Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Africa, 2001.

In A Question of Power Bessie Head explores metaphysical forms of knowledge and systems of belief (against a background of what is verifiable and can be called the truth) and finds them necessary but flawed because they are illogical. The experience of madness in Bessie Head's main character, Elizabeth, (which is caused by a deep fear of domination and oppression), provides an opportunity for the character to raise propositions and questions of philosophy related to race, class, heterosexuality, God, to mention but a few, and to come to the conclusion that the 'truth' claims which are implied in and suggested by these notions do not obtain in real life. In other words, there is no stable, transcendental reality. It dawns on Elizabeth (the main character) that certain realms of knowledge which society has determined as objective truth will remain forever unknowable. Thus Elizabeth, the main character in a A Question of Power, identifies and challenges all patriarchal structures and power hierarchies in society, seeing them as the real causes of her suffering. After completing this process of deeonstruction, she is able to integrate herself into society. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

This thesis deploys Homi Bhabha's perspective of postcolonial literary theory as a critical procedure to examine particular instances of fiction, as well as reportage on Botswana. Its unifying interest is to pinpoint the shifting nature or reality of Botswana and, by extension, of African identities. To that end, I use Bhabha's concept of liminality to inform the work of writers such as Unity Dow, Alexander McCall Smith, and instances of reportage (by Rupert Isaacson and Caitlin Davies), from the 1990s to date. The aims of the thesis are, among other things, to establish the extent to which Homi Bhabha's appropriation of the term liminality (which derives from Victor Turner's notion of limen for inbetweenness), and its application in the postcolonial context inflects the reading of the above works whose main motifs include the following: a contestation of any views which privilege one culture above another, challenging a jingoistic rootedness in one culture, and promoting an awareness of the existence of several, interlocking or even clashing realities which finally produce multiple meanings, values and identities. In short, it is proposed that identity is not a given but rather a product of a lived reality and therefore a social construct, something always in process. The thesis begins by theorizing liminality in Chapter 1 within the context of Homi Bhabha's understanding and interrogation of the colonial discourse. This is followed by the contextualization of liminality through the reading of, firstly, the fiction of Unity Dow in Chapters 2 and 3, and then the "detective" fiction of Alexander McCall Smith in Chapters 4 and 5. In the discussion of these works, I also touch on instances of reportage which relate to the lives of the authors. In the case of Smith's "detective" fiction, for example, reportage refers to his incorporation of actual historical events and personages whose impact, I argue, suggests the liminality of culture. In Chapter 6, the idea of reportage varies slightly to denote works of fiction in which there is a great deal of historical fact. Thus Rupert Isaacson's The Healing Land: A Kalahari Journey and Caitlin Davies' Place of Reeds are treated as works of reportage in line with Truman Capote's application of that term. What comes out most evidently in this study is the shifting idea of (Botswana/African) identity. It should be noted that rather than present an all-embracing account of the fiction on Botswana, the study only looks at the selected examples of writing and reportage. / University of South Africa National Research Foundation / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

This thesis deploys Homi Bhabha's perspective of postcolonial literary theory as a critical procedure to examine particular instances of fiction, as well as reportage on Botswana. Its unifying interest is to pinpoint the shifting nature or reality of Botswana and, by extension, of African identities. To that end, I use Bhabha's concept of liminality to inform the work of writers such as Unity Dow, Alexander McCall Smith, and instances of reportage (by Rupert Isaacson and Caitlin Davies), from the 1990s to date. The aims of the thesis are, among other things, to establish the extent to which Homi Bhabha's appropriation of the term liminality (which derives from Victor Turner's notion of limen for inbetweenness), and its application in the postcolonial context inflects the reading of the above works whose main motifs include the following: a contestation of any views which privilege one culture above another, challenging a jingoistic rootedness in one culture, and promoting an awareness of the existence of several, interlocking or even clashing realities which finally produce multiple meanings, values and identities. In short, it is proposed that identity is not a given but rather a product of a lived reality and therefore a social construct, something always in process. The thesis begins by theorizing liminality in Chapter 1 within the context of Homi Bhabha's understanding and interrogation of the colonial discourse. This is followed by the contextualization of liminality through the reading of, firstly, the fiction of Unity Dow in Chapters 2 and 3, and then the "detective" fiction of Alexander McCall Smith in Chapters 4 and 5. In the discussion of these works, I also touch on instances of reportage which relate to the lives of the authors. In the case of Smith's "detective" fiction, for example, reportage refers to his incorporation of actual historical events and personages whose impact, I argue, suggests the liminality of culture. In Chapter 6, the idea of reportage varies slightly to denote works of fiction in which there is a great deal of historical fact. Thus Rupert Isaacson's The Healing Land: A Kalahari Journey and Caitlin Davies' Place of Reeds are treated as works of reportage in line with Truman Capote's application of that term. What comes out most evidently in this study is the shifting idea of (Botswana/African) identity. It should be noted that rather than present an all-embracing account of the fiction on Botswana, the study only looks at the selected examples of writing and reportage. / University of South Africa National Research Foundation / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

In A Question of Power Bessie Head explores metaphysical forms of knowledge and systems of belief (against a background of what is verifiable and can be called the truth) and finds them necessary but flawed because they are illogical. The experience of madness in Bessie Head's main character, Elizabeth, (which is caused by a deep fear of domination and oppression), provides an opportunity for the character to raise propositions and questions of philosophy related to race, class, heterosexuality, God, to mention but a few, and to come to the conclusion that the 'truth' claims which are implied in and suggested by these notions do not obtain in real life. In other words, there is no stable, transcendental reality. It dawns on Elizabeth (the main character) that certain realms of knowledge which society has determined as objective truth will remain forever unknowable. Thus Elizabeth, the main character in a A Question of Power, identifies and challenges all patriarchal structures and power hierarchies in society, seeing them as the real causes of her suffering. After completing this process of deeonstruction, she is able to integrate herself into society. / English Studies / M. A. (English)