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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The politics of dwelling: being white/being South African
Authors:Griffiths, Dominic
Prozesky, Maria L.C.ISNI
Year:2009
Periodical:Africa Today (ISSN 1527-1978)
Volume:56
Issue:4
Pages:22-41
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Whites
self-concept
group identity
apartheid
emigration
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v056/56.4.griffiths.pdf
Abstract:This paper explores the incongruence between white South Africans' pre- and postapartheid experiences of home and identity, of which a wave of emigration is arguably a result. Among the commonest reasons given for emigrating from South Africa are crime and affirmative action; however, this paper uncovers a deeper motivation for emigration using Charles Taylor's concept of the social imaginary and Martin Heidegger's concept of dwelling. The skewed social imaginary maintained by apartheid created an unrealistic sense of dwelling for most white South Africans. After 1994, the conditions supporting this imaginary disintegrated. Many white South Africans feel so strong a sense of unease they can no longer dwell in the country. Many try to escape through emigration, but carry unresolved questions of identity and belonging to their new 'homes'. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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