DOCSLIB.ORG

Discourse, Disease and Displacement: Interrogating Selected South African Textual Constructions of Aids

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

DISCOURSE, DISEASE AND DISPLACEMENT: INTERROGATING SELECTED SOUTH AFRICAN TEXTUAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF AIDS by FELICITY JUNE HORNE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject ENGLISH STUDIES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: Dr G. Graham-Smith CO-SUPERVISOR: Prof. B. Spencer JUNE 2010 2 DEDICATION Dedicated to my late parents Margaret and Billy Kirk for giving me a love of the English language and books. 3 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis, entitled ‘Discourse, Disease and Displacement: Interrogating Selected South African Textual Constructions of AIDS’, is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. Signed: 4 Discourse, Disease and Displacement: Interrogating Selected South African Textual Constructions of AIDS SUMMARY This thesis explores the theme of displacement in AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)-related discourse in post-apartheid South Africa in the period 1994−2010. It contends that the subject of AIDS and the AIDS-ill is seldom confronted directly in the discourse, but displaced in various ways. Using the theory of social constructionism and the discourse theory of the French poststructuralists, particularly Michel Foucault, selected texts, both literary and non-literary, are subjected to discourse analysis, in which the interrelationships between linguistic and visual representations of AIDS, practice, knowledge and power relations are examined. Recognising that all representations are to some extent displaced constructions, the thesis investigates additional reasons for the particular kinds of displacement of AIDS seen in AIDS discourse. These include stigma, fear, defensiveness and the enduring power of pre- existing discourses onto which AIDS is grafted. In narratives by and about the AIDS-ill, personal stories are displaced when mythical structures are used to give meaning to what could otherwise be viewed as futile, random suffering. As a result of the different displacement devices employed in AIDS discourse, new meanings of AIDS are constructed, related to the social, political and cultural context out of which they have arisen. The thesis comprises five chapters, each of which explores a different form of displacement. In Chapter 1, ‘Displacing AIDS through Language’, the focus is on language as a form and means of displacement; Chapter 2, ‘Politicising AIDS’ explores the way that AIDS discourse is projected onto the larger, well-established discourse of politics, and specifically on the discourse of ‘the struggle’ against apartheid; while Chapter 3, ‘Satirising AIDS’, considers the way that satirists displace AIDS through irony, exposing the contradictions and absurdities inherent in the discourse. Chapter 4, ’Gendering AIDS’, shows the extent to which AIDS-related discourse is articulated to gender-related issues such as unequal power relations between men and women and stereotypical views of women’s identities and ‘proper’ roles. The final chapter, Chapter 5, ‘Narrating AIDS’, deals with the discourse of personal illness narratives, showing how individuals displace the experience of illness through narrative, often using the structures of myth to give meaning to their experience. Key terms: HIV; AIDS; South Africa; discourse; discourse analysis; displacement; representations; social constructionism; texts; language; politics; satire; gender; narrative. 5 Discourse, Disease and Displacement: Interrogating Selected South African Textual Constructions of AIDS TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Title Page 1 Dedication 2 Declaration 3 Summary 4 Table of Contents 5 Acknowledgements 6 Key Terms and Acronyms 7 INTRODUCTION 9 CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING AIDS THROUGH LANGUAGE 38 CHAPTER 2: POLITICISING AIDS 82 CHAPTER 3: SATIRISING AIDS 124 CHAPTER 4: GENDERING AIDS 165 CHAPTER 5: NARRATING AIDS 211 CONCLUSION 258 REFERENCES 264 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank: UNISA for the Research and Development leave which gave me the precious gift of time to conduct this research, and for funding my attendance at two overseas conferences: San Antonio (Texas) in 2004 and Belfast (Northern Ireland) in 2007, where I presented papers on aspects of this research; UNISA Library Services and particularly Mr Dawie Malan for invaluable assistance; Prof. Hilton Hubbard for giving me his time and advice in a very helpful conversation when this thesis was just the germ of an idea; Jonathan Shapiro for his kind permission to reproduce selected cartoons in this thesis; my cousin, Dr Heather Crewe-Brown, for the loan of medical journals and assistance with a research query; my colleagues and friends in the Department of English Studies at UNISA for their support and encouragement, and for the faith they have shown in me; my dear friend Norah, for reading the entire manuscript, and her continuing interest and encouragement; my family: my daughter Julia for her technical help and for standing by in the crucial final stages of printing; my daughter Fiona for keeping me informed about lectures and events held at Wits; my son Ross for making my life interesting and keeping complacency at bay; and my husband Tony for his protectiveness, support and belief in my ability to complete this project on time; my supervisor Greg for his comments, final editing and Bibliographical expertise; my co-supervisor Brenda for her responsiveness to my ideas and belief in the value of this research; and for generally enabling this thesis to reach fruition. 7 Key Terms and Acronyms ABC Abstain; Be Faithful; Condomise (Government AIDS-Education Campaign) ANC African National Congress AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ARV Antiretroviral: medication which inhibits the replication of the HI-virus AZT Zidovudine: an antiretroviral treatment AWB Afrikaner Weerstandbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement) CD4 a cell in the immune system which is attacked by the HI-virus CD4 count the number of immune cells in the blood, used as a measure of immune function in the body HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus MSF Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without borders) MTCT Mother-to-child transmission Nevirapine An ARV used to treat HIV-positive pregnant women TAC Treatment Action Campaign TB Tuberculosis UNAIDS Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS WHO World Health Organisation HIV-positive and AIDS To be HIV-positive indicates that a person has been infected with the HI-virus, but is not symptomatic: they will generally appear and feel healthy. AIDS is the disease syndrome that eventually results from this infection. The time delay between HIV-infection and manifestation of the symptoms of AIDS varies, but can take many years. Being HIV-positive and having AIDS are therefore two separate, but related conditions. It is now customary to use the compounds ‘HIV/AIDS’ or ‘HIV and AIDS’ to refer to the condition, but to avoid clumsiness I have chosen to use the term AIDS in this thesis in a generic way, except when referring specifically to the HI-virus, which I term ‘HIV’. Discourse ‘Discourse’ is understood differently according to which field or school uses the term. In the discipline of Linguistics, ‘discourse’ is synonymous with ‘text’, and refers to a stretch of language, spoken or written. The European or ‘Continental’ School, represented chiefly by Michel Foucault, understands ‘discourse’ in a more broad and abstract way which includes knowledge systems, social practices, visual texts and other forms of semiosis, as well as linguistic texts. Discourse is seen as a human construct which brings an object into being, or produces a social reality. Discourse is inaccessible in its entirety, but traces of it are found in the texts that help to constitute it. This school holds that discourses reflect and shape the power structures in society. Discourse constructs identities by defining groups, their interests and their status in society. 8 It labels, classifies and organises social structures. However, such constructs are not fixed or stable. In this thesis, I draw on both these strands of meaning. Many of the texts on which this study is based are linguistic or literary, but some constitute cultural events and abstract phenomena such as bodies of knowledge and schools of thought and opinion. Discourse Analysis Following from the differences in the way the term ‘discourse’ is understood’ (explained above), ‘discourse analysis’ cannot be seen as a single methodology. When used in the field of linguistics, it involves the examination of the language of texts at the micro-level of language use, as well as a consideration of the connections between different texts, and their context. This is known as ‘textually-oriented discourse analysis’ (TODA) (Fairclough 1992: 37). According to the Foucauldian tradition, ‘discourse analysis’ involves the analysis of texts (where ‘texts’ are seen as more than linguistic artefacts) to demonstrate how these contribute to the creation of social realities, including institutions and cultural entities (‘discursive formations’). This involves a consideration of the power relations and discursive inequalities that operate in society. Here again, my study draws on both these traditions, and I employ a synthesis of both approaches in my analyses. Disease ‘Disease’ refers to the way medical discourse views, labels and constructs health problems. ‘Disease’ is distinguished from ‘illness’, which refers to the patient’s experience of ill health. This corresponds with Kleinman’s
Recommended publications
  • Blood on the Page

    Blood on the Page

    Blood on the Page Blood on the Page: Interviews with African Authors writing about HIV/AIDS By Lizzy Attree Blood on the Page: Interviews with African Authors writing about HIV/AIDS, by Lizzy Attree This book first published 2010 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2010 by Lizzy Attree All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-2077-6, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2077-6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Interview with Phaswane Mpe................................................................... 21 Interview with Sindiwe Magona................................................................ 33 Interview with Kgafela oa Magogodi ........................................................ 77 Interview with Alexander Kanengoni........................................................ 99 Interview with Vivienne Kernohan aka Violet Kala................................ 111 Interview with Charles Mungoshi ..........................................................
  • 00A-Ariel 37(4)

    00A-Ariel 37(4)

    New South African Writing: A Special Cluster “Reader, be assured this narrative is no fiction”: The City and Its Discontents in Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow Gugu Hlongwane Th e delicate line between fact and fi ction in Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow is suggested in one of the novel’s epigraphs attributed to W. E. B. Du Bois: “Reader, be assured this narrative is no fi ction.” Th at Mpe evokes a strategy of address employed by African-American scholars and slave-narrative writers such as Harriet Jacobs who spoke directly to their readers insisting on the authenticity of their traumatic experiences in racist America, speaks volumes about South Africa’s fl edgling inde- pendence.1 In his damning indictment of a South Africa that retains the socio-economic markers of apartheid, Mpe focuses on drug- and prosti- tution-ridden areas of post-1994 Johannesburg that are predominantly black. Th ere is, here, neither evidence of Nelson Mandela’s “rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world,” nor of a reconciled society. If relations with whites who occupy positions of power over blacks seem strained, they are even more so amongst urban blacks who form a very fragmented community. In fact, the once politically oppressed South African blacks are now portrayed as the new oppressors of Africans from outside the country, thus making the notion of a new and diff erent South Africa a very premature one. But the novel does attempt to steer away from this toxic mood by adopting a moral didacticism designed to encourage social transformation.
  • University of Cape Town

    University of Cape Town

    The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only.ape Published by the Universityof of CapeC Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive licensey granted to UCT by the author. Universit RE-ASSESSING THE INNER CITY OF JOHANNESBURG: AN EXPLORATION INTO EMERGING AFRICAN URBANISM AND THE DISCOVERY OF BLACK AGENCY IN PHASWANE MPE'S WELCOME TO OUR HILLBROW AND KGEBETLI MOttE'S ROOM 207. Emma Vivian O'Shaughnessy OSHEMMOOI A minor dissertation submitted in partialfullfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Masters of English in Literature and Modernity Under the supervision of DR. HARRY GARUBATown Faculty of the Humanities ape University of Cape Town 2008 of C y COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contributionUniversit to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: ~ G:'Ghu\forms\m-title-page .' UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN GRADUATE SCHOOL IN HUMANITIES DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN THE FACULTV OF HUMANITIES I, Of, Town do hereby declare that I empower the University of Capeape Town to produce for the purpose of research either the whole or any portion of the contents of my dissertation entitled: of C y RE-ASSESSING THE INNER CITY OF JOHANNESBURG: AN EXPLORATION INTO EMERGING AFRICAN URBANISM AND THE DISCOVERY OF BLACK AGENCY IN PHASWANE MPE'S WELCOME TO OUR HILLBROW AND KGEBETLI MOELE'S ROOM 207.

  • Phaswane Mpe's Welcome to Our Hillbrow

    Reappraising the myth of the new South Africa : Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to our Hillbrow Richard Samin To cite this version: Richard Samin. Reappraising the myth of the new South Africa : Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to our Hillbrow. Alizés : Revue angliciste de La Réunion, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines (Université de La Réunion), 2004, Founding Myths of the New South Africa / Les mythes fondateurs de la nouvelle Afrique du Sud, pp.80-94. hal-02344106 HAL Id: hal-02344106 https://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-02344106 Submitted on 3 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Reappraising the myth of the new South Africa: Phaswane Mpe's Welcome to Our Hillbrow Richard SAMIN University of Nancy 2 (France) Introduction The political transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa naturally generated mythic representations to convey the momentousness of the event, using people, concepts and institutions to bolster its impact and, in Allister Sparks's words, to “[swell] the ineffable spirit of national rebirth” (Sparks 1996: 228). The personality of Nelson Mandela largely contributed to the popularity of a new South Africa as a land of reconciliation and renewal along with the symbol of the rainbow, the notion of “ubuntu” and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
  • Where There Are Feet, There Is Hope

    Where There Are Feet, There Is Hope

    CONTENTS 2 Preface: Who is Walking? 5 Conscientious Objections 15 Border Crossings 23 Speeding towards Paris 28 Slow Walk to Freedom 34 Finding the Balance 44 In the Footsteps of Bosman and Dickens, via Hillbrow 51 A Cappella 61 Fast Forward 68 References 76 Afterthoughts 146 Bibliography Preface: Who is Walking? In 1951 Ray Bradbury wrote his short story “The Pedestrian”. The story records the last walk of Leonard Mead, the sole remaining pedestrian in A.D. 2053. Though part of a collection of science fiction stories, it was inspired by Bradbury’s experience when out walking in Los Angeles one night with a friend. A police officer stopped them and asked them what they were doing. “Just walking,” Bradbury replied. “Well, don’t do it again,” said the policeman. Los Angeles, Bradbury’s home, is an extreme case in its autocentricity, but this suspicion of pedestrians is not new. Thomas De Quincey describes – in his account of his 1802 journey from Wales to London – the “criminal fact of having advanced by base pedestrian methods”. The origins of a vagrant being described as a tramp don’t require too much speculation. In South Africa, with its particular history, remnants of the artificial construction of economic access along racial lines are echoed in the current profiles of pedestrians. Walking continues to be considered a practice of the poor and marginalized. And since the majority of the poor remain black, white pedestrians are regarded, if not with suspicion, certainly with curiosity. While walking at all in Los Angeles is considered vaguely pathological, the profiles of people using public transport have come increasingly to resemble those in Johannesburg: almost invariably the working poor, and people of colour.
  • Marginality in Post-Trc Texts: Storytelling and Representational Acts

    Marginality in Post-Trc Texts: Storytelling and Representational Acts

    MARGINALITY IN POST-TRC TEXTS: STORYTELLING AND REPRESENTATIONAL ACTS Ha-Eun Grace Kim Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts at the University of Stellenbosch Supervisor: Professor Meg Samuelson Department of English November 2010 1 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and has not previously in its entirety or in part been submitted at any university for a degree. Signature: Date: 14 February 2011 Copyright ©2010 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved i ABSTRACT As a society that is only in its adolescence as a democracy, South Africa faces massive inequalities, both politically and socially. Within this context, Fanie du Toit of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation urges us to remember that “nation-building in our young democracy requires opportunities for South African voices to be heard, particularly those from the margins of society, so often excluded, ignored or forgotten” (1). This thesis thus focuses on story-telling and representational acts of the marginalized in post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) texts. The term “post-TRC” is an indication of the framework I use to explore the poetics and politics of representation, as well as the past‟s impact on contemporary South Africa. In my overview of the TRC, I focus not on actual testimonies, but on the space provided for the marginalized to speak, as well as methodologies and techniques of representation that stem from the TRC process. Antjie Krog‟s Country of My Skull (1998), which mimics and expands on the TRC‟s work, sets the platform for my discussion as Krog incorporates many of the victims‟ testimonies into her narrative.
  • Reading the City: Analysing Literary Space in Selected Postapartheid Urban Narratives by Niall Mcnulty a Thesis Submitted In

    Reading the City: Analysing Literary Space in Selected Postapartheid Urban Narratives by Niall Mcnulty a Thesis Submitted In

    Reading the City: analysing literary space in selected postapartheid urban narratives by Niall McNulty A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Master ofArts University ofKwaZulu-Natal 2005 Declaration The Registrar (Academic) UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL Dear Sir/ Madam I, Niall McNulty Student No: 204520432 Hereby declare that the dissertation entitled: Reading the City: analysing literary space in selected postapartheid urban narratives Is the result ofmy own investigation and research and that it has not been submitted in part or in full for any other degree or to any other university. Signed by _ Approved by ---------------------- Supervisor Date 11 ABSTRACT Reading the City - analysing literary space in selected postapartheid urban narratives. Space can be read through text. Space is also constructed through text. Literary and critical theory has, however, emphasised time over space. However, space, place and location are crucial determining factors in any literary study. Through reference to theories of construction of place as well as writings on spatial history and the city I will discuss how place is created through text and how the urban environment affects literary production. Using the work of Michel Foucault (1986, 2002) on space and power, Michel de Certeau's approach to cities (2002) and WaIter Benjamin's (2002) theories on space, time and the city, as well as South African theoretical approaches to space and the city, I will attempt an analysis of place in chosen pieces of literature set in the post­ apartheid city by selected writers. I have chosen to focus on the cities of Durban and Johannesburg, and in particular the innercities, because it is here that major transformation in the use and representation ofspace has occurred.