The DNA of the Democratic South Africa
Ancestral Maps, Family Trees, Genealogical Fictions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4604457 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kerry Bystrom (University of Connecticut, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 223-235 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070802685668 |
| OpenAlex | W2069773730 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
This article focuses on the discourse of popular science – and particularly that of genetics and evolution – as it has been used in the democratic South Africa to develop and articulate a shared ‘African’ national identity. Analysing speeches by politicians and academics, as well as sites of popular culture ranging from television shows to the Maropeng centre at the Cradle of Humankind, I explore how a new ‘evolutionary family narrative’, in which all humans are understood to have an African ‘mother’, has been harnessed in an attempt to guarantee ‘belonging’ to citizens of all races. I further show how this specific genetic family narrative is one of a larger network of ‘genealogical fictions’ that have been fabricated and produced in part for the purpose of redefining the national community in the post-apartheid era, and which tend to reiterate the basic tropes of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century nation-building projects in the new millennium. Finally, I analyse two novels – Zoë Wicomb's David's Story and Nadine Gordimer's Get a Life – that debate the continuing usefulness of such genealogical fictions in the work of building a contemporary democratic nationalism
Aesthetics · Art · Democracy · Family tree · Genealogy · Literature · Narrative · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Biotechnology and Related Fields · Gender Studies · History · Law · Race, Genetics, and Society · South African History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,43 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2021 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |