Reading Affect in Post-Apartheid Literature: South Africa's Wounded Feelings

270 Pages·2020·2.545 MB·English

by  Mark Libin

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN
AFFECT THEORY AND LITERARY CRITICISM
Reading Affect in
Post-Apartheid Literature:
South Africa’s
Wounded Feelings
Mark Libin
Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary
Criticism
Series Editors
Adam Frank
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Joel Faflak
Western University
London, ON, Canada
The recent surge of interest in affect and emotion has productively
crosseddisciplinaryboundarieswithinandbetweenthehumanities,social
sciences, and sciences, but has not often addressed questions of literature
and literary criticism as such. The first of its kind, Palgrave Studies in
AffectTheoryandLiteraryCriticismseekstheoreticallyinformedscholar-
shipthatexaminesthefoundationsandpracticeofliterarycriticisminrela-
tiontoaffecttheory.Thisseriesaimstostagecontemporarydebatesinthe
field, addressing topics such as: the role of affective experience in literary
compositionandreception,particularlyinnon-Westernliteratures;exam-
inations of historical and conceptual relations between major and minor
philosophiesofemotionandliteraryexperience;andstudiesofrace,class,
gender, sexuality, age, and disability that use affect theory as a primary
critical tool.
Editorial Board Members
Louis Charland (Western University) – History and Philosophy of Affec-
tive Terms
PatrickColmHogan(UniversityofConnecticut,Storrs)–Cognitiveand
Affective Science of World Literature
Holly Crocker (University of South Carolina) – Medieval Literature and
Affect Theory
DavidJames(UniversityofBirmingham,UK)–Modernism,theContem-
porary Novel, and Affect Theory
Julia Lupton (University of California, Irvine) – Renaissance and Theatre
Kate Singer (Mount Holyoke College) – Affect and Romanticism
JaneThrailkill(UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill)–Affectand
American Realism
Donald Wehrs (Auburn University)
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14653
Mark Libin
Reading Affect
in Post-Apartheid
Literature
South Africa’s Wounded Feelings
Mark Libin
Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary Criticism
ISBN 978-3-030-55976-2 ISBN 978-3-030-55977-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55977-9
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Acknowledgements
The seeds of this book were germinated in the classroom. I have taught
post-apartheidliteraturecoursesattheUniversityofBritishColumbiaand
the University of Manitoba, as well as seminars in ethics and Trauma
Theory. The intelligent and sensitive students who have contributed to
classroom discussions of many of the texts dealt with in this book have
shaped my thoughts and feelings about this material and I owe these
students immense gratitude.
As I began my research into post-apartheid literature, I was invited to
SouthAfricatolectureattheUniversityofWitwatersrandandtheUniver-
sity of Pretoria. I would like to thank my generous hosts at that time,
Dr. David Medalie and Dr. Reingard Nethersole.
Arlene Young was instrumental in introducing me to Affect Theory,
through the Affect Research Group she initiated at the University of
Manitoba and the resulting international conference the group hosted.
Being a part of that luminous conference provided me with the lens I
had been searching for, through which to focus my thoughts on post-
apartheid literature. Arlene also gave me valuable feedback on my first
chapters, for which I am grateful.
The late Michael Wessels provided encouraging feedback at the early
stagesofthis project,andIamdeeplyindebtedto himfor hisgenerosity.
Thanks to Jonah Corne for providing me with valuable resources on
the subject of documentary film.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to be a member of the faculty at the Department of
English,Theatre,Film&Media,andtobeabletoworkandteachamong
the enthusiastic and supportive colleagues who populate the venerable
Sixth Floor of Fletcher Argue. I feel lucky to be a part of such a cohesive
and inclusive department.
Thank you to Ryan Jenkins, who first approached me on behalf
of Palgrave Macmillan and the Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and
Literary Criticism Series and asked me to submit a proposal.
I am grateful to my current editors at Palgrave Macmillan, Allie
TroyanosandRachelJacobefortheiradviceandguidance.Andpatience.
I offer grateful thanks to Mukoma wa Ngugi, who provided welcome
encouragement as well as perceptive advice.
Over the course of this process, I was blessed with two wonderful
researchassistants.TimothyPennerandAnnahColemanhelpedmemove
this project forward.
I want to thank my three wonderful children: Shoshana, Misha and
Shai. Despite their collective penchant for brouhaha, they did their very
best (I know it was their best) to give me space and time to work. Thank
you all for putting up with my piles of papers on the dining room table,
stacks of books in the living room and some alleged crankiness on my
part.
And profound gratitude to my wife, Méira. Thank you for your edito-
rial wisdom and for your canny intellectual insights. Thank you for the
long walks we spent discussing the project, for engaging with the subject
withthoughtfulnessandforprovidingmewithburgeoningideas.Besides
being my least gentle editor, you have always been my most enthusiastic
supporter. I genuinely could not have begun, let alone completed, this
project without you.
I would also like to acknowledge the historical time in which I
completed this manuscript, the spring and summer of 2020. Writing
aboutpoliticaltransformationandemotionalupheavaltookonresonance
asmanyofusfoundourlivesupendedbytheencroachingpandemic,and
then felt the shocking and righteous eruption of anger in the protests of
BlackLivesMatter.Thesedefininghistoricalmomentscompelustoinvest
ourselves in a public exercise of hope and optimism.
PortionsofChapter3appearedinTextualPractice as“CantheSubal-
tern be Heard? Response and Responsibility in South Africa’s Human
Spirit”. Textual Practice 17.1 (2003): 119–140.
South African History: An Eccentric
Timeline of Political Affect
1652 Jan van Riebeeck founds the Cape Colony at Table Bay
inthenameoftheDutchEastIndiaCompany.Descen-
dants from this original Dutch colony will become the
Afrikaner community of South Africa.
1795 First skirmishes between British forces and Dutch
settlers.
1806 Britain takes control of the Cape Colony.
1835–1840 Afrikaners(alsoknownasBoers)migratefromtheCape
Colony (now under British control) in what becomes
known as the “Great Trek”. Boers eventually found the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal.
1856–7 Xhosa prophetess Nongqawuse prophesizes that the
BritishwillbedrivenfromSouthAfricaiftheXhosakill
alltheircattleandburntheircrops.Theresultingfamine
decimatestheXhosapopulation,withalmost80%ofthe
population perishing.
1880–81 First South African (Anglo-Boer) War.
1899–1902 Second South African (Anglo-Boer) War.
1912 Native National Congress, later renamed the African
National Congress (ANC), is founded.
1914 National Party formed.
1934 Status of the Union Act passed, which reifies South
Africa as a “sovereign independent state”.
vii
viii SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY: AN ECCENTRIC TIMELINE OF …
1948 National Party elected to government and legislates
apartheid. Both the National Party and its apartheid
policies will remain in effect until 1994.
1950 Enactment of apartheid laws, including the Population
Registration Act, in which every South African is classi-
fied in a pre-designated racial group; the Group Areas
Act, in which South African land became subdivided
and restricted to certain racial groups; the Suppres-
sion of Communism Act, which effectively banned the
Communist Party and any other party determined by
the government to promote Communism. The ANC
will be banned under this act in 1960.
1960 Sharpeville Massacre. A mass demonstration, protesting
against Pass Laws, is fired upon by the South African
police, leaving 69 people dead. National government
bans the ANC.
1961 ANC forms the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the “Spear
of the Nation”. An armed wing co-founded by Nelson
Mandela, devoted to a sabotage campaign against the
National Government.
1963–1964 RivoniaTrial.NelsonMandelaandseveralotherpromi-
nent members of the ANC sentenced to life imprison-
ment for terrorism.
1976 SowetoUprising.YouthprotestingmandatoryAfrikaans
instruction in schools demonstrate in the streets of
Soweto and are violently suppressed by South African
police.Theconfrontationsparksawaveofuprisingsand
general strikes in black townships across South Africa.
1984 P.W. Botha declares State of Emergency in attempt to
quell ongoing township rebellions. State of Emergency
willlastfiveyears,duringwhichtimecovertpolicedeath
squads,suchastheVlakplaasFive,eliminate“terrorists”
with impunity. Bishop Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel
Peace Prize.
1985 Killing of the Cradock Four.
1986 Killing of the Guguletu Seven.
1987 Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The largest battle in the
secret war with Angola waged by South Africa, and
SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY: AN ECCENTRIC TIMELINE OF … ix
second largest battle in the history of the African conti-
nent, after the Battle of El Alamein during the Second
World War.
1989 Murder of Stompie Seipei by members of the Mandela
United Football Club, allegedly ordered by Winnie
Mandela.
1990 National government, led by F.W. de Klerk, unbans
the ANC and other anti-apartheid political parties, and
releases Nelson Mandela from prison.
1993 American Fulbright scholar Amy Biehl murdered in
Guguletu.
1994 First democratic elections in South Africa. Election of
Nelson Mandela and ANC party. ANC holds power
from 1994 till the present day.
1996 First public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission hearings begin.
1998 Truth and Reconciliation Commission releases its final
report.
1999 Thabo Mbeki takes over as ANC leader from Nelson
Mandela and as President of South Africa.
2007 Jacob Zuma elected chair of the ANC.
2009 ANCagainwinsnationalelections.JacobZumaelected
as President.
2011 Julius Malema suspended from position of leader of
ANCYouthLeagueandexpelledfromANCafterbeing
convicted for hate speech for his repeated singing of
“Dubula iBunu” (“Shoot the Boer”), at public rallies.
2012 Marikana Massacre. Police open fire on striking miners,
killing 34.
2013 Nelson Mandela dies at age 95.