Generic transformation of the castaway novel is made evident by the various ways in which the narrative boundaries that separate fiction from reality and history, the past from the present, and the rational from the irrational, are reconfigured in Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before (1994), J.M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2002). The dissolution of boundaries reflects the dominant shift that has occurred in the castaway novel from the 18th century literary context to the present postmodern, postcolonial context. In this regard, the narrative utilizes various narratological strategies, the most significant being intertextuality, metafiction, historiographical metafiction, allegory, irony, and the carnivalesque. These narratological strategies rewrite, revise, and recontextualize those generic conventions that perpetuated the culture of masculinity and conquest that defines colonialism and the traditional castaway novel epitomized by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). From a postcolonial perspective, the castaway’s state of being reflects on the condition of the colonized as well as the colonizer: his/her experience of displacement is similar to colonized peoples’ separation from their cultural, spiritual and personal identities; simultaneously, processes of appropriation, adaptation and control of space resemble colonization, thereby revealing the constructed nature of colonial space. As such, space is fundamental to individual orientation and social adaptation and consequently, metaphorically and metonymically linked to identity. In the selected postmodernist and postcolonial texts, the movement from the position of castaway to colonist as originally manifested in Robinson Crusoe is therefore reinterpreted and recontextualized. The postmodernist and postcolonial contexts resist fixed and one-dimensional representations of identity, as well as the appropriation and domination of space, that characterize shipwreck literature from pre-colonial and colonial periods. Rationalist notions of history, reality and truth as empirically definable concepts are also contested. The castaway identity is often characterized by feelings of physical and spiritual displacement and estrangement that can be paralleled to postmodernist themes of existential confusion and anxiety. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Text in Afrikaans / Afrikanisering en universiteitsonderwys: 'n histories-opvoedkundige deurskouing en evaluering In hierdie studie is 'n beskrywing van en verklaring vir die ontstaan, ontwikkeling en betekenis van die begrip afrikanisering gegee. Daar is bevind dat die begrip afrikanisering 'n emosiebelaaide en polities sensitiewe begrip is wat saam met verbandhoudende begrippe soos Afrika-persoonlikheid, Negritude, Afrosentrisme, Ethiopianisme, lokalisering en swartbewussyn 'n ge"integreerde deel vorm van die strewe om nie net politieke onafhanklikheid vir Afrika-kolonies en Afrikane te verkry en te handhaaf nie, maar om hierdie onafhanklikheid ook op sosio-ekonomiese en kulturele gebiede te verseker. Die standpunte van verskeie pleitbesorgers van afrikanisering is ontleed en na aanleiding daarvan is 'n vergelyking tussen vroeere afrikaniseringspogings in Brits Wes-Afrika en die in Suid-Afrika getref. Nadat 'n aantal implikasies van afrikanisering vir Suid-Afrikaanse universiteite aangedui is, is enkele toekomsperspektiewe rakende die afrikanisering van universiteite in Suid-Afrika geformuleer. / Africanisation and university education: an historical-educational explication and evaluation In this study a description of and explanation for the origin, development and meaning of the concept africanisation is given. It can be concluded that the concept africanisation is emotive and politically sensitive and together with related concepts such as African personality, Negritude, Afrocentrism, Ethiopianism, localisation and Black consciousness it forms an integrated part of the aspiration not only to gain and maintain political independence for African colonies and Africans, but also to secure this identity in the socio-economic and cultural fields. The views of various advocates/proponents of africanisation were analysed and based on this analysis a comparison between the earlier africanisation attempts in British West Africa and those in South Africa was drawn. After some implications of africanisation for South African universities were indicated, a number of future perspectives with regard to the africanisation of universities in South Africa were formulated. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Historiese Opvoedkunde)

Text in English / Abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu / The present study deploys Ngugi wa Thiongo’s (2009) decolonial concepts of dismembering and re-membering to critically explore J. M Coetzee’s selected fiction. In my reading of the novels Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe and Disgrace, I relate concepts of dismembering and re-membering to decoloniality. In the rendition of Ngugi, dismembering refers to the displacement and dispossession of the colonised, and their mental colonisation through cultural imperialism. Re-membering becomes the decolonial effort to undo physical and psychological dismembering. In the same way in which, since the Berlin Conference of 1884/5, Africa was divided, mapped and colonised, the cultures and histories of Africans were dismembered and dominated. Concerns for the land are expressed in the mapping and the confiscation of land which is depicted in the native’s desert dwellings in Waiting for the Barbarians, Cruso’s clearing of the land in Foe and Petrus’s taking over of Lucy’s farm in Disgrace. Furthermore, Coetzee’s use of language is one important narrative strategy that is explored to ascertain how Coetzee negates or speaks for, of and about the colonised through the narrator focaliser. This study reveals the reflexive nature of the selected novels and seeks answers to the question of why Coetzee tends to make his “black” characters voiceless and rootless (and sometimes nameless)? Is Coetzee suggesting that they have been silenced by history, by colonialism, or is he suggesting that he, the author, has no right to speak on their behalf? In the mode of writing and story-telling, is Coetzee suggesting the impossibility of the coloniser to speak for the colonised or, in speaking of them, does he give the servant characters a voice and can this voice be theirs, or can it be considered reliable? Is Coetzee presenting the power of passivity as a means of resistance and re-membering? This study, from a decolonial perspective, engages with the complex way Coetzee handles voice and the question of the agency of the colonised. / Hierdie studie benut Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2009) se dekoloniale begrippe van verdeling en herindeling in ʼn kritiese beskouing van J. M. Coetzee se geselekteerde fiksie. In my vertolking van die romans Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe en Disgrace, bring ek die begrippe van verdeling en herindeling in verband met dekolonialisme. In Ngũgĩ se vertolking verwys verdeling na die verplasing en onteiening van die gekoloniseerdes, en hul geestelike kolonisering deur kulturele imperialisme. Herindeling word die dekoloniale poging om fisiese en sielkundige herindeling ongedaan te maak. Op dieselfde manier wat Afrika verdeel, gekarteer en gekoloniseer is sedert die Berlynse Konferensie van 1884/5, is Afrikane se kulture en geskiedenisse verdeel en gedomineer. Kommer oor die grond word te kenne gegee in die kartering en konfiskering van grond – soos uitgebeeld in die boorling se woestynverblyf in Waiting for the Barbarians, Cruso se opruiming van die grond in Foe en Petrus se oorname van Lucy se plaas in Disgrace. Verder is Coetzee se taalgebruik ʼn belangrike verhalende strategie wat bestudeer word om vas te stel hoe Coetzee die gekoloniseerde ontken of vir, van en oor die gekoloniseerde praat deur middel van die verteller/fokaliseerder. Hierdie studie openbaar die refleksiewe aard van die geselekteerde romans en soek vir antwoorde op die vraag van waarom Coetzee geneig is om sy “swart” karakters stemloos en wortelloos (en soms, naamloos) te maak. Suggereer Coetzee dat hulle deur die geskiedenis, deur kolonialisme, stilgemaak is – of suggereer hy dat hy, die outeur, nie die reg het om namens hulle te praat nie? Wil Coetzee deur sy manier van skryf en vertelling, aan die hand doen dat dit onmoontlik is dat die koloniseerder vir die gekoloniseerde kan praat; of, wanneer hy van hulle praat, gee hy aan die dienaarkarakters ʼn stem en kan dit hulle stem wees, of kan dit as betroubaar beskou word? Hou Coetzee die kraag van passiwiteit voor as ʼn vorm van weerstand en herindeling? Hierdie studie ondersoek, vanuit ʼn dekoloniale perspektief, die komplekse wyse waarop Coetzee stem en die vraag van die tussenkoms van die gekoloniseerde hanteer. / Ucwaningo lwamanje luchitha imiqondo ka-Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2009) yokuqothula nokujoyina kabusha ukungabuswa ngelinye izwe ekuhloliseni ngokucophelela ukuqamba okukhethiwe kukaJ.M. Coetzee. Ekufundeni kwami amanoveli i-Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe and Disgrace, ngichaza imiqondo yokuqothula futhi ukujoyina kabusha ekungabusweni ngelinye izwe. Ekuhumusheni kuka-Ngũgĩ, ukuqothula kubhekisela ekufudukeni nasekuthunjweni kwalabo ababuswa ngelinye izwe, kanye nengqondo yabo ekubusweni ngelinye izwe ngokusebenzisa imiphakathi yamasiko. Ukujoyina kabusha kuba wumzamo wokungabuswa ngelinye izwe ukulungisa ukuqothula kokukhubazeka ngokomzimba nangokwengqondo. Ngendlela efanayo lapho i-Afrika ihlukaniswe ngakhona, ihlelwe ibalazwe futhi ibuzwa ngelinye izwe kusukela kwiNgqungquthela yaseBerlin ka 1884/5, amasiko kanye nemilando yabantu base-Afrika yaqothulwa futhi yabuswa. Ukukhathazeka kwezwe kuboniswa ebalazweni nasekuthunjweni komhlaba - njengoba kuboniswe ezindaweni zokuhlala zasogwadule ku- Waiting for the Barbarians, ku-Cruso ukuhlanzwa komhlaba-enovelini i-Foe nakuPetrus ukuthatha ipulazi likaLucy enovelini i-Disgrace. Ngaphezu kwalokho, ukusetshenziswa kolimi lukaCoetzee kuyisisindo esisodwa esibalulekile sokulandisa esihlolisiswayo ukuze kuqinisekiswe ukuthi uCozezee uphikisa kanjani noma ukhuluma kanjani, futhi mayelana nababuswa ngelinye izwe ngokusebenzisa umlandisi. Lolu cwaningo lwembula uhlobo oluthile lokucabanga lwamanoveli akhethiwe futhi lufuna izimpendulo embuzweni wokuthi kungani uCoetzee ejwayele ukwenza "abalingisi" bakhe abamnyama bengabonakali futhi bangenasisekelo (futhi ngezinye izikhathi abangenalo igama). Ingabe uCoetzee uphakamisa ukuthi baye bathuliswa ngumlando, ngukubuswa ngelinye izwe, noma ingabe uphakamisa ukuthi yena, umbhali, akanalo ilungelo lokukhuluma egameni labo? Ngendlela yokubhala nokuxoxa ngezindaba, ingabe uCoetzee uphakamisa ukuthi akunakwenzeka ukuba obusa elinye izwe akhulumele ababuswayo kulelo zwe noma, uma ekhuluma ngabo, uyabanika abalingiswa abayinceku izwi futhi leli zwi lingaba ngelabo, noma lingathathwa njengelethembekile? Ingabe uCoetzee uveza amandla okungahambisani njengendlela yokumelana nokujoyina kabusha? Lolu cwaningo, kusukela embonweni wokungabuswa ngelinye izwe, luhambisana nendlela eyinkimbinkimbi uCoetzee alawula izwi kanye nombuzo wokumela ababuswayo. / English Studies / M.A. (Theory of Literature: (English Studies))