Thesis (M.A. in english language and literature)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-66).

This study examines Agaat (2004), the second novel in the oeuvre of Marlene van Niekerk, as both a postcolonial text and a farm novel. Firstly a theoretical perspective is given on postcolonialism, with specific reference to typical phenomena in Afrikaans postcolonial literature. Subsequently, a short historical overview is given of the Afrikaans farm novel by distinguishing between "normative" farm novels and "contesting" farm novels. Typical characteristics of the Afrikaans farm novel are also discussed. By discussing three key aspects of Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat, I demonstrate why Agaat can be seen as a postcolonial text and how this novel differs from earlier Afrikaans farm novels. The first aspect is the representation of coloured people within the household, specifically focussing on Agaat Lourier's powerful role as worker for the De Wet family on Grootmoedersdrift, as well as the hierarchical shift of Agaat's position on the farm from worker to owner of the farm after Milla de Wet's death. In Agaat (2004) the coloured worker is given a voice, something that did not readily occur in earlier farm novels in the first half of the twentieth century (Coetzee, 2000: 2). An important question that receives attention in this study, is how the identity of Agaat is formed by Milla who trains Agaat to behave in a certain way. Does Agaat lose her identity when she is colonised by Milla mimicking Milla's behaviour, and does she then become a product of Milla becoming "almost the same, but not quite" (Bhabha, 1994: 86)? The second key aspect deals with the role and representation of women characters in Agaat (2004). Here attention is paid to Agaat and Milla who jointly rule the farm and its inhabitants resulting in a constant power struggle between these two women. In Agaat (2004) patriarchal authority is undermined and the relationship between Milla and Agaat, as Neil Cochrane (2005: 216) points out, can be seen as a replica of the relationship between the coloniser (Milla) and the colonised (Agaat). The third key aspect focuses on land and landownership, by referring to relevant literature such as Ampie Coetzee's 'n Hele os vir 'n ou broodmes. Grond en die plaasnarratief sedert 1595 (2000). The issue of land ownership is foregrounded in Agaat (2004), as in lM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999), when Agaat becomes the owner of the farm after Jakkie (Milla's son) returns to Canada where he works as an ethnomusicologist. With my focus on the three aspects mentioned above I assess Marlene van Niekerk's contribution to the development of the Afrikaans farm novel within a postcolonial context. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-169).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 260-274).

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In this thesis I explore three key debates within postcolonial theory. I argue for the efficacy of deploying deconstructive readings in postcolonial contexts. I closely analyse the debates in order to identify a number of important questions for the theorisation of postcoloniality. My discussion of the first debate between Gayatri Spivak and Benita Parry focuses on the problematics of representation, through an analysis of the questions of subalternity, native agency/resistance/insurgency, and, crucially, the question of the political positionality of the postcolonial intellectual as investigating subject. Jacques Derrida's debate on apartheid with Anne McClintock and Robert Nixon, although not expressed in the terms of postcolonial theory, raises questions of context, the necessity of ethics in intellectual discussion and the politics and ethics of deconstructive engagements with material situations. In the debate between Homi K. Bhabha and Benita Parry, I examine the question of the most apposite way to read the contribution of Frantz Fanon's work. I argue the latter debate offers a politico-theoretical insight or strategy that would be important for the development of postcolonial theory. Finally, I demonstrate how the South African appropriation of postcolonial theory (and the subsequent critique) rehearses some of the preoccupations of the previous debates. I argue that the particular version that South African advocates of postcolonial theory sought to install into the literarycultural agenda in the early 1990s, highlights an inattentiveness to the theory which it is concerned to appropriate. My thesis is concerned to argue that the debates need to be reread given some of the (mis)taken arguments I identify. The urgent, difficult and complex questions in contemporary South Africa are what postcolonial critics need to think through. I argue the urgency and difficulty of the South African case can be fruitfully interrogated by a deconstructive postcolonial theory. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2009. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.