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Writing the land : representations of 'the land' and nationalism in Anglophone literature from South Africa and Zimbabwe 1969-2002
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Graham, James (James John George) (2006) Writing the land : representations of 'the land' and nationalism in Anglophone literature from South Africa and Zimbabwe 1969-2002. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2172340~S1
Abstract
As a material possessIOn and as an imagined space of belonging. land was the
principle draw for European settlers in southern Africa from the 17th century onwards.
The legacy of racial dispossession and conflict that ensued still resonates in the 21 st
century, as post-colonial nation-states face up to the daunting task of redistributing
land between newly enfranchised peasants, commercial farmers and displaced
communities. Representations of 'the land' in literature signal not only geographical
entities but also a variety of social and cultural landscapes. In literature written in
English from southern Africa the semantic terrain of 'the land' is thus constituted by a
diverse range of experiences, encounters and ideologies, testifying to the manifold
contradictions that settler colonialism produced.
The primary concern of this thesis is to examine how writers from Zimbabwe
and South Africa have engaged with these experiences and articulated them as
historical 'structures of feeling' (Williams 1978) in their work. In particular, it
explores the relationship between representations of 'the land' and the articulation of
nationhood and nationalism in selected novels. It argues that certain structures of
feeling rival official nationalist discourses in varied and subversive ways. As a
comparative project, it focuses on literature produced at important historical moments
both before and after the transition to majority rule in South Africa (1994) and
Zimbabwe (1980). A transition between two major structures of feeling is identified
within this comparative horizon. This thesis explores how representations of 'the
land' both propagate and question an ideology of (revolutionary) repossession in the
1970s, but also of (reconciliatory) reform in the 1990s.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | South African literature (English) -- 20th century -- History and criticism, Zimbabwean literature (English) -- 20th century -- History and criticism, Nationalism and literature -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century, Nationalism and literature -- Zimbabwe -- History -- 20th century | ||||
Official Date: | September 2006 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Lazarus, Neil, 1953- ; Parry, Benita | ||||
Extent: | vi, 245 leaves. | ||||
Language: | eng | ||||
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