Intellectual traditions in South Africa : ideas, individuals and institutions

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Title:

Author:

Vale, Peter C. J., editor.

ISBN:

9781869142582

Physical Description:

xii, 364 pages ; 23 cm

Contents:

Introduction. Of ships, bedraggled crews and the miscegenation of ideas: interpreting intellectual traditions in South Africa / Peter Vale -- Part 1: Inherited ideas, transplanted institutions and local critique. The ambiguous legacy of liberalism: less a theory of society more a state of mind? / Steven Friedman -- The double lives of South African Marxism / Andrew Nash -- Afrikaner intellectual history: an interpretation / Pieter Duvenage -- A genealogy of South African positivism / Christopher John Allsobrook -- Part 2: Resistance to domination, African and Asian alternatives. African nationalism / Raymond Suttner -- Pan Africanism in South Africa: a confluence of local origin and diasporic inspiration / Mcebisi Ndletyana -- The intellectual foundations of the Black Consciousness Movement / Mabogo P. More -- Gandhian ways: the South African experience and its legacy / Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie -- Feminism and the South African polity: a failed marriage / Helen Moffett -- Part 3: Religious dogma and emancipatory potential. Christianity as an intellectual tradition in South Africa: Les Trahisons des Clercs? / Anthony Egan -- The Hindu intellectual tradition in South Africa: the importation and adaptation of Hindu universalism / Vashna Jagarnath -- Jewish responses: "Neither the same nor different" / Sally Gross -- Islam, intellectuals and the South African question / Muhammed Haron -- Conclusion. The power of the past: the future of intellectual history in South Africa / Lawrence Hamilton.

Abstract:

"This rich volume not only deals with political traditions but gives attention to religious and communal intellectual practices. The scope covers interpretations of traditions such as African nationalism, Afrikaner thought, Black Consciousness, Christianity, feminism, Gandhian ways, Hinduism, Jewish responses, liberalism, Marxism, Muslim voices, Pan Africanism and posivitism. Powerful institutions and individuals were central to the various colonising and apartheid projects that directly controlled and subordinated much of the population. But the social engineering they wrought failed -- and spectacularly so. In the wake of this, unintended and unforeseen spaces for individual agency and for the discovery of traditions of thinking have helped change the way we live today. "Only by thinking about these, the ideas that made us who we are, more deeply can we re-imagine our country and the world," says co-editor Peter Vale. This explains why this book, which looks at our past and our present through different lenses, fills an important gap in South Africa's historiography and says new things about its politics."--Back cover.

Subject Term:

Political culture -- South Africa.

Social movements -- South Africa.

Geographic Term:

South Africa -- Intellectual life.

South Africa -- History.

South Africa -- Politics and government.

Added Author:

Vale, Peter C. J.,

Hamilton, Lawrence, 1972-

Prinsloo, Estelle H.,

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025840642	306.09 V149I 2014	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Intellectual Traditions in South Africa not only deals with political traditions, but gives attention to religious and communal intellectual practices. The book's scope covers interpretations of traditions, such as African nationalism, Afrikaner thought, Black Consciousness, Christianity, feminism, Gandhian ways, Hinduism, Jewish responses, liberalism, Marxism, Muslim voices, Pan Africanism, and positivism. The real value comes from the fact that it takes a great leap to rectify large gaps in South Africa's historiography. According to editor Peter Vale, "Only by rethinking the ideas that made us can we re-imagine the world." Powerful ideas, institutions, and individuals have been central to various colonizing and apartheid projects to directly control and subordinate much of the population. This form of extreme social engineering often fails, and has generated unintended and unforeseen spaces for individual agency and competing ideas. The result has been that even completely totalitarian systems of rule cannot completely stamp out individual human ingenuity and imagination. *** "... these admirable, well-written chapters distill the main trends of important traditions, including feminism, liberalism, Marxism, and positivism. Highly recommended." -- Choice, Vol. 52, No. 6, February 2015 [Subject: African Studies, Apartheid Studies, Sociology, History, Politics, Philosophy, Religious Studies]Ã?Â?Ã?Â?