This thesis examines the political thought of Achille Mbembe. It deploys decolonial critical analysis to unmask traces of coloniality with regard to the African existential conditions foregrounded in the conception of the African subject, its subjection, and subjectivity. The theoretical foundation of this thesis is decolonial epistemic perspective—the epistemic intervention that serves as a lens to understand Mbembe’s work and—that is the theoretical foundation outside the Euro-North American “mainstream” canon foregrounded in coloniality. Decolonial epistemic perspective in this thesis is deployed to expose three kinds of coloniality in Mbembe’s work, namely: coloniality of power, coloniality of knowledge and coloniality of being. The thrust of this thesis is that Mbembe’s political thought is inadequate for the understanding of the African existential condition in that it does not fully take coloniality into account. In order to acknowledge the existence of coloniality through decolonial critical analysis, the political thought of Mbembe is examined in relation to modes of self-writing, power in the postcolony, the politics of violence in Africa, Frantz Fanon’s political thought, and the idea of South Africa as major themes undertaken in this thesis. Decolonial critical analysis deals with foundational questions that have relevance to the existential condition of the African subject and the manner in which such an existential crisis can be brought to an end. These foundational questions confront issues like—who is speaking or writing, from where, for whom and why? This thesis reveals that Mbembe is writing and thinking Africa from outside the problematic ontology of the African subject and, as such, Mbembe precludes any form of African subjectivity that challenges the Euro-North American canon. This then reveals that Mbembe is not critical of coloniality and this has the implications in that subjection is left on the wayside and not accounted for. Having explored the genealogy, trajectory and horisons of decolonial critical analysis to understand the political thought of Mbembe, this thesis highlights that it is essential to take a detour through the shifting of the geography of reason. Herein lies the originality of this thesis, and it is here that Africa is thought from within a standpoint of decolonial critical analysis and not Africa that is thought from the Euro-North American canon. Therefore, the shifting of the geography of reason is necessary for the authorisation of the subjectivity of the African subject in order to combat subjection. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Politics)

This thesis examines the political thought of Achille Mbembe. It deploys decolonial critical analysis to unmask traces of coloniality with regard to the African existential conditions foregrounded in the conception of the African subject, its subjection, and subjectivity. The theoretical foundation of this thesis is decolonial epistemic perspective—the epistemic intervention that serves as a lens to understand Mbembe’s work and—that is the theoretical foundation outside the Euro-North American “mainstream” canon foregrounded in coloniality. Decolonial epistemic perspective in this thesis is deployed to expose three kinds of coloniality in Mbembe’s work, namely: coloniality of power, coloniality of knowledge and coloniality of being. The thrust of this thesis is that Mbembe’s political thought is inadequate for the understanding of the African existential condition in that it does not fully take coloniality into account. In order to acknowledge the existence of coloniality through decolonial critical analysis, the political thought of Mbembe is examined in relation to modes of self-writing, power in the postcolony, the politics of violence in Africa, Frantz Fanon’s political thought, and the idea of South Africa as major themes undertaken in this thesis. Decolonial critical analysis deals with foundational questions that have relevance to the existential condition of the African subject and the manner in which such an existential crisis can be brought to an end. These foundational questions confront issues like—who is speaking or writing, from where, for whom and why? This thesis reveals that Mbembe is writing and thinking Africa from outside the problematic ontology of the African subject and, as such, Mbembe precludes any form of African subjectivity that challenges the Euro-North American canon. This then reveals that Mbembe is not critical of coloniality and this has the implications in that subjection is left on the wayside and not accounted for. Having explored the genealogy, trajectory and horisons of decolonial critical analysis to understand the political thought of Mbembe, this thesis highlights that it is essential to take a detour through the shifting of the geography of reason. Herein lies the originality of this thesis, and it is here that Africa is thought from within a standpoint of decolonial critical analysis and not Africa that is thought from the Euro-North American canon. Therefore, the shifting of the geography of reason is necessary for the authorisation of the subjectivity of the African subject in order to combat subjection. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Politics)

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in African Languages. Wits University, Johannesburg, 2015 / This report interrogates the representation of blackness in post-1994 black-centred films in South Africa. With a particular focus on Khalo Matabane’s films, I analyse Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005), When We Were Black (2007) and State of Violence (2011) across a spectrum of themes. I also interrogate and introduce several critical concepts such as ‘blackness’, ‘the image of blackness’, ‘black identity’, ‘masculinity’, ‘femininity’, ‘the Gaze’ and ‘Otherness’. These concepts are interlinked in ways that bring about an understanding of the concept of black-centred films, which is central to the research report. Amidst the different interpretations of black-centred films, the vantage point from which the concept is used is interested in black-centred films as films that are made by a black filmmaker, whose content addresses issues of blackness and is targeted at a black audience. However, these three factors need not always resonate in a single film in order for it to be considered and analysed as a black-centred film. The lens through which Matabane holds the camera questions his representation of the black image and whether it is from an insider or outsider’s perspective. The view from which Matabane holds the camera is important in establishing whether he has purported to represent historically stereotypical images of blackness, or whether his endeavours in filmmaking are occupied by the relentless pursuit to present new images of blackness.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-10-22T12:31:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ramon Silva Chaves.pdf: 1284894 bytes, checksum: 1ac63025fa80746c4b2dd18e342dae2a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-22T12:31:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ramon Silva Chaves.pdf: 1284894 bytes, checksum: 1ac63025fa80746c4b2dd18e342dae2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This thesis looks at paratopia of stigma and black identity in the literary discourse Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha written by Lima Barreto in Brazil in 1909. Our research is based on French Discourse Analysis and predominantly on the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Dominique Maingueneau (1997;2015) about the constitutional literary discourse and literary paratopia. The main concern of this research is how the identity of the black Brazilian, an identity built under a violent system of social, economic and historical exploitation, behaves in the literary discourse Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha? Our research hypothesis is that paratopia engender through stigma, a concept developed by Goffman (2012) to remodel the black identity through a historical reassessment and thus, promoting the effect of giving an account of oneself, a concept developed by Butler (2017). Our main goal is to study paratopia and use it to evaluate the construction of a black identity shaped early in the 20th century so as to become stigmatized. Our specific objective is to verify the scenographic organization and the constitution of the discursive ethos in the composition of literary paratopia in Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha. Our thesis innovate when evaluating a corpus that is usually analyzed in Literature. Furthermore, it broadens the paratopia category by proposing the paratopia of stigma and associating it to ethnic-racial issues / Esta tese examina a paratopia do estigma e a identidade do negro no discurso literário Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, de Lima Barreto, produzido em 1909, no Brasil. Nossa pesquisa está fundamentada na Análise do Discurso de inspiração francesa, sobretudo, nos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos de Dominique Maingueneau (1997;2015) sobre o discurso constituinte literário e a paratopia literária. A questão central que essa pesquisa busca resolver é: como a identidade do negro brasileiro, construída sob um violento esquema de exploração social, econômico e histórico se comporta na construção do discurso literário Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha? Como hipótese de pesquisa, entendemos que a paratopia se engendra por meio do estigma, noção apresentada por Goffman (2012), para remodelar a identidade do negro por meio de uma revisão histórica, promovendo, deste modo, o efeito de relato de si, noção apresentada por Butler (2017). Nosso objetivo geral é o de examinar a paratopia e por meio disso a avaliar a construção da identidade do negro que, no início do século XX, foi modelada de maneira a se tornar estigmatizada. Como objetivo específico queremos verificar a organização da cenografia e a constituição do ethos discursivo na composição da paratopia literária em Recordações do escrivão Isaías Caminha. Nossa tese inova ao avaliar um corpus tradicionalmente analisado pela Literatura. Além disso, busca ampliar a categoria de paratopia, pela proposição da paratopia do estigma, associando-a às questões étnico-raciais

The presence of human destitution, impoverishment and degradation in the midst of plenty has puzzled social thinkers for millennia. One of the oldest and grandest of theories: the theory of ideology attempts to provide an answer to the puzzle of domination in society. Michael Rosen, in his book On Voluntary Servitude (1996), argues that the solution provided by the theory of ideology is problematic. Furthermore, on the basis of his critique, Rosen argues that we should abandon the theory of ideology and consider alternatives to it. Even though many contemporary academics have turned away from the theory of ideology, because they view it as an imprisoning meta-theory, this study explores the possibility of there being a meta-theory that could help us to make sense of the world. Through an examination of Rosen's critique this thesis shows that Rosen is too quick in his dismissal of the theory of ideology because he fails to consider that a revised functionalist theory of ideology can be expanded to account for the mechanism(s) that ensure that, over time, the society in question acquires ideological consciousness to further its welfare. This thesis shows that Rosen is correct in his criticism of the theory of ideology's explanation of domination because the content, history and social effects of ideological consciousness cannot be fully explained in terms of their role in promoting or stabilising relations of domination. In light of Rosen's criticism the thesis shows that if one provides both an explanation of the psychological motivations of individuals and of the nature of the oppressive society in which they find themselves then what I call an integrated theory of ideology can be developed. In order to illustrate the importance of an integrated theory of ideology the study moves away from high-level theoretical abstraction to concrete social analyses, focusing on the work of Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko and their explanations of domination. The reason this study focuses on their work is because in their role as social scientists, Fanon and Biko provided a powerful critique of colonial, post-colonial and neo-colonial society. It will be argued that Fanon and Biko were able to provide a lasting critique of colonial reality because they offered their critique within the framework of such an integrated theory. Consequently, this study argues that, as Fanon and Biko's work illustrate, an integrated theory of ideology qua critical theory ought not to be abandoned because it is crucial for understanding and resisting forms of oppression that exist in the world today.

This research is concerned with the notion of being human. It acknowledges the dislocation of black people through themselves, a process which was exacerbated during, the colonial era and further through apartheid. The interest in this research is due to the historical dehumanisation of black people through dispossession and subjection to foreign rule and culture, by white people. The historical accounts of dehumanisation and disparity, through either pigmentation, poverty or an inferiority complex, led to black people viewing their humanity in terms of materialism and individualism in the present context. This research explores how materialism and individualism have affected black people's understanding of themselves and self-determinism. It is argued in the United States through Black Theology, the notion of the Black Church in the South African context and through Black Consciousness that the humanity of black people is affirmed historically and to date. / Philosophy & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This research is concerned with the notion of being human. It acknowledges the dislocation of black people through themselves, a process which was exacerbated during, the colonial era and further through apartheid. The interest in this research is due to the historical dehumanisation of black people through dispossession and subjection to foreign rule and culture, by white people. The historical accounts of dehumanisation and disparity, through either pigmentation, poverty or an inferiority complex, led to black people viewing their humanity in terms of materialism and individualism in the present context. This research explores how materialism and individualism have affected black people's understanding of themselves and self-determinism. It is argued in the United States through Black Theology, the notion of the Black Church in the South African context and through Black Consciousness that the humanity of black people is affirmed historically and to date. / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This study focuses on Steve Biko’s Africana existential phenomenology, with particular emphasis on the themes of blackness, black solidarity and liberation. The theoretical foundation of this thesis is Africana existential phenomenology, which is used as a lens to understand Biko’s political thought. The study argues that thematic areas of blackness, black solidarity, and liberation are inherent in Africana existential phenomenology. These thematic areas give a better understanding of existential questions of being black in the antiblack world. What is highlighted is the importance and the relevance of the revival of Biko’s thinking towards creating other modes of being that are necessary for the actualisation of blacks as full human subjects. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)

This thesis is not structured as a conventional empirical study (theoretical background, method, results, discussion), but instead consists of an iterative series of attempts at making sense of same-race prejudice – hopefully systematically homing in on a richer and more acute understanding of the phenomenon. The chapters are grouped together in pairs or triplets – each grouping addressing different but related perspectives on the problem. Chapters 1 and 2 are contextual, setting the scene historically and conceptually. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 introduce three different perspectives on using phenomenology as a means of approaching the issue of same-race prejudice. Chapters 6 and 7 are dedicated to looking at the themes of same-race prejudice, a critical interrogation of the themes from the interview discussions, the literature and how same-race prejudice is experienced, played out and sustained. Chapter 8 links back to Chapter 1 by casting another look at sensitivity and responsiveness to same-race prejudice by organisations whose work is supposedly on prejudice eradication. The chapter further links with both Chapters 3 and 4 by calling upon a phenomenological understanding to humanity as what can bring a liveable change to humanity regarding same-race prejudice. Chapter 9 serves as a summary of all the chapters, what each individually and collectively hoped to achieve, and the general findings and statements about same-race prejudice from the chapters’ theoretical discussions, research interviews, and critical interrogation of both the mundane and theoretical understanding. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This study explores the crisis of representation in black South African protest and ‘post’-apartheid literature. Conversant with the debates on the crisis of representation in black South African protest literature from the 1960s to the late 1980s, the dissertation proposes a re-reading of the ‘crisis’ by locating it in the black writer’s struggle for an aesthetic with which to express the existential crisis of blackness. I contend that not only protest but also contemporary or ‘post’-protest black South African literature exhibits a split or fractured mode of writing which is characterised by the displacement/unheimlichheid produced by colonialism and apartheid, as well as by the contentious nature of that which this literature endeavours to capture – the fraught identity of blackness. In my exploration of the split or double narratives of Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood, K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, and Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut, I examine the representation of blackness through the themes of violence, trauma, powerlessness, failure, and unhomeliness/unbelongingness – all of which suggest the lack of a solid foundation upon which to construct a stable black identity. This instability, I ultimately argue, suggests a move beyond an Afrocentric perspective on identity and traditional tropes of blackness towards a more processual, fluid, and permeable post-black politics.