The Narrative of the ‘new' South Africa: Bearing Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on its 20th Anniversary

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dc.contributor.authorScott, Heather Ashley
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-29T12:28:46Z
dc.date.available2021-01-29T12:28:46Z
dc.date.updated2021-01-29T12:28:13Z
dc.description.abstract2015 was a telling year in the ‘new' South Africa's short history. Twenty-one years of democracy, 60 years of the Freedom Charter and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) saw its 20th anniversary. This has gone relatively unacknowledged, eclipsed by socio-political and economic turmoil. A struggling economy, rising inequality, unemployment, ‘xenophobia' and democratic, constitutional and parliamentary crises appear to be the way this year will be remembered. South Africa has reached a critical point as its democracy enters adulthood. Twenty years ago the TRC was also such a watershed moment in South African society and politics. I return to this national work of ‘truth', reconciliation, nation-building, healing and remembrance to see what this radical (and radically important) process can teach us about the more ethical (re-)definition of our ‘new' nation(alism). Particularly I address the ‘official' rhetoric and narrative of the ‘new' South Africa it birthed 20 years ago - South Africa as reconciled rainbow nation and progressive constitutional democracy united in the spirit of ‘traditional' pan-African ubuntu - and its (in)appropriability on the lived level (Sauter, 2015:190). I use Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele's quasi-literary, quasi-academic engagement with the TRC and the ‘unintelligible' truth of an-‘other' in There was this Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009) to do so.
dc.identifier.ris TY - Master Thesis AU - Scott, Heather Ashley AB - 2015 was a telling year in the ‘new' South Africa's short history. Twenty-one years of democracy, 60 years of the Freedom Charter and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) saw its 20th anniversary. This has gone relatively unacknowledged, eclipsed by socio-political and economic turmoil. A struggling economy, rising inequality, unemployment, ‘xenophobia' and democratic, constitutional and parliamentary crises appear to be the way this year will be remembered. South Africa has reached a critical point as its democracy enters adulthood. Twenty years ago the TRC was also such a watershed moment in South African society and politics. I return to this national work of ‘truth', reconciliation, nation-building, healing and remembrance to see what this radical (and radically important) process can teach us about the more ethical (re-)definition of our ‘new' nation(alism). Particularly I address the ‘official' rhetoric and narrative of the ‘new' South Africa it birthed 20 years ago - South Africa as reconciled rainbow nation and progressive constitutional democracy united in the spirit of ‘traditional' pan-African ubuntu - and its (in)appropriability on the lived level (Sauter, 2015:190). I use Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele's quasi-literary, quasi-academic engagement with the TRC and the ‘unintelligible' truth of an-‘other' in There was this Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009) to do so. DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - African Studies LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - T1 - The Narrative of the ‘new' South Africa: Bearing Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on its 20th Anniversary TI - The Narrative of the ‘new' South Africa: Bearing Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on its 20th Anniversary UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32729 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/32729
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentAfrican Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.subjectAfrican Studies
dc.titleThe Narrative of the ‘new' South Africa: Bearing Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on its 20th Anniversary
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMPhil
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