Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

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Prlya Nnriswifllrc Sole, Kelwyn & Douglas Reid Skinner 1990. 'Literary Standards in S.A. Poetry: Statemel from aDebate. staffrirle1,9.1:~6-62. ademic Exchanges Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty 1987. Itz Other Worlds: Essays in Culttrral Politics. New Methuen. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty 1988. Can the Subaltern Speak. In Nelson, Cary & La ne <strong>Moran</strong> Grossberg (eds): Marxism and the Interpretation of Czrlhrre. Urbana: University of Press. Spivak. Gayatri Cl~akravorty 1990. The Post-Colo~ial Crdic. Marasym. Sara (ed). New e state of tertiary education in South Africa has been described in the fol Routledge. s: Swingewood, Alan 1986. Sociological Poetics and Aesthetic Theoq~. New York: St Mar Press. Finally, higher education is beset by legitimacy problems. In general tlie Tiffin, Chris & Alan Lawson (eds) 1994. De-scribing Etnpire. London: Routledge. historically white institutions (and a number of black institutions) possess Trump, Martin. ed 1990. Rendering Things Ksible. Jol~annesburg: Ravan. little moral and political legitimacy. Contrastingly, the majority of black Ullyatt, AG 1977. Dilenzttzas in Black Poetqt Contrast 44:s 1-62. institutions (and a few white institutions) have little or 110 academic Vaughan. Michael 1984. A Critique of Dominant Ideas in Departments of English in the Engl credibility. Overall, the 'system' is seen as one that perpetuates inequality. is Speaking Universities of South Africa. CriticalArts 3,2:35-49. hugely wasteful, and fails to serve the human-resource needs of the country. Van Wyk, Chris 1978. We can't meet here, Brother: For Thami Mnyele. Staffrider 1,2:34. Higher education in South Africa fairly accurately reflects the society within Van Wyk, Christopher 1979. It is Tiine to GoHo~ze. Johannesburg: Ad Donker. which it is located(Mo.ja& Cloete 1995:50). WamogaleMartins, Dikobe 1981. Art isnotNeutra1: Whom does it Serve? Staffrider4.2:30- Wamogale. dikobe 1984. baptism offire. Johannesburg: Ad Donker. h this legacy, the Goveimme~it White Paper 'Programme for the Wamogale, dikobe 1992.prisonpoen2s. Johannesburg: Ad Donker. of Higher Education' (July 1997) declares that the purpose of higher Watson. Stephen 1990. SelectedEssays: 1980-1990. Cape Town: Carrefour Press. uth Africa is to contribute to the socialisation of enlightened, Watts. Jane 1989. Black Writers.fiorn Soutlt Afiica: Towards a Discourse ofliberntion. Lon Macmillan constructive citizens possessed of reflective capacity and a willingness Welz. Dieter (ed) 1987. Writing Against Apartheid. Grahamstown: National English Lite renew prevailing ideas. The authors of the White Paper propose Museum. us standards of academic quality and these pedagogical, political and Williams, Raymond 1958. Ciiltz~re andsociety 1780-1950. New York: Harper & Row. to be achieved in a context where the funding differences between Williams, Raymond 1983. Keywords. New York: Oxford. ally white and black universities rcinain, and fee-free higher education for s is not an affordable or sustaiilable option. In short, South African univel-sities upon to become more representative in a country embracing political along the lines of liberal capitalist detnocracy with its mixture of litical freedom and persisting socio-econornic inequality'. thors ofthe White Paper view the relationship between institutions and of establishing ail appropriate balance between institutional autonoiny 'The econorny in the South Africa continues to largely represent what it was in 1993. except t there is some growth (jobless) and a Sew black faces and companies that participate in it. therwise it is business as usual' (Sam Shilowa, ~Merctrq~ Bzrsiness Report. November 28. 1996). e run LIP to the 1999 elections, COSATU has been reminding tlie ANC that the will of the le. expressed in the 1994 election. did not sanction tire market-driven policy of GEAR. 'Tony , neo-Thatcherite leader of the De~iiocratic Party, has responded stoically to sucli 'deliberate SATU is 'arguing against the grain of history' (New Nation. May 30. 1997). President ndela and Deputy President Mbeki reiterated the sanic to the Soutll African Con~munist ty's 10th congress (see So~~etclrt July 2. 1998). Jeremy Cronin responded to the redistributionugh-growth or growtll-througI~-redistl.ib~~tio~~ non-debate in iM~lil & GIIUYL~~UII. July 10- 16.
and public accountability. Althouglt academic freedom is affirmed as a fundamen vard. Appiah sees the university as an agent of reform that must preserve its relative right protected by the Constitution, institutional autonomy is delimited by the ne onomy vis-a-vis the state. Although the power of academics is limited, they can and redress the injustices of the past and meet the demands of globalisation. The stre uld contribute to the transformation of society by resisting the regulation of the material factors that co~istrict academic freedom echoes the 1990 'The Kamp niversity life according to the supply and demand of the marketplace and according to Decial-alion on Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility': purely technical ideal of competence. The correct recipe for South Africa is to be i~iielicctual freedom in Afi-ica is currently threatened to an unprecedented degl-cc. The historically produced and persistent economic. political and social crisis of our continent, continues to undermine devclopnient in all sphercs. The impositio~i of unpopular structural ad,justment progralnmes has modern liberalism .... as the context for our reflections on tlic future of the university c~~rriculum (Appiah 1997:79). bccu accompanied by increased political repression. widespread poverty and i~u~nerise human suffering (in Daniel eta1 1995:234S). Is living in globally illiberal times can aid transformation by reiterating central The homeopathic capacity of the market to open up opportunity and the necessity affirmative action are balanced by awareness of the pitfalls of stnictural adjustmet principally the (supposedly short-term) contribution of moiletarist policies to t emisseration of large sectors of the population. Although education is often depen on a system that takes care to ensure that the great majority of those with equal ri shall get only what is essential for bare existence, higher education has an unma obligation to support a democratic ethos and fragile civil society. The earlier ' Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of institutions ofHigher Educati (1 988) also addressed itselfto econornic factors, and stressed that: We believe in private propcrty and we believe in civic equality: but wc also support progressive taxation (Appiah 1997:79). piah (1997:80,97) traces the language of liberalism to Kant, noting that 'individual onomy is at the heart of political morality', and argues for the role of academics in e recreation of South African society'. The new South Africa, as the home of radical eralism, and teachers of English literature in particular, can go beyond the utilitarian atives of the state and contribute to the autonomy of citizens. The pedagogical bution to the formation of free subjectivities is envisaged in moral tenns, and the of literature call bring about the realisation of liberal ideals, primarily democratic Academic freedom is an essential precondition for those education, research, lity, by transcending divisive ideologies: adn~inisrrative and scrvice functions with which universities and other institutions of higher educatiol-l are entrusted (in Daniel et nl 1995:2?Ot). A notable continuity between the Lima and Kampala declarations is the declaratio the right to education rather than the de faclo guarantee of free tertiary education. South African White Pa~er reflects this thinking and, given the democratic advanc The study of literature? done well. teaches one to engage critically with ~vhat one reads: to winkle out sub-texts and ~resuu~ositions, to reflect on cultural and historical contexts. to polider lnorai and pblitical claims. These are skills beyond grammar: and they are skills that everyone needs if they are to think through carefully the questions that face every citizen (Appiah 1997:96). and the existence of a state that can now claim legitimacy, curtails the Kam Declaration's commitment to institutional autonomy in the face of potent authoritarian state power. The foregrounding of the social function of South African univers provides an opportunity to reflect on their democratising role and the contribu academic autonomy to general freedom. In this essay I will indicate some challenges facing academics engaged in institutional democratisation and so transformation. Four areas will be addressed: I) the co~lnection between academics a democracy; 2) attempts to claim legitimacy in South African English literaly studies; South African feminislns; and4Yfeminist literary studies. an answer to the interrogative acquiescence that criticism of the system invariably eets witll-'Yes, it's very unsatisfactory, we all know that; but what would you put in lace?'-Appiali argues that the South African university can contribute to from the external authority of a corrupt society, and literature is part of this , educative, political experience. What are the shortcomings of Appiah's ception of the liberating role of academics and the university? Firstly, Appiah is repeating key elements of English literary studies; his eption of the anti-ideological role of literature is strikingly close to that 0fF.R. and . Leavis-minus F.R. Leavis's iconoclasm and acute sense of the vested interests ipulating institutional power at universities. Significantly Appiah elides a central oblem: in South Africa the realisation of liberal ideals hinges on the viability of' academics and democracy ?'he tendentious debate on the higher education sector in South Africa has elicit contribution fi-om Kwame Anthony Appiah, Chair of Committee of Afi-ican Studi erlaying divisive and tinjust property relations with civic values of respect, equality d autonomy. Today the constitutional declaration of equality has to contend with trenched socio-economic inequality, and the promotion of fonnal democratic values exists with the perpetuation of oppressive and unequal social relations. Here the
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