Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the past century, for a variety of reasons, more people have been crossing
national and cultural borders than ever before. This, along with constantly developing
communication technology, has seen to it that clear-cut distinctions, divisions and
borders are no longer as easily definable as they once were. This process, now
commonly referred to as ‘globalisation,’ has led to a rising trend of ‘multiculturalism’
and ‘cultural hybridity,’ terms often connected with celebratory views of our
postmodern, postcolonial world as a colourful melting pot of cultures. However, what
these celebratory views conveniently avoid recognising, is that the increasing
occurrence of hybridity places a growing number of people in a painful space inbetween
identities where they are “neither just this/nor just that” (Dayal 47), “neither
the One… nor the Other… but something else besides” (Bhabha Commitment 41).
Perhaps in an effort to combat this ignorance, a new breed of authors – who have
experienced the rigours of migration first-hand – are giving voice to this pain-infused
space on the periphery of cultures and identities through a developing genre of
transcultural literature. This literature typically deals with issues of identity closely
related to globalisation and multiculturalism. In my thesis I will be looking at three
such novels: Jamal Mahjoub’s The Drift Latitudes, Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss,
and Caryl Phillips’ A Distant Shore.
These authors move away from an idealistic, celebratory view of hybridity as the
effortless blending of cultures to a somewhat disenchanted approach to hybridity as a
complex negotiation of split subjectivity in an ever-fracturing world. All three novels
lend themselves to a psychoanalytic reading, with subjects who imagine themselves to
be unitary, but end up having to face their repressed fractured subjectivity in a
moment of crisis. The psychoanalytic model of the split between the conscious and
the unconscious, then, resonates well with the postcolonial model of the intrinsically
fractured hybrid identity. However, while psychoanalysis focuses on internal
processes, postcolonialism focuses on external processes.
Therefore, I will be making use of a blend of psychoanalytic and postcolonial
concepts to analyse and access discursive meanings in the texts. More specifically, I will use Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘hybridity’, Freud’s concept of the ‘uncanny’, and
Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of ‘the stranger’ as distinctive, yet interconnected
conceptual lenses through which to view all three of these transcultural novels. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die afgelope eeu het meer mense as ooit vantevore, om ‘n verskeidenheid redes,
lands- en kultuurgrense oorgesteek. Tesame met die voortdurende vooruitgang van
kommunikasietegnologie, het dit tot gevolg dat afgebakende grense, skeidings en
verskille nie meer so maklik definieerbaar is as wat hulle eens was nie. Hierdie
proses, waarna in die algemeen verwys word as ‘globalisering’, het gelei tot die
groeiende neiging van ‘multikulturalisme’ en ‘kulturele hibriditeit’. Dit is
terminologie wat dikwels in verband gebring word met feestelike beskouings van ons
postmoderne, post-koloniale wêreld as ‘n kleurryke smeltkroes van kulture.
Wat hierdie feestelike beskouings egter gerieflikheidshalwe verkies om te ignoreer, is
die feit dat die toenemende voorkoms van hibriditeit ‘n groeiende aantal mense in ‘n
pynlike posisie tussen identiteite plaas waar hulle nòg vis nòg vlees (“neither just
this/nor just that” [Dayal 47]), nòg die Een… nòg die Ander is… maar eerder iets
anders buiten.. (“neither the One… nor the Other… but something else besides”
[Bhabha Commitment 41]).
Miskien in ‘n poging om hierdie onkunde die hoof te bied, is ‘n nuwe geslag skrywers
– wat die eise van migrasie eerstehands ervaar het – besig om met ‘n ontwikkelende
genre van transkulturele literatuur ‘n stem te gee aan hierdie pynlike ‘plek’ op die
periferie van kulture en identiteite. Hierdie literatuur handel tipies oor die kwessies
van identiteit wat nou verwant is aan globalisering en multikulturalisme.
In my tesis kyk ek na drie sulke romans: Jamal Mahjoub se The Drift Latitudes, Kiran
Desai se Inheritance os Loss en Caryl Phillips se A Distant Shore. Hierdie skrywers
beweeg weg van die idealistiese, feestelike beskouing van hibriditeit as die moeitelose
vermenging van kulture na ‘n meer realistiese uitbeelding van hibriditeit as ‘n
ingewikkelde vergestalting van verdeelde subjektiwiteite in ‘n verbrokkelende wêreld.
Al drie romans leen hulle tot die lees daarvan uit ‘n psigo-analitiese oogpunt, met
karakters wat hulself as eenvormig beskou, maar uiteindelik in ‘n krisis-oomblik te
staan kom voor die werklikheid van hul onderdrukte verbrokkelde subjektiwiteit. Die
psigo-analitiese model van die breuk tussen die bewuste en die onbewuste weerklink welluidend in die post-koloniale model van die intrinsiek verbrokkelde hibriede
identiteit.
Terwyl psigo-analise egter op interne prosesse toegespits is, fokus post-kolonialisme
op eksterne prosesse. Derhalwe gebruik ek ‘n vermenging van psigo-analitiese en
post-koloniale konsepte om uiteenlopende betekenisse in die onderskeie tekste te
analiseer en hulle toeganklik te maak. Meer spesifiek gebruik ek Homi Bhabha se
konsep van hibriditeit, Freud se konsep van die ‘geheimsinnige / onheilspellende’ en
Zygmunt Bauman se konsep van ‘die vreemdeling’ as kenmerkende, maar steeds
onderling verwante konseptuele lense waardeur aldrie transkulturele romans beskou
word.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1876 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Krige, Nadia |
| Contributors | Klopper, D. C., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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