ix, 161 p. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT BD175.5.M84 B74 2001 / Charles Taylor, in his essay “The Politics of Recognition,” frames the issue of multiculturalism in terms of the relationship between recognition and identity. Upon what basis and to what degree can different identities be recognized in a democratic society committed to equality? He subsequently argues that the ongoing dispute over the issue of multiculturalism can be understood as resulting from the disparate emphasis disputants respectively place upon the notions of dignity and the modern conception of an inwardly derived identity, the former defending a “politics of equality” and the latter a “politics of difference.” Upon this analysis, however, the two opposing sides manifest in this dispute are not sufficiently clarified in order to convincingly support a resolution. In addition, Taylor dismisses all notions of cultural incommensurability, some form of which is required to adequately distinguish the “politics of difference” from the “politics of equality.” In order to sufficiently clarify the bases of the oppositional stands taken on the issue, it is necessary that the dispute over multiculturalism be understood as a conflict between adherents of two opposing traditions within political theory, formed in the colonial past, in their respective attempts to adapt those theories for use in the post-colonial present. Both liberal and dialectical political theories were initially formulated upon the presupposition of cultural homogeneity. Opposing efforts to adapt each of them for use in a context of cultural heterogeneity have led to the present impasse. The key to the successful adaptation of these theories to the present, and thus to a resolution of the impasse, lies in the removal of each of its respective metaphysical doctrines of a priori universalism. Such metaphysically cleansed constructions of dialectical theory and of liberal theory are found in the work of Frantz Fanon and John Dewey respectively. Most readily, one may derive the basis for a resolution to disputes over multiculturalism in Dewey’s conception of the democratic reconstruction of culture, which can be described as a dialectical liberalism and which aims merely to harmonize rather than to eliminate differences in the pursuit of equality. / Adviser: Dr. Cheyney Ryan

South African history is rooted in racial identities, inequalities and injustices, which the post-apartheid government has sought to address for twenty years since 1994. The transition to a post-apartheid society though has been a difficult one with the social structure and everyday life still marked by the racial past. Though racial classifications on an official basis no longer exist, racial identities continue to pervade the country. Of particular significance to this thesis are black identities including the possibility of black inferiority, which I examine in relation to black post-graduate university students in contemporary South Africa, specifically at Rhodes University. In examining this topic, I draw extensively on the work of Frantz Fanon, who wrote about both colonial society and the emerging post-colonial experience. Fanon was a young black intellectual whose work was in part based on his own experiences of being a once-colonised black person in a world which he perceived as being dominated by whiteness. In his work he expresses his own perceptions of whiteness and how the black identity has come to be shaped by and around this dominant white foundation. Fanon extensively discussed the lives of black intellectuals and elites, and demonstrated how the black identity becomes shaped by and around the world of whiteness. In doing so, he raised a range of themes, such as black inferiority, mimicry and double consciousness. I draw upon the work of Fanon in a critically sympathetic manner to delve into the experiences of black postgraduate students as they negotiate their way through a university setting dominated by a white institutional culture. I bring to the fore the argument that the racial identities of these students is not fixed and sutured but, rather, is marked by considerable fluidity and ambiguity such that black identity must be understood not just as a state of being but also as a process of becoming.

Through a close reading of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, this essay shows the key links between the novel and Frantz Fanon’s major works. In addition to providing a deeper understanding of Dangarembga’s narrative as a whole, it takes into particular consideration the em­bedded criticism of colonialism in the text. The psychological conditions implied by the title play a central role: the essay shows how these conditions relate to the colonial situation and how refusing to consent to subjugation can be understood as radical criticism of colonial, Christian, as well as patriarchal superstructures as well as forming clear opposition to the colonial institution. The analysis is primarily based on Fanon and his comprehension of other theorists. It also draws on the ideas of Homi K. Bhabha, which will provide an additional level of understanding regarding questions about colonial identities in general, and Dangarembga’s characters Tambu, Nyasha, and Babamukuru in particular.

This study introduces the Fanonian thought on race and racism, rhetoric of modernity, and new humanism as three constitutive thematic areas in order to enable a new understanding of the South African situation. These thematic areas are examined with specific reference to socio-economic development within the limited context of post-apartheid South Africa. This is done by reading Fanon’s text in the context of South Africa to provide the background against which the unfolding of the post-apartheid era and its political discourses may be analysed. In essence, this study is based on Fanon’s predictions that he made in the text written more than 50 years ago about the future of post-colonial states. Therefore, this study argues that Fanon’s thought has proven to be more prophetic with regard to post-apartheid South Africa and its political reforms which left the fundamental question of structures such as land, economy, and labour unaddressed. What happened on 27 April 1994 is not genuine liberation, but a mere transition from apartheid to democratic dispensation that left the status quo in spatial arrangements uninterrupted. Indeed, it was an elite pact between the African National Congress and white monopoly capital, which betrayed the national liberation movement and the black majority. The contention is that South Africa celebrated the cosmetic reforms that attributed the term liberation incomplete in the absence of fundamental and structural changes. What is therefore recommended is that for there to be success, there must be genuine liberation that is consistent with the needs of society. This means bringing to an end the racially marked structures and reimagining the black condition, through jobs, education, social and economic programmes aimed at empowering the black majority to depend on themselves as opposed to relying on the State. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

No description available.

This study uses Frantz Fanon‟s thoughts on race and blackness, the black elite and black public intellectuals as the theoretical framework and examines the positionality of Sipho Seepe, Xolela Mangcu and Andile Mngxitama as black public intellectuals in order to understand how they view the post-1994 political discourse. Seepe, Mangcu and Mngxitama‟s views are studied by analysing themes emerging from newspaper columns they have written. This study reveals that the three black public intellectuals examined have been radical and forthright, though they display different understandings of race and blackness, the black elite and black public intellectuals. However, the study reveals that only Mngxitama‟s postionality has been consistently radical, whereas Seepe and Mangcu‟s views have been fluid and are now considered moderate. This study concludes by highlighting the relevance of Fanon‟s thoughts in enabling a new reading of post-1994 South Africa. Of central importance is the creation of the „new being‟, who is informed by the process of liberation, which is the antithesis of the black condition. / Political Sciences / M. A. (Politics)

Neste corpascrever, meu argumento é o de que levar a sério o problema da naturalização da violência estrutural confere uma (re)nova(da) perspectiva sobre processos de politização de diferenças. Ao inquirir acerca das precondições para a geração de enquadramentos não hegemônicos em contextos marcados por violências estruturais, proponho a reconceitualização dos projetos de politização de diferenças enquanto defesa de processos de autodeterminação cole(a)tiva. Essa tese é defendida em três movimentos interdependentes: (3) por meio de reflexões filosófico-epistemológico-poéticas sobre a relevância da espacialização cole(a)tiva para a experiência da temporalidade; (2) por meio de considerações teóricopolíticas sobre a relação entre o problema do essencialismo e a possibilidade de agência cole(a)tiva subversiva; bem como (1) por meio do vislumbre da con-figur-ação do processo de (r)existência dos povos munduruku e ribeirinho à construção de barragens no Médio Tapajós. Conforme sugiro, a politização de diferenças, sob o proposto viés, apresenta-se como condição sine qua non para viabilizar a apreensão do modus operandi de violências estruturais, uma vez que apenas movimentos (pro)positivos cole(a)tivos permitem a emergência de imagens capazes de colocar a norma hegemônica fundamentalmente em xeque, de modo a transcender os limites inerentes a posturas exclusivamente reativas, co-movendo no sentido da reestruturação do mundo. / In this writingbody, I exam in depth the problem of naturalization of structural violence in order to argue for a (re)new(ed) perspective on the politicization of differences. I suggest a reconceptualization of the politicization of differences as a defense of colle(a)ctive selfdetermination processes through an investigation about the preconditions for the generation of non-hegemonic frames in contexts ruled by structural violence. This thesis is undertaken in three interdependent movements: (3) a philosophical-epistemological-poetical reflexion on the relevance of colle(a)ctive spatialization processes for the experience of temporality; (2) a political-theorical consideration on the relationship between the problem of essentialism and the possibility of subversive colle(a)ctive agency; and (1) a perspective on the con-figura( c)tion of the Munduruku and the riverside peoples (r)existence process to the construction of dams in Middle Tapajós region. I argue that the politicization of differences is conditio sine qua non in order to enable the denaturalization of structural violence, as only (pro)positional colle(a)ctive movements transcend the limits of merely reactive positions, enabling the emergency of images that can call the hegemonic rule into question and, therefore, initiate processes of structural trans-formation.

Neste corpascrever, meu argumento é o de que levar a sério o problema da naturalização da violência estrutural confere uma (re)nova(da) perspectiva sobre processos de politização de diferenças. Ao inquirir acerca das precondições para a geração de enquadramentos não hegemônicos em contextos marcados por violências estruturais, proponho a reconceitualização dos projetos de politização de diferenças enquanto defesa de processos de autodeterminação cole(a)tiva. Essa tese é defendida em três movimentos interdependentes: (3) por meio de reflexões filosófico-epistemológico-poéticas sobre a relevância da espacialização cole(a)tiva para a experiência da temporalidade; (2) por meio de considerações teóricopolíticas sobre a relação entre o problema do essencialismo e a possibilidade de agência cole(a)tiva subversiva; bem como (1) por meio do vislumbre da con-figur-ação do processo de (r)existência dos povos munduruku e ribeirinho à construção de barragens no Médio Tapajós. Conforme sugiro, a politização de diferenças, sob o proposto viés, apresenta-se como condição sine qua non para viabilizar a apreensão do modus operandi de violências estruturais, uma vez que apenas movimentos (pro)positivos cole(a)tivos permitem a emergência de imagens capazes de colocar a norma hegemônica fundamentalmente em xeque, de modo a transcender os limites inerentes a posturas exclusivamente reativas, co-movendo no sentido da reestruturação do mundo. / In this writingbody, I exam in depth the problem of naturalization of structural violence in order to argue for a (re)new(ed) perspective on the politicization of differences. I suggest a reconceptualization of the politicization of differences as a defense of colle(a)ctive selfdetermination processes through an investigation about the preconditions for the generation of non-hegemonic frames in contexts ruled by structural violence. This thesis is undertaken in three interdependent movements: (3) a philosophical-epistemological-poetical reflexion on the relevance of colle(a)ctive spatialization processes for the experience of temporality; (2) a political-theorical consideration on the relationship between the problem of essentialism and the possibility of subversive colle(a)ctive agency; and (1) a perspective on the con-figura( c)tion of the Munduruku and the riverside peoples (r)existence process to the construction of dams in Middle Tapajós region. I argue that the politicization of differences is conditio sine qua non in order to enable the denaturalization of structural violence, as only (pro)positional colle(a)ctive movements transcend the limits of merely reactive positions, enabling the emergency of images that can call the hegemonic rule into question and, therefore, initiate processes of structural trans-formation.

This study analyses two non-western novels used in the subject of Swedish in upper secondary school: Fatou Diomes The Belly of the Atlantic and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Half a Yellow Sun. Looking at how the books female main character relate to Stuart Halls theory of cultural identity, I come to the conclusion that they somewhat differently relate to an essential ”authentic” self. Salie talks explicit about a generic African soul that she possesses. Olanna never talks about anything ”authentic”, but her narrative and contrary subject positions can be read as a way of demasking her European ”white” self in favour of a truer Igbo self. I also come to the conclusion that both novels use themes of alienation related to gender structures and positioned westernness and that this kind of reading could contribute to interesting classroom discussions about a dynamic interpretation on culture and identity.

This study uses Frantz Fanon‟s thoughts on race and blackness, the black elite and black public intellectuals as the theoretical framework and examines the positionality of Sipho Seepe, Xolela Mangcu and Andile Mngxitama as black public intellectuals in order to understand how they view the post-1994 political discourse. Seepe, Mangcu and Mngxitama‟s views are studied by analysing themes emerging from newspaper columns they have written. This study reveals that the three black public intellectuals examined have been radical and forthright, though they display different understandings of race and blackness, the black elite and black public intellectuals. However, the study reveals that only Mngxitama‟s postionality has been consistently radical, whereas Seepe and Mangcu‟s views have been fluid and are now considered moderate. This study concludes by highlighting the relevance of Fanon‟s thoughts in enabling a new reading of post-1994 South Africa. Of central importance is the creation of the „new being‟, who is informed by the process of liberation, which is the antithesis of the black condition. / Political Sciences / M. A. (Politics)