Equivocations of power: an investigation of the post-colonial crisis of identity in four winners of the CNA literary award

[摘要] This thesis aims to investigate the post-colonial crisis of identity in four winners ofthe CNA Literary Award. Identity is explored from a deconstructive perspective byexamining the master/slave, white/black, male/female and parent/child dialecticsso as to demonstrate the variability and indeterminacy of the sign and thesubsequent destabilizing of hierarchical discourses of power. The examining ofidentity from a deconstructive angle not only lays bare the instability underpinningpositions of power, but also exposes the problematic of identity as a shifting,unfixed and decentred phenomenon. The research is focused on probing thedialectic between subjugator and subjugated, the empowered and thedisempowered in order to develop an understanding of how imbalances of powerinform and impact on the formulation of identity within the post-colonial context. Itquestions the decidability implied by binary structuring and challenges preceptsof absolutism and totalization imbedded in the discourses pertaining to powerrelations and power differentials.

[发布机构] University of the Free State