Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the binary oppositions in Dalene Matthee's historic novel, Pieternella van die Kaap, and the extent to which it correlates with the perspectives on "the other" and the influence of the spatial context on the two main characters, Eva-Krotoa and Pietemella. The study ascertains in which way Matthee's novel falls within the post-colonial framework; whether a tendency towards hybridity can be found and in which cases the binary opposition of "the self" versus "the other", is consequently suspended. Attention is also given to key concepts associated with this, like stereotyping and convention. After exploring the term post-colonial literature, a number of related elements are discussed, such as the post-colonial focus on identity. Via the focalisation of PietenelIa the novel firstly presents a general view of her experiences in the Cape, on Robben Island, on the ship the Boode, and on Mauritius. In the process it also foregrounds the life of her mother, Eva-Krotoa. Both of them are so much affected by the binary oppositions relating to their existence within different, contrasting spaces, that it is justified to call them "two-head" women. While Eva- Krotoa's life is torn apart by the binary oppositions, there are indications that Pietemella moves in the direction of a growing hybridity, that brings about a synthesis between the oppositions and allows her to reconcile herself with her own identity. This is even more pronounced in the case of her daughter, Maria. The study comes to the conclusion that stereotyping is based on convention and that time, place and circumstances determine whether and to what extent the binary opposition of "the self'/"the other" is suspended. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die binêre opposrsres in Dalene Matthee se historiese roman Pieternella van die Kaap en die mate waarin die perspektiewe op 'die ander' en die invloed van die ruimtelike konteks op die twee vernaamste karakters, Eva-Krotoa en Pieternella, hiermee in verband gebring kan word. Daar word vasgestel in watter mate hierdie roman binne 'n postkoloniale raamwerk val, in watter opsigte sprake is van hibriditeit en in watter gevalle die binêre opposisie van 'die ek'teenoor 'die ander' gevolglik opgehef word. Aandag word ook bestee aan sleutelbegrippe wat hiermee saamhang, soos stereotipering en konvensie. Na 'n verkenning van die term postkoloniale literatuur word verskeie elemente wat hiermee verband hou bespreek, soos die postkoloniale fokus op identiteit. Die roman bied eerstens, via die fokalisasie van Pieternella, 'n oorsig oor haar lotgevalle aan die Kaap, op Robbeneiland, op die skip die Baade en op Mauritius, maar stel in die proses ook die lewe van haar moeder Eva-Krotoa voorop. Beide word in so 'n mate geaffekteer deur binêre opposisies van hulle bestaan binne verskillende, kontrasterende ruimtes, dat hulle tereg 'tweekopvroue' genoem kan word. Waar Eva-Krotoa ten onder gaan aan die binêre opposisies is daar met betrekking tot Pieternella aanduidings van 'n groeiende hibriditeit wat 'n sintese bring tussen die opposisies en haar met haar eie identiteit laat versoen. Dit is in In nog groter mate die geval met haar dogter Maria. Die studie kom tot die slotsom dat stereotipering berus op konvensie en dat tyd, plek en omstandighede bepaal of en in watter mate die binêre opposisie van ekl'ander' opgehef word.

This study uses concepts from network science to analyze the agency of outsider characters who cause change or disruption without necessarily securing economic or political power for themselves. Network science as theorized by thinkers like Duncan Watts (Six Degrees, 2003) and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (Linked, 2002) explains social networks in terms of social structures: clusters of people, bridges between them, pathways through them. Michel Foucault (The Archaeology of Knowledge, 1971) suggests that new notions must enter public or personal awareness on "surfaces of emergence"—institutions like families and social groups. Michel de Certeau (The Practice of Everyday Life, 1974) looks at inventive ways that users repurpose products, both industrial and cultural, and so become "secondary producers." To analyze the influential-outsider agency of the fictional characters featured in this study, I theorize the clusters, bridges, and pathways of network science as surfaces of emergence on which "secondary productions" can appear and then spread through a social network.The introductory chapter explores and explains the general application of network science to literary criticism. In subsequent chapters, I use a networks-based approach to examine the agency of William Dean Howells's Tom Corey (The Rise of Silas Lapham, 1884), F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby, 1925), Joseph Heller's Milo Minderbinder (Catch-22, 1961), Thomas Pynchon's Pierce Inverarity (The Crying of Lot 49, 1965), and William Gibson's Cayce Pollard (Pattern Recognition, 2003). These characters do unusual things with and from the subject positions in which they find themselves, and—whether or not they are or remain marginalized characters in their social systems—they are innovative and influential in ways that other characters do not understand or anticipate. All five novels depict the diffusion of innovative ideas and practices as a process of unplanned, non-coercive social negotiation, where innovation can originate with any person or group of people in the social network and is dependent on the complex interaction of liminal notions and mainstream thinking. The networking approach to these novels clarifies the ways that their authors have imagined social networks to function and the particular interactions they have imagined to lead to change or disruption. / Department of English