The making of the Mandela myth

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Nelson Mandela stands as one of the most powerful symbolic figures of the past century, embodying notions of freedom, peace, racial reconciliation and the struggle against tyranny. As largely uncontested as this image is today, its constitution has by no means been uncomplicated. Before he was incarcerated on Robben Island, Mandela was viewed as a young, militant firebrand within the ANC-led liberation movement, an image which was counterpointed by his patrician lineage, education and professional success as a lawyer. His highly visible embodiment of this complex identity served to elevate him not only to the top of the black Johannesburg social hierarchy, but to the forefront of the liberation struggle. The state-sanctioned view of him was, by contrast, as a terrorist, agitating for the destruction of the state. During his imprisonment on Robben Island, the government sought to entirely expunge his words and likeness from active circulation, which ironically facilitated the process of myth-making around him. After his release from prison, Mandela largely succeeded in claiming agency over his image – the one which still persists in the international public imagination – facilitated in large part by the publication of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and the numerous acts of reconciliation and diplomacy which he undertook. In writing this thesis, I have sought to trace the process of mythmaking around Mandela, questioning how the disparate, and often contradictory, ideas around him have been narrativised and incorporated into the mythical figure we are familiar with today, both by him and others. I have divided the narrative construction of Mandela into two broad epochs: the ―dominant‖ narrative, which developed from his entry into politics until his release from prison in 1990, and the ―official‖ narrative, which developed from his release from prison. I seek to illustrate the processes by which the dominant narrative was constituted, and how this narrative construct gained increasing ideological currency during his imprisonment on Robben Island. I then seek to illustrate how the numerous, often-conflicting elements of the dominant narrative were ultimately consolidated and largely supplanted by the official narrative, as represented by Long Walk to Freedom, focusing specifically on its theme of progress and maturation. In my conclusion, I argue that many of the ideological elements which fed the mythical construction of Mandela in the dominant narrative, as a youthful, masculinised liberation fighter, persist today. The promise which the Mandela of the official narrative embodied, of South Africa as a ‗miracle' nation destined to move beyond the vestiges of Apartheid – including racism, unemployment and poverty – has largely failed to materialise, allowing these elements to gain an ideological currency once more.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University