Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

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