in the still predominantly white town. Three white people from the white town and three black people from the township have been interviewed on their views whether democracy has brought changes to this society during the past 20 years. Answers cover a wide range of views. Gratitude is expressed that women are now safer and HIV treatment available. However, unemployment and poverty persist in a community that nevertheless shows resilience and feeds on hope. While the first part of this article relates the interviews, the final part identifies from them the discourses that keep the black and white communities from forming a group identity that is based on equality and human dignity as the values of democracy.


Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacomien Van Niekerk

This article analyses the role of ‘race’ in Antjie Krog’s non-fiction trilogy Country of My Skull (1998), A Change of Tongue (2003) and Begging to Be Black (2009). It explores her explicit use of terms such as ‘heart of whiteness’ and ‘heart of blackness’. Claims that Krog essentialises Africa and ‘black’ people are investigated. The article also addresses accusations of racism in Krog’s work. A partial answer to the persistent question of why Krog is so determinedly focused on ‘race’ is sought in the concept of complicity. There is definite specificity in the way Krog writes about ‘white’ perpetrators and ‘black’ victims in South Africa, but her trilogy should be read within the broader context of international restitution discourses, allowing for a somewhat different perspective on her contribution to the discussion of the issue of whether ‘white’ people belong in (South) Africa.


Author(s):  
Marcus Grohmann

Reconciliation in South Africa is often taken to mean the creation of culturally diverse communities. In reality, though, the multicultural often turns out to be multiracial only with People of Colour being included in White-dominated spaces. Likewise, socio-economic transformation means raising people’s chances to attain a living standard more equal to that of the bulk of the White population. In both cases, the strong position of White people in sociocultural and socio-economic terms remains largely untouched. Hence the calls for decolonisation which seem to render the reconciliation discourse dispensable. Vulnerability by White South Africans is proposed as an alternative response to ongoing inequalities which – it is suggested – could contribute to both decolonisation and reconciliation on an interpersonal level. Likely objections to such a proposal are considered before making a case for vulnerability as an appropriate Christian way of living, particularly in the context of former settler colonialism.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin G. Bain ◽  
Jan Venter

With the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the central focus of the newly appointed government was to alter and consolidate the policies of the pre-Union colonies that differed materially in many respects and to substitute them with uniform policies that had to be implemented as a consolidated whole for the Union. This central focus was applied to a number of policies, notably those for the black people, immigration, education, labour, national defence and the development and implementation of railway, mining and agricultural policies. However, an omission occurred with regard to the consideration of a comprehensive public health policy by the political parties and the Union Parliament, consisting of white people only. This article examines this omission during the first 10 years of the Union of South Africa (1910–1920), during the three 5-yearly general elections (on 15 September 1910, 20 October 1915 and 10 March 1920), and argues that this lack of consideration of a comprehensive public health policy can be found in the theory of party political responsible government during unification, which was further developed by Kavanagh, that party political manifestos act as the guiding force behind the policy matters that are discussed and decided upon in Parliament. The article confirms that the reason for not establishing a comprehensive public health policy prior to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 was the incidental and piecemeal fashion in which expressions on public health appeared in the published party political manifestos, which in turn influenced the proceedings of Parliament. This political negligence was, however, quickly overturned by Parliament immediately after the epidemic, showing the influence of this demographic disaster on political thinking and action.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofiani Sofiani ◽  
Muhd. Al-Hafizh

This thesis is an analysis of a play written by Bruce Norris, entitled Clybourne Park (2010). This study is aimed to expose the issue about racial stereotyping which is done by the white people toward the Black and to know contribution dramatic elements; character, plot (conflict), setting, and stage direction in revealing the issue of racial stereotyping. This analysis is related to the concept of Orientalism by Edward Said in the post-colonial approach and also supported by the concepts of stereotype by Gamble. The result of this analysis is to expose the forms of stereotype toward black people. White sees blacks as poor people and black as a barbaric group.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tshepo Lephakga

This article examines the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It focuses on the amnesty committee and challenges regarding amnesty applications of members and supporters of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), an armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). These complications emanated from policies and politics of the mother-body (PAC) and APLA, which made it difficult to distinguish between acts with a political objective committed by bona fide APLA members and purely criminal acts committed for personal gain. Such policies were expressed in: 1) The APLA slogan “One Settler, One Bullet”; and 2) The policy regarding “Repossession of property” by Azanians. The position of APLA needs to be understood against the fundamental politics of the PAC that the presence of white settlers in South Africa (occupied Azania) is an act of occupation, dispossession and colonisation. Thus, all white people in South Africa are regarded as settlers and targets for APLA. This position contends that, as a result of the settler status of all white people in South Africa, everything that they purportedly own belongs to Azanians and must be repossessed. Another complication—according to the TRC—was for some applicants to meet at least one of the requirements for amnesty, since any incident committed had to constitute an act associated with a political objective. Other challenges were lack of documentation to prove membership of APLA, and the autonomy or independence of the mother body (PAC) and its armed wing (APLA).


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simangaliso Raymond Kumalo

This paper reflects on the approach of Reverend Linda Mandindi to ministry in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). Special emphasis is given to the contribution he made as ninth president of the Black Methodist Consultation (BMC). I will highlight Rev. Mandindi’s journey in the ministry, his struggle to candidate for the ministry, and the ways in which he dealt with ethnic and cultural challenges of being a black minister in a church predominantly led by white people. Rev. Mandindi’s narrative demonstrates the liberating work of the church to black people, whom it empowered through gospel spirituality and education. The article presents a truncated biography in the context of the historic evolution of the BMC, its contribution to the transformation of the MCSA, and ultimately to our nation. I have divided this paper into four sections. First, I briefly discuss the founding of the BMC. Second, I look at Rev. Mandindi the man, with specific emphasis on his development as a progressive pastor and leader with a keen understanding of the political and religious landscape of South Africa. Third, I seek to appraise Rev. Mandindi’s work and legacy. I conclude the paper by looking at the challenge that Rev. Mandindi’s legacy presents to the MBC and the MCSA.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

South Africa endured racial segregation under the national party for many years until 1994, with the attainment of democracy. In the process of negotiating a democracy like the CODESA negotiations, the ANC-led government found itself adopting economic policies that embraced neo-liberalism, which later became unfavorable to the black majority in South Africa. Consequently, although these economic policies of the post-colonial South Africa have made a few black people rich, many still live under the triple socio-economic challenges like unemployment, poverty, and inequality. In addition to the triple challenges, many people still lack basic needs like water, sanitation, food, clothing, and shelter. This paper is a discourse on the relationship between contemporary Pentecostalism and neo-liberalism in South Africa. Given their economic standing, the paper seeks to demonstrate that contemporary South African Pentecostalism has potential to become an alternative economic reform.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document