The Politics of Official Discourse in Twentieth-century South Africa

Download or read book The Politics of Official Discourse in Twentieth-century South Africa written by Adam Ashforth and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1990 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study uses a close reading of a series of major commission reports into the "Native Question" to examine the formation and reproduction of state power in South Africa. Analyzing the framework governing authoritative ways of speaking of, for, and to Blacks (once called "Natives"), Ashforth demonstrates how officially-approved forms of knowledge of "Native Life" substitute for political representation by Africans and continually serve to justify repression. He examines the terms used by those who, acting in the name of the state, strive to represent apartheid as necessary, practical, and just. Tracing the history of official discourse on the political status of African labor, the work illuminates the central contradictions in the politics of this repressive and exploitative regime.