Universities in the ‘New South Africa’: Palimpsests of Interpersonal Politics
A comparative literary analysis between Niq Mhlongo’s Dog Eat Dog and J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace
Written by Niq Mhlongo and J.M. Coetzee, respectively, the novels Dog Eat Dog and Disgrace both underscore the birth of what could be conceived as a ‘new South Africa.’ This post-Apartheid ‘new South Africa’ was characterized by heightened awareness and representation for those who had been systemically marginalized. Yet, even with the changes that transpired, vestiges of prior power structures that governed South African society were still very much felt. This included at the instructional level where the next generations of South Africans would establish their roots …show more content…
He claims that, “the term politics connotes power and that the word power has different meanings: it can be economic power, cultural power, social power, and even political power,” (!41). This phrase fundamentally links not only politics to power, but also the social sphere to power dynamics inherent in various types of relationships.
As Mhlongo and Coetzee demonstrate, the person with more authority largely determines the trajectory and proximity of the relationship. In an academic setting, a professor or administrator would clearly be that authority figure. Though both comment on the balance of power in a professor-student dynamic, Coetzee focuses on sexual violence, whereas Mhlongo investigates racial …show more content…
When a black college student nicknamed Dingz approaches his university’s financial aid office during the novel’s exposition, he confronts intransigent secretaries and a system of rules working against him. According to Dingz, who like Lurie serves as his novel’s narrator but as a first-person storyteller, in order for him to have a meeting with Dr. Winterburn, the person in charge of the financial office, he would have to disregard procedures (16). Most notably, he would not “stand in the queue with the other students,” (16-17). The queue, besides working per se as an organizational mechanism, also operated as a deterrent for students waiting in the office but with either other obligations or waning interest. When recognizing that only underprivileged students were in need of a financial aid office, it is clear that the inefficacy of this financial aid office reflects either the little concern the university had in ensuring these students could afford attending school or ignorance of the magnitude of some students’ plight. Alongside a system of inefficient procedures, the presence of rude secretaries who called his behavior “apish” and demanded he “act like a civilized person” underscores not only his powerlessness (13), but also the marginalization he suffered at the hands of the institution. One secretary even attempted to
A comparative literary analysis between Niq Mhlongo’s Dog Eat Dog and J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace
Written by Niq Mhlongo and J.M. Coetzee, respectively, the novels Dog Eat Dog and Disgrace both underscore the birth of what could be conceived as a ‘new South Africa.’ This post-Apartheid ‘new South Africa’ was characterized by heightened awareness and representation for those who had been systemically marginalized. Yet, even with the changes that transpired, vestiges of prior power structures that governed South African society were still very much felt. This included at the instructional level where the next generations of South Africans would establish their roots …show more content…
He claims that, “the term politics connotes power and that the word power has different meanings: it can be economic power, cultural power, social power, and even political power,” (!41). This phrase fundamentally links not only politics to power, but also the social sphere to power dynamics inherent in various types of relationships.
As Mhlongo and Coetzee demonstrate, the person with more authority largely determines the trajectory and proximity of the relationship. In an academic setting, a professor or administrator would clearly be that authority figure. Though both comment on the balance of power in a professor-student dynamic, Coetzee focuses on sexual violence, whereas Mhlongo investigates racial …show more content…
When a black college student nicknamed Dingz approaches his university’s financial aid office during the novel’s exposition, he confronts intransigent secretaries and a system of rules working against him. According to Dingz, who like Lurie serves as his novel’s narrator but as a first-person storyteller, in order for him to have a meeting with Dr. Winterburn, the person in charge of the financial office, he would have to disregard procedures (16). Most notably, he would not “stand in the queue with the other students,” (16-17). The queue, besides working per se as an organizational mechanism, also operated as a deterrent for students waiting in the office but with either other obligations or waning interest. When recognizing that only underprivileged students were in need of a financial aid office, it is clear that the inefficacy of this financial aid office reflects either the little concern the university had in ensuring these students could afford attending school or ignorance of the magnitude of some students’ plight. Alongside a system of inefficient procedures, the presence of rude secretaries who called his behavior “apish” and demanded he “act like a civilized person” underscores not only his powerlessness (13), but also the marginalization he suffered at the hands of the institution. One secretary even attempted to