Overview
- Presents a new perspective on contemporary South African identity
- Utilizes affect theory as part of the critical dialogue of nation-building
- Provides strategies for reading postcolonial literature
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary Criticism (PSATLC)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (7 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book examines South Africa’s post-apartheid culture through the lens of affect theory in order to argue that the socio-political project of the “new” South Africa, best exemplified in their Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hearings, was fundamentally an affective, emotional project. Through the TRC hearings, which publicly broadcast the testimonies of both victims and perpetrators of gross human rights violations, the African National Congress government of South Africa, represented by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, endeavoured to generate powerful emotions of contrition and sympathy in order to build an empathetic bond between white and black citizens, a bond referred to frequently by Tutu in terms of the African philosophy of interconnection: ubuntu. This book explores the representations of affect, and the challenges of generating ubuntu, through close readings of a variety of cultural products: novels, poetry, memoir, drama, documentary film and audio anthology.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Mark Libin is Associate Professor in the Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media at the University of Manitoba, Canada.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Reading Affect in Post-Apartheid Literature
Book Subtitle: South Africa's Wounded Feelings
Authors: Mark Libin
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary Criticism
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55977-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-55976-2Published: 13 October 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-55979-3Published: 14 October 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-55977-9Published: 12 October 2020
Series ISSN: 2634-6311
Series E-ISSN: 2634-632X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 263
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Literary Theory, African Literature, Literature, general, Postcolonial Philosophy, Ethnicity, Class, Gender and Crime