The Politics of Self and Other in Literary and Cultural Studies: The South African Dilemma

Abstract

It is argued that, in post-apartheid South Africa, the entrenched politics of self and other regulate not only the institutional possibilities of adapting to the dramatic socio-political transformation but also the social and cultural construction of otherness. Some of these dilemmas are traced to the relationship between construction, recon­struction and deconstruction within cultural and literary studies. Some comparative investigations that indicated the need for transformation are discussed and related to the new government's Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) as a "master narrative" and to research as "storytelling". It is suggested that the new dilemmas of being othered and the lack of institutional transformation in tertiary education may be countered by new methodologies for comparative and cultural studies.

Opsomming
Daar word geredeneer dat die ingeburgerde politiek van self en ander in 'n post­apartheid Suid-Afrika sowel die institusionele moontlikhede van aanpassing by die dramatiese sosiaal-politieke omwenteling as die sosiale en kulturele konstruksie van andersheid bepaal. Sommige van hierdie dilemmas word herlei na die verhouding tussen konstruksie, herkonstruksie en dekonstruksie in die kultuur- en literatuurstudie. Enkele vergelykende ondersoeke wat die noodsaaklikheid van verandering aangedui het, word in verband gebring met die regering se Heropbou- en Ontwikkelingsprogram (HOP) en met navorsing as "storie vertel". Daar word aan die hand gedoen dat die nuwe dilem­mas van "ge-ander" word en die gebrek aan institusionele verandering in tersiêre inrigtings die hoof gebied kan word met die nuwe metodologieë van vergelykende en kultuurstudies.