Apartheid and the reconciliation process in post-apartheid novels of South Africa

Abstract

The research thesis “Apartheid and The Reconciliation Process in Post-Apartheid Novels of South Africa” looks into the novels written by Nadine Gordimer, J.M Coetzee, Phaswane Mpe and Zakes Mda. Despite apartheid being abolished in 1994, Democratic South Africa is still plagued with social ills and there is still a widespread of racial discrimination between the whites and the blacks. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee was set up right after apartheid was abolished, to help facilitate a truth recovery process. Forgiveness has been forwarded yet redemption and reconciliation are somewhat elusive, as discrimination and instability still exists due to the stigma apartheid has left. In this thesis, I will examine the role of literature in looking into the past and to probe if the past has or can be buried in order for reconciliation to take place. All the novels deal with the issue of the process of reconciliation between the present and the past which plants the seeds of hope for a new beginning that allows for a future in which there is racial equality before the ‘New’ South Africa emerge.