SECRECY, PUBLICITY AND POWER: STRATEGIES OF OCCULT PRACTITIONERS AND UNIVERSITY MANAGERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/710Abstract
Various mystical, magical beliefs and practices, including some of those in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, are bound up with secrecy and mystery, exerting part of their influence by this means. This has certain metaphorical parallels with the way in which various managerial systems in market-driven, corporatised universities in South Africa and elsewhere tend to employ obscurity and mystification as a form of power and control. However, there are possible ways of transcending confinement within the verbal-ideological control mechanisms of corporate managerialism, with their shadowy, opaque qualities that sow confusion and bring about disempowerment, and the study of folklore can play a significant role in this regard.Â
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Accepted 2015-12-07
Published 2016-04-18
