Representations of Memory in Contemporary South African Literature by Young, Black, Female Authors

Abstract

[eng] This thesis explores the representation and construction of collective memory published in South Africa since 2007 by young, black, female authors. Collective memory is what is remembered about the past in order to create a desired national or other social identity. The purpose of this thesis is to explore different facets of South African identity and the way in which collective memory both constitutes group identity and is, in turn, constituted by such groups. This thesis analyses the role of gender, generation and race in the development of collective memory. The research methods included analysis of texts, specifically literature through the theoretical lens of memory studies specifically the work of Aleida and Jan Assmann. Postcolonial theory and more recent discourses of decolonisation have also played an important role in the analysis of these contemporary texts. Primary sources include interviews with the authors of the key texts, conducted by me and others, as well as the texts themselves. The thesis concludes that contemporary South African authors are moving away from earlier postapartheid literature, with its preoccupation on apartheid, to focus on the issues facing South Africa today. Contemporary literature represents the survival of precolonial memory, and its recovery after the fall of apartheid. It explores the experience of black people in a country and a world which still favours whiteness over blackness. Black people remain economically disadvantaged, which leads to a lack of access, for the vast majority to political or social power. It illustrates the structural racism resulting in economic and social inequality as well as the potential of decolonisation to complement South Africa’s political independence. These authors create a sense of what it means to be a black woman in South Africa. Feminist rewritings and an insistence of women’s importance as creators and distributors of collective memory are a feature of all these texts. Finally, the role of generation in the construction of collective memory is demonstrated in these texts by their avoidance of the apartheid as a topic and focus on a variety of contemporary issues. The expectation and disappointment which characterises this generation pervades the literature they have produced. Contemporary authors attempt to shape the vision of South African memory in order to bring about social change. They view their work as a contribution to collective memory. They attempt to amplify what South African identity and memory means, and fill in the gaps left by national metanarratives which continue to dominate the postcolonial nation. These authors are multiply disadvantaged by race, gender and age. They view part of their role as readdressing the lack of literature published by people like them, and the lack of representation they find within canonised literature. This thesis explores the varied and innovate ways in which they are contributing to literature and to collective memory.

[spa] Esta tesis explora la representación y construcción de la memoria colectiva de Sudáfrica a través de lo publicado desde 2007 por autoras jóvenes negras. La memoria colectiva nutre las distintas identidades grupales presentes en Sudáfrica, las cuales a su vez crean las narrativas retroalimentan la memoria colectiva. La tesis concluye que las autoras sudafricanas contemporáneas, a diferencia de lo que ocurría con la literatura inmediatamente posterior al apartheid, están sustituyendo la preocupación por el apartheid para centrarse en los problemas que enfrenta Sudáfrica en la actualidad. La literatura contemporánea explora la supervivencia de la memoria precolonial y su recuperación tras la caída del régimen del apartheid, abordando también el racismo estructural que resulta en la desigualdad económica y social de Sudáfrica. Las reescrituras de mitos e historias en clave feministas, así como la insistencia en el rol de las mujeres como creadoras y distribuidoras de memoria colectiva son un elemento común de los textos analizados. Las autoras contemporáneas intentan dar forma a su visión de la memoria sudafricana para impulsar el cambio social y económico. Su trabajo es una contribución a la memoria colectiva de Sudáfrica, llenando los vacíos dejados por las metanarrativas nacionales que continúan dominando esta nación poscolonial.