Displacement in the Literary Texts of Black Afrikaans Writers in South Africa

Abstract

This article focuses on the representation of physical displacements in literary texts by black Afrikaans writers. These representations can be seen against the background of a complex history of colonisation and decolonisation in South Africa. On the one hand, the relatively young Afrikaans literature tells of the way in which a sense of place was established by European settlers and their descendants by representing the transformation of space into place through various processes of naming, mapping, description, story-telling and mythologising; on the other hand Afrikaans literature also represents the various displacements suffered by the colonised peoples of South Africa. Attention is first given to the figurative displacement of the black Afrikaans writer with regards to the canon of Afrikaans literature and the possibility of reading the work of black Afrikaans writers as a “minor literature” (as defined by Deleuze and Guattari). The article then proceeds to discuss the physical displacements represented in literary texts by black Afrikaans writers in the following categories: the displacements brought about by the appropriation of land by European colonisers, the displacements resulting from the forced removals under certain apartheid laws as well as the displacement caused by imprisonment or exile. Finally, attention is also given to a text that attempts to reverse earlier displacements.

Opsomming

Hierdie artikel doen ondersoek na die representasie van verplasing vanaf ’n bepaalde plek in die literêre tekste van swart Afrikaanse skrywers. Die ondersoek vind plaas teen die agtergrond van die sterk bemoeienis met plek in die Afrikaanse letterkunde waarin daar enersyds sprake is van die wyse waarop ruimte omskep is in plek deur Europese setlaars en hulle afstammelinge deur prosesse soos benoeming, kartering, beskrywing, vertelling en mitologisering en andersyds ook van die wyse waarop die gekoloniseerde mense van Suid-Afrika verplaas is van bepaalde plekke. Nadat daar aandag gegee is aan die figuurlike verplasing van die swart Afrikaanse skrywer binne die konteks van die kanon van die Afrikaanse letterkunde en die moontlikheid om die werk van swart Afrikaanse skrywers te lees in terme van die begrip “klein letterkunde” (soos omskryf deur Deleuze en Guattari) word die representasie van verplasing in die werk van swart Afrikaanse skrywers in die volgende kategorieë bespreek: verplasing deur die koloniale appropriasie van grond, die verplasing deur gedwonge verhuisings gedurende die apartheidsjare, die verplasing deur gevangenskap en die verplasing deur ballingskap. Ten slotte word daar ook aandag gegee aan ’n teks waarin daar gepoog word om die eertydse verplasings om te keer.