Queerly uncanny Afrikaner nationalism(s) : an affectively attuned queer reading of selected twentieth-century uncanny Afrikaans short stories

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dc.contributor.advisorViljoen, Louiseen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorDu Toit, Catherine (Professor)en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCroeser, Chantelle Claireen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2023-11-28T07:24:53Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-08T17:14:13Z
dc.date.available2023-11-28T07:24:53Z
dc.date.available2024-01-08T17:14:13Z
dc.date.issued2023-12
dc.descriptionThesis (DPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2023.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT : In this dissertation I apply an affectively attuned queer comparative and close reading to selected uncanny Afrikaans tales that emerged as some of the first of their kind in written Afrikaans. The characters in the stories, the manner in which the stories are told, and the spaces in which they are set create an uncanny affective environment and can be productively (re)read at a queer angle. To explore these elements, I sketch the historical landscape and socio-political context in which these stories emerge. I situate my exploration within a bricolage of methodology and/as theory framework which consists of queer, affect, and Gordonian spectrality theory. For my consideration of the affective role of setting, I traverse the various haunted houses, land- and farmscapes in Eugène Marais’ “Die huis van die vier winde” and “Isaak Slyk” (1927), and C.J. Langenhoven’s “Volksraadlid Duiwenal se verhaal: Die bouval op Wilgerdal” (1972/1924). Staying with spaces I turn my body toward the queer characters that populate these spaces by looking at C. Louis Leipoldt’s “Die Koranna se kopbeen” (1927), C.J Langenhoven’s “Ds. Enkeldoorn se verhaal: Die hangende gedaantes” (1972/1924), and Eugène Marais’ “Isaak Slyk” (1927). I then consider the queer manner in which these stories are told by comparing “Die huis van die vier winde” and C.J. Langenhoven’s “Die hangende gedaantes” (1972/1924) to the embedded structure of Guy De Maupassant’s “Mother of Monsters” (2004/1883), and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1960/1839). I also compare the selected tales to the /Xam tales “Nag en duisternis en hulle drie dogters”, “Vlakte is die tweede dogter”, “Hoe B— stories vertel”, “Berge is die oudste dogter” (2009/1919) as well as “Kraai se vernedering”, and “’n Kommando teen B—” (2010/1921) as retold by G.R Von Wielligh. In particular, I show that the selected Afrikaans tales queer the embedded storytelling modes by incorporating elements of /Xam stories, situating themselves within Southern African storytelling traditions rather than purely Western uncanny traditions. I conclude my study by showing that the ghosts who speak affectively through these stories are all born from the terror enacted by the establishment and expansion of Afrikaner identity as imagined by Afrikaner nationalists. These ghosts signal that these authors and their contexts were haunted by the white Afrikaner’s tenuous relationship with the land (most prominently in the form of the plaas); the survival of the Afrikaner family unit as means to maintain ownership of the land through the heteronormative marriage’s successful continuation of the Afrikaner lineage; the violent construction of borders that attempt to isolate the Afrikaner (family) physically, culturally, and linguistically from Black and Brown people under of the guise of protection; the brutal and genocidal enforcement of the denial of the central role of indigenous people in the creation of the Afrikaans language and culture; and the very affects that are involved in, shape, and through which each of these operate. Finally, I speculate about and show the ways in which these ghosts continue to haunt Afrikaners today.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Deur middel van ’n affektief ingestelde queer vergelykende lens neem ek geselekteerde unheimliche Afrikaanse verhale wat as die eerste van hul soort in geskrewe Afrikaans verskyn het, onder die loep. Die karakters in die verhale, die manier waarop die stories vertel word en die ruimtes waarin dit afspeel, word alles gebruik om ’n unheimliche affektiewe omgewing te skep en kan produktief (her)lees word vanuit ’n queer invalshoek. Om hierdie elemente te verken, skets ek die historiese landskap en sosio-politieke konteks waarin hierdie verhale na vore gekom het. Ek plaas my verkenning binne ’n bricolage van metodologie en/as teorie-raamwerk wat bestaan uit queer-, affek- en Gordoniaanse spektraliteitsteorie. Vir my oorweging van die affektiewe rol van ruimte verken ek die verskillende spookhuise en plaaslandskappe in Eugène Marais se “Die huis van die vier winde” en “Isaak Slyk” (1927), en C.J Langenhoven se “Die bouval op Wilgerdal” (1972/1924). Daarna verken ek die queer karakters wat hierdie ruimtes bevolk deur te kyk na C. Louis Leipoldt se “Die Koranna se kopbeen” (1927), C.J Langenhoven se “Die hangende gedaantes” (1972/1924), en Eugène Marais se “Isaak Slyk” (1927). Ek oorweeg dan die queer manier waarop hierdie verhale vertel word deur “Die huis van die vier winde” en C.J. Langenhoven se “Die hangende gedaantes” (1972/1924) te vergelyk met die ingebedde vertelstruktuur van Guy De Maupassant se “Mother of Monsters” (2004) /1883), en Edgar Allen Poe se “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1960/1839). Ek vergelyk ook die geselekteerde Afrikaanse verhale met die /Xam-verhale “Nag en duisternis en hulle drie dogters”, “Vlakte is die tweede dogter”, “Hoe B— stories vertel”, “Berge is die oudste dogter” (2009/1919) asook “Kraai se vernedering”, en “'n Kommando teen B—” (2010/1921) soos oorvertel deur G.R. Von Wielligh. Ek dui aan dat die geselekteerde Afrikaanse verhale die ingebedde storievertelmodusse queer deur elemente van /Xam-verhale te inkorporeer. Sodoende kan die verhale binne Suider-Afrikaanse verteltradisies, eerder as suiwer Westerse unheimliche tradisies geplaas word. Ek sluit my studie af deur aan te toon dat die spoke wat affektief deur hierdie verhale praat, almal gebore is uit die geweld wat uitgeoefen is deur die vestiging en uitbreiding van Afrikanernationalistiese Afrikaner-identiteit. Hierdie spoke dui daarop dat hierdie skrywers en hul kontekste geteister is deur die Afrikaner se vertroebelde verhouding met die grond (in die vorm van die plaas); die voortbestaan van die Afrikanerfamilie-eenheid as middel om eienaarskap van die grond te handhaaf deur die heteronormatiewe huwelik se suksesvolle voortsetting van Afrikanerbloedlyne; die gewelddadige bou van grense wat poog om die Afrikaner(-gesin) fisies, kultureel en taalkundig van swart en bruin mense te isoleer; die brutale ontkenning van die sentrale rol van inheemse mense in die skepping van die Afrikaanse taal en kultuur; en die einste affekte wat betrokke is by en waardeur elkeen van hierdie werk en gevorm word. Ten slotte bespiegel ek oor en dui die maniere aan waarop hierdie geeste vandag steeds by Afrikaners spook.af_ZA
dc.description.versionDoctoralen_ZA
dc.format.extentxv, 184 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128958
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subjectSpectrality theoryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshAfrikaners -- Nationalismen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshShort stories -- Afrikaans -- 20th centuryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshQueer theoryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshGender identityen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshAffect (Psychology) in literatureen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshGhosts in literatureen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshAfrikaans literature -- History and criticism -- 20th centuryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshFolklore -- South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.nameUCTD
dc.titleQueerly uncanny Afrikaner nationalism(s) : an affectively attuned queer reading of selected twentieth-century uncanny Afrikaans short storiesen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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