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Transformational policies in South Africa
A more detailed account of the related notions of identity, place and displacement in South African political events is provided in Chapter Three of this study. A concise introduction to recent South African history is provided below in order to present a context for the GNU‘s mandate to implement transformation in all the sectors of government in a new democratic political dispensation. The implication of national transformational policies for VUT informs this study and the relevant policies are therefore mentioned in this chapter. The implementation of national transformational policies has also been a source of frustration and anxiety for the citizens of South Africa and for the artists at VUT. For the purposes of this study, the influence of the Employment Equity Bill (1997)12 and the Affirmative Action Paper (1998)13 on the institutional policy of VUT is included here. The significance of including such detail on national and institutional policies lies in their role in dismantling state ideological structures. In this location, the former VTT is identified as a place that upheld discriminatory administrative and academic practices. Furthermore, the assumption is that VTT was an active ideological and geographical site that influenced academics in their curriculum development and creative production. In terms of student and staff access, VTT provided a limited and non-representative microcosm of South Africa. Therefore, the transformation process from national to tertiary level is unpacked to expose the processes involved to support the assumption that tertiary institutions are important sites for ideological transformation (Harris 2001:43-46).
Ethnicity
The history and position of South African ethnicities is defined in Chapter Three. A brief explanation is provided regarding the formation of the Bastaards or the coloured groupings, the labour and economic diasporic arrival of the Indians and indigenous people and Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho people, who are categorised under the broad banner of being black. Apartheid as an ideology was premised on the principle of divide and rule. Therefore, the Land Acts and the Group Areas Acts, discussed in the next chapter, reinforced the ethnic and political divide. This section draws attention to the nuanced readings of ethnicities within the white culture of South Africa, which was also essentialised to include all people of European origin that ignored differences in terms of language, culture and origin. The English origin of the word ‗ethnic‘ signified ‗heathen‘ nations and the contemporary usage of the construct of ethnic implies a relationship between nation and ethnicity (Ashcroft et al 2000:81-82). The South African context displays characteristics of both the original understanding of ethnicities and the contemporary meaning and usage of the construct of ethnicities. The black people of South Africa were disenfranchised, colonised and displaced to perpetuate the imperial discourse of racial classification and thereafter they were relegated to the ethnic category of black people. A similar process of imperialism and colonisation is evident in Indian history. Therefore, the labour and economic diaspora of Indians to South Africa between 1860 and 1911 is an example of the wilful domination of the other into an already stratified society along the lines of race. A relationship between nations or the motherland is evident in the Indian as well as the European diaspora.
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and aims of the study
1.2 Literature review
1.3 The theoretical approach of the study
1.4 Research methodology
1.5 Overview of chapters
CHAPTER TWO: IDENTITY, PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT: A POLITICAL THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Introduction to cultural studies
2.3 South African cultural studies
2.4 Identity: gender, race and ethnicity
2.5 South African identity
CHAPTER THREE: SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY: IDENTITY, PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT
3.1 Transformation in post-apartheid South Africa
3.2 The political context of post-apartheid South Africa
CHAPTER FOUR: IDENTITY, PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT IN THE VISUAL ART OF FEMALE ARTISTS AT VUT
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Brief overview of South African art
4.3 Analyses of the representation of identity, place and displacement in the selected artworks
4.4 Conclusion
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary of the chapters
5.2 Contributions and limitations of the study
5.3 Suggestions for future research
