Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the ways in which the censors during the apartheid era responded to
the works of three black liberation theorists; namely Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral and Steve
Biko. Although other studies of apartheid‐era censorship have been published, this is the
first to examine the censors’ reactions to the work of key African liberation writers.
Apartheid in South Africa brought with it a stringent system of governance, which included a
board of censors who would decide, according their interpretation of the laws of the time,
whether a publication was considered to be “desirable” or “not undesirable.” One of the
major themes examined in the thesis is the interface and tension between the specific and
the transnational. As we shall see, all three liberation theorists put forward Pan‐African
ideas of liberation, but often explicated upon the specificities of their particular liberation
struggles. In a strange act of mirroring, while upholding the idea of South Africa as “a special
case” (exempt from the norms of international human rights law), the apartheid‐era censors
were concerned about the spread of Pan‐African theories of liberation. Beginning with
Fanon, I speculate on the reason why Black Skin White Masks was not banned in South
Africa, though Fanon’s later works to enter the country were banned. I also examine Gillo
Pontecorvo’s film The Battle of Algiers, which was influenced by Fanon’s theories, and
censorship, arguing that the “likely readers” or “likely viewers” of revolutionary material
included not only possible revolutionaries, but also paranoid networks of counterinsurgency.
I then move on to examine the apartheid censors’ responses to the works of
Amilcar Cabral, outlining the interface and tension between local and continental as
described above. The final chapter, which deals with the censors’ responses to Steve
“Bantu” Biko’s I Write What I Like as well as Donald Wood’s Biko, the film Cry Freedom and
other Biko related texts and memorabilia, has some surprises about the supposedly “liberal”
censors’ responses to what they deemed to be “undesirable” and “not undesirable”
literature. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis verken die manier waarop die sensuurraad tydens die apartheidera gereageer
het op die werk van drie swart bevrydingsteoretici, by name Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral en
Steve Biko. Hoewel daar wel ander studies oor apartheidera‐sensuur die gepubliseer is, is
hierdie die eerste studie wat die sensuurraad se reaksie op die werk van sleutel‐Afrikabevrydingskrywers
verken. Apartheid het ‘n streng beheerstelsel in Suid‐Afrika tot gevolg
gehad wat ‘n sensuurraad ingesluit het wat volgens sy interpretasie van die toenmalige
wette kon besluit of ‘n publikasie “wenslik” of “nie‐wenslik” was. Een van die hooftemas wat
in hierdie tesis ondersoek word is die interaksie en spanning tussen die spesifieke en die
transnasionale. Soos sal blyk, het al drie bevrydingsteoretici Pan‐Afrikanistiese idees van
bevryding ondersteun, maar dikwels die besondere van hul spesifieke bevrydingstryd
uiteengesit. Die apartheidera‐sensors se kommer oor die verspreiding van die Pan‐
Afrikanistiese bevrydingsteorië, terwyl hulle die idee van Suid‐Afrika as “’n spesiale geval”
(vrygestel van die norme van internasionale menseregtewetgewing) voorgehou het, was ‘n
ironiese spieëlbeeld hiervan. Ek begin by Fanon en bespiegel oor die redes waarom Black
Skin White Masks nooit in Suid‐Afrika verbied was nie hoewel Fanon se latere werk wat die
land binnegekom het, wel verbied was. Ek ondersoek ook Gillo Pontecorvo se film The Battle
of Algiers wat deur Fanon se teorië beïnvloed is, en argumenteer dat die “waarskynlike
lesers” en “waarskynlike kykers” van revolusionêre materiaal nie slegs moontlike
revolusionêre ingesluit het nie, maar ook paranoïede netwerke van teeninsurgensie. Ek gaan
voort deur die reaksie van die apartheidera‐sensors op die werke van Amilcar Cabral te
ondersoek en die interaksie en spanning tussen die plaaslike en die kontinentale, soos
hierbo beskryf, uit te lig. Die slothoofstuk, wat handel oor die sensuurraad se reaksie op
Steve “Bantu” Biko se I Write What I Like, asook Donald Woods se Biko, die film Cry Freedom
en ander Biko‐verwante tekste en memorabilia, bevat verrassings omtrent die sogenaamde
“liberale” sensors se reaksies op wat hulle as “wenslike” en “nie‐wenslike” literatuur beskou
het.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/80165 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Ross, Tamlyn Sue |
| Contributors | Graham, Lucy, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 109 p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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