The political economy of South Africa in the interwar period∗

Economic policy in South Africa in the interwar period is discussed in the context of differences between the economic power and political influence of Afrikaner as opposed to mining capital. Previous analyses have been limited by overgeneralisation, narrowness of scope and analytical methodologies which have overemphasised class agencies at the expense of actual and potential economic linkages. State economic interventions are shown to have differed in influence and in impact by area of application. No coherent policy was followed for the development of industry based on agricultural products. Instead, policies were subordinated to devolving central power to fragmented agricultural interests. Industrial policy is shown to have been confined to protection, other forms of subsidy and the creation of a state sector around heavy industry rather than being linked to a strategy of diversification out of the base provided by the activities associated with mining. Despite this lack of a conducive framework, preliminary research reveals that constrained industrial diversification did occur in isolated cases, including chemical and industrial diamond products, suggesting that other development trajectories were possible.     

South Africa: conceptualising a politics of human‐oriented development

This paper presents one example of the process whereby a writer like C. Louis Leipoldt absorbed living oral Afrikaans history and converted it into written Afrikaans documentation. This example serves to illustrate a larger process which he applied to the construction and composition of a sequence of four historical novels dealing with analogous material in English. The purpose is to record some of the problems and implications of a Leipoldt editing project, which is still in progress, and to formulate some of the related aspects of interpreting historical fiction as historical source material. The paper proposes that one of the traumatic events of South African literature is the shift from oracy to literacy, and that many South African writers have displayed a special guardianship of this shift in terms of literary procedures which follow different norms than those of the cultural historian.     

The “ethical loneliness” of male sexual violence survivors in Northern Uganda: gendered reflections on silencing

In this article, I explore the gendered silencing of conflict-related sexual violence against men and of male survivors’ lived realities in Northern Uganda using the frame of masculinities. Utilizing Stauffer’s conceptual framework of “ethical loneliness,” I elucidate how male survivors’ experiences of sexual violence are characterized by various layers of externally imposed silences by different actors and institutions often over decades. I demonstrate that the harms experienced by survivors in Northern Uganda are characterized by silence, isolation and abandonment, “compounded by the cruelty of wrongs not being heard” and constituted through multiple rounds of neglect. Exemplified through the narrative of a male survivor, I argue that in particular, the externally imposed silencing by institutions designed to listen entrenches further harms. I unpack how these layered silences are gendered and conditioned by socially constructed incompatibilities between masculinities and vulnerabilities, which disallow men to openly speak about their sexual violations and to seek services and support. Working with the concept of “ethical loneliness,” I propose a novel theoretical framework for analyzing the effects of externally imposed and gender-specific silencing with wider utility beyond male sexual violence, applicable to survivors of political and wartime gendered violence more broadly.     

What Could be the Future of South Africa After National Elections on 22 April 2009?

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has been characterized by a dualistic economic structure. It is a developed country compared to the African context, but it is still developing for many problems such as high unemployment rates, low levels of foreign direct investments and saving, inflation, and the general levels of poverty and inequality. In this sense, the recent national election, held on 22 April 2009, has a crucial role. The high percentage of voters shows that there is a common sense of revenge. People want to believe that a new beginning is possible. The ANC victory and the election of Jacob Zuma as president appear to be the first steps in order to realize this change. Nevertheless, this national support clashes with international concerns. The background of J. Zuma, the increasingly close cooperation between South Africa and China, as well as the proximity and politic instability of Zimbabwe make international observers skeptical about Zuma’s actions. In the light of the economic and social problems of South Africa, the aim of this paper is to analyze these aspects in order to imagine what the future holds for South Africa.     

The methodology of poverty research in South Africa: The case of the first Carnegie investigation 1929–1932∗

The Second Carnegie Inquiry recently focused attention again on South Africa's problem of enduring poverty. This invites comparison with the First Carnegie Investigation of 1929–1932. This paper discusses the methodology of the earlier investigation which was directed exclusively at white poverty. Conclusions are drawn about the role of research in development projects.     

Will it never end? The narratives of incest victims on the termination of sexual abuse

The aim of this study is to investigate how child sexual abuse is terminated. This study attempts to gain insight into how people exposed to incest narrate the termination of the incest relationship. Seven women and one man were recruited from the Incest Support Centre and from snowballing for a 1-2-hour-long in-depth interview using a narrative approach. The subjects' narratives varied according to how they perceived their own role in the termination process, their relationship with the offender, and how well they remembered the stage of termination. A common feature of the narratives was that the feeling of being a victim lasted after the abuse stopped. In this respect, the lack of support from family, friends, and healthcare personnel and the psychological power exercised by the offender were important issues in the narratives. It is suggested that the termination process is affected by the victims' ability to regulate influence and mentalization. Furthermore, a transfer of cultural meanings from the social environment to the individual must have taken place. Future research should focus on the significance of the termination process in terms of psychological functioning and the construction of self and identity.     

The “baboon boy” of the Eastern Cape and the making of the human in South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the early twentieth century story of Lucas, the so-called “baboon boy” of the Eastern Cape, in order to unpack some of the mechanisms (social, ideological, racial and physical) that underlie the shaping of the idea of the human in a local context. By exhuming the material details in Lucas’s story, I aim to establish a form of relation between past and present that enables a deeper understanding of the tensions underscoring contemporary public discourse around the formation of the human in South Africa. First, I draw on Agamben’s notion of the anthropological machine to contextualise my thoughts on the mechanics of ideation that underpin the creation of legitimate forms of the human. Then I situate my argument according to Baucom’s articulation of the conflict in postcolonial and ecocritical thought between the historical need for redress and the universalising demands of the Anthropocene. After considering Lucas’s story, I close by referring to the recent public opinion fracas surrounding the discovery of the fossilised remains of a new subspecies of human, Homo naledi, in order to demonstrate the continued relevance for contemporary social thought of the stuff that lies submerged in the story of the “baboon boy.”     

‘Entering the territory of incitement’: oppositionality and Africa South

Africa South was an anti‐apartheid journal edited by Ronald Segal which was published in South Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This article explores the historical and political significance of Africa South and considers its implications for an understanding of ‘oppositionality’ in the post‐apartheid present. The central challenge which Africa South offered to its own context was its transnational perspective. Africa South was an important meeting place in the global routes of the developing pan‐African movement. It is also noteworthy for its effort to bring disparate areas of history and experience – both within the African continent and across the African diaspora – into revealing alignment with one another. The principle of conjuncture, I argue, initiated an important analytical move: the opportunity for illuminating comparison, the re‐conceptualisation of an often fragmented political and social landscape and an unusual glimpse of the whole. In tension with this totalising vision is the journal’s generic eclecticism, its flexible political identity and its collaborative construction. In both its unity and its fragmentation, Africa South offers an important point of departure for activist journalism and oppositional intellectual endeavours in the present.     

The Department of Literature and the Department of English: Transforming Aspects of ‘English Studies’ in South Africa

Abstract

This article begins with a brief survey of the different manifestations of ‘English studies’ at various South African universities, demonstrating the lack of clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities of the ‘English Department’: should it teach literature in English, or should it teach the English language? Such inconsistency makes the ‘Department of English’ as it currently exists unable to contribute towards the intellectualisaton of African languages (Alexander, 2005) and the transformation of South Africa's universities, particularly with regard to the use of African languages for learning and teaching. The article thus proposes that the ‘Department of English’ and the ‘Department of Eiterature’ should be separated. The former should take its place alongside other language departments and, at English-language universities, be primarily responsible for English language teaching and support (for those students to whom English-medium instruction presents a barrier to learning). The latter should pursue literary studies – not only ‘literatures in English’, but also texts in translation – a pursuit that calls attention to the potential for dialogue between literary texts across linguistic, ethnic, and national divides.     

The Africa Commission Report: What About the Politics?

Book reviewed: Our Common Interest: The Report of the Africa Commission. By the Commission for Africa. London: Commission for Africa, 2005. 462pp. £10.00 pb. (forthcoming in June 2005 from Penguin Books Ltd, Our Common Interest: An Argument. 192pp. £5.00 pb.).     

‘Avenge the Lusitania’: The Anti-German Riots in South Africa in 1915

The anti-German riots which erupted simultaneously in many countries in response to the torpedoing of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 reflected shifts in the status of minorities in multi-ethnic societies at a time of escalating nationalist emotions. This article shows that the situation of the Germans in South Africa differed in important respects from the dilemma in which Germans found themselves in other parts of the world during the First World War. The dominion of the Union of South Africa was embroiled in a struggle between Afrikaners and English-speaking settlers for the definition of white South Africanism. Since most German immigrants had previously tended to amalgamate with the Afrikaner section of the colonial society and had not laid claims to a hyphenated identity, many Afrikaners perceived the attacks on German residents as an assault by urban English-speakers on the Afrikaner community, and Afrikaner public opinion requested that Germans should be treated in a fair manner. The intra-white dispute about a shared South African identity prevented, therefore, the state from sustaining the kind of assimilationist or even discriminatory pressure which German residents had to face in countries such as the USA or Brazil during and after the Great War.     

The Star’s first draft: a news organization revises the next narrative of race in post‐apartheid South Africa

The evolution of South Africa’s news media has been fraught with uncertainties as the nation’s news organizations negotiate organizational and occupational ideologies and reporting strategies in the post‐apartheid era. The mainstream English press in particular has been struggling for a sense of identity despite a history of anti‐apartheid ‘watchdog’ activity. This essay examines a major Johannesburg English newspaper and its principal rival from 1999 to 2005, the critical years just before and just after a showdown with the larger society over charges of racism in the news. It shows how organizational cultures of newspapers and their ideological schemata may be affected both by transformations in the political systems and by the unfolding of major news events, such as the government’s reaction to the AIDS pandemic.     

Who should do the talking? The proliferation of dialogue as governmental technology

This paper investigates the recent proliferation of appeals to ‘dialogue’ as a solution to problems in a broad spectrum of different organisational settings Instead of top‐down management and expert‐driven public services, we are told we need ‘dialogue‐based’ management, health treatment, elder care, social counselling, and so forth. Dialogue is often presented as a tool that will reverse the stifling dominance of authoritative expertise and leadership, liberating the energy of employees, clients and patients. However, by viewing the dialogue as a ‘governmental technology’, we emphasise that it is not simply a tool that can be used by some to liberate or govern others, or to dominate nature. A technology is rather a structuring of actions that implies that also ‘the governors’ inevitably exercise power over themselves. The paper demonstrates how dialogue technology re‐structures organisational domains of speech and hereby contributes to reconfiguring inter‐relations and self‐relations within key institutions of modern society.     

The disability–poverty nexus and the case for a capabilities approach: evidence from Johannesburg,South Africa

Debates about the relationship between poverty and disability continue and are important in that they contribute to policies regarding how best to address the needs of disabled people living in conditions of poverty. Increasingly, researchers have begun to use Sen's capabilities approach in understanding disability. However, the approach has not been adequately applied to understand the nature of the poverty and disability nexus, particularly in developing contexts. This article seeks to address this gap by reporting on evidence from a study conducted in eight of the poorest wards in Johannesburg. Using the capabilities lens we demonstrate the ways in which both poverty and disability compound one another to limit the capabilities of people. The findings point to the need for broad-scale as well as targeted social development policies and programmes to address the consequences of poverty and disability.     

Sexual assault while in the military: violence as a predictor of cardiac risk?

The purpose of this article is to determine whether known cardiac risk factors are more prevalent among women veterans who report having sustained sexual assault while in the military. We surveyed a random sample of 3,632 women veterans using Veterans Administration (VA) ambulatory care nationally. Obesity, smoking, problem alcohol use, sedentary lifestyle, and hysterectomy before age 40 were found to be more common in women reporting a history of sexual assault while in the military than in women without such history. An association between myocardial infarction and prior sexual assault history may be mediated in part by known cardiac risk factors.