Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
Shane Moran - Alternation Journal
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and public accountability. Althouglt academic freedom is affirmed as a fundamen<br />
vard. Appiah sees the university as an agent of reform that must preserve its relative<br />
right protected by the Constitution, institutional autonomy is delimited by the ne<br />
onomy vis-a-vis the state. Although the power of academics is limited, they can and<br />
redress the injustices of the past and meet the demands of globalisation. The stre<br />
uld contribute to the transformation of society by resisting the regulation of<br />
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<br />
Decial-alion on Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility':<br />
purely technical ideal of competence. The correct recipe for South Africa is to be<br />
i~iielicctual freedom in Afi-ica is currently threatened to an unprecedented<br />
degl-cc. The historically produced and persistent economic. political and<br />
social crisis of our continent, continues to undermine devclopnient in all<br />
sphercs. The impositio~i of unpopular structural ad,justment progralnmes has<br />
modern liberalism .... as the context for our reflections on tlic future of the<br />
university c~~rriculum (Appiah 1997:79).<br />
bccu accompanied by increased political repression. widespread poverty and<br />
i~u~nerise human suffering (in Daniel eta1 1995:234S).<br />
Is living in globally illiberal times can aid transformation by reiterating central<br />
The homeopathic capacity of the market to open up opportunity and the necessity<br />
affirmative action are balanced by awareness of the pitfalls of stnictural adjustmet<br />
principally the (supposedly short-term) contribution of moiletarist policies to t<br />
emisseration of large sectors of the population. Although education is often depen<br />
on a system that takes care to ensure that the great majority of those with equal ri<br />
shall get only what is essential for bare existence, higher education has an unma<br />
obligation to support a democratic ethos and fragile civil society. The earlier '<br />
Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of institutions ofHigher Educati<br />
(1 988) also addressed itselfto econornic factors, and stressed that:<br />
We believe in private propcrty and we believe in civic equality: but wc also<br />
support progressive taxation (Appiah 1997:79).<br />
piah (1997:80,97) traces the language of liberalism to Kant, noting that 'individual<br />
onomy is at the heart of political morality', and argues for the role of academics in<br />
e recreation of South African society'. The new South Africa, as the home of radical<br />
eralism, and teachers of English literature in particular, can go beyond the utilitarian<br />
atives of the state and contribute to the autonomy of citizens. The pedagogical<br />
bution to the formation of free subjectivities is envisaged in moral tenns, and the<br />
of literature call bring about the realisation of liberal ideals, primarily democratic<br />
Academic freedom is an essential precondition for those education, research, lity, by transcending divisive ideologies:<br />
adn~inisrrative and scrvice functions with which universities and other<br />
institutions of higher educatiol-l are entrusted (in Daniel et nl 1995:2?Ot).<br />
A notable continuity between the Lima and Kampala declarations is the declaratio<br />
the right to education rather than the de faclo guarantee of free tertiary education.<br />
South African White Pa~er reflects this thinking and, given the democratic advanc<br />
The study of literature? done well. teaches one to engage critically with ~vhat<br />
one reads: to winkle out sub-texts and ~resuu~ositions, to reflect on cultural<br />
and historical contexts. to polider lnorai and pblitical claims. These are skills<br />
beyond grammar: and they are skills that everyone needs if they are to think<br />
through carefully the questions that face every citizen (Appiah 1997:96).<br />
and the existence of a state that can now claim legitimacy, curtails the Kam<br />
Declaration's commitment to institutional autonomy in the face of potent<br />
authoritarian state power.<br />
The foregrounding of the social function of South African univers<br />
provides an opportunity to reflect on their democratising role and the contribu<br />
academic autonomy to general freedom. In this essay I will indicate some<br />
challenges facing academics engaged in institutional democratisation and so<br />
transformation. Four areas will be addressed: I) the co~lnection between academics a<br />
democracy; 2) attempts to claim legitimacy in South African English literaly studies;<br />
South African feminislns; and4Yfeminist literary studies.<br />
an answer to the interrogative acquiescence that criticism of the system invariably<br />
eets witll-'Yes, it's very unsatisfactory, we all know that; but what would you put in<br />
lace?'-Appiali argues that the South African university can contribute to<br />
from the external authority of a corrupt society, and literature is part of this<br />
, educative, political experience. What are the shortcomings of Appiah's<br />
ception of the liberating role of academics and the university?<br />
Firstly, Appiah is repeating key elements of English literary studies; his<br />
eption of the anti-ideological role of literature is strikingly close to that 0fF.R. and<br />
. Leavis-minus F.R. Leavis's iconoclasm and acute sense of the vested interests<br />
ipulating institutional power at universities. Significantly Appiah elides a central<br />
oblem: in South Africa the realisation of liberal ideals hinges on the viability of'<br />
academics and democracy<br />
?'he tendentious debate on the higher education sector in South Africa has elicit<br />
contribution fi-om Kwame Anthony Appiah, Chair of Committee of Afi-ican Studi<br />
erlaying divisive and tinjust property relations with civic values of respect, equality<br />
d autonomy. Today the constitutional declaration of equality has to contend with<br />
trenched socio-economic inequality, and the promotion of fonnal democratic values<br />
exists with the perpetuation of oppressive and unequal social relations. Here the