DeraciNation: Reading the Borderlands in the Fiction of Zoë Wicomb

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the fiction of South African author Zoë Wicomb (1948- ) through her two collections of short stories: You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town (1987) and The One that Got Away (2008) and two novels: David’s Story (2000) and Playing in the Light (2006). Using an interdisciplinary approach, the concept of deraciNation, which is the uprooting and discrimination of peoples as a way to uphold the notion of Nation, and an adaptation of Gloria Anzaldúa’s borderland theory in an investigation of the coloured community in its construction as an intermediary group between black and white and its locations in the margins of society, this dissertation investigates how discrimination has not only played a role in the construction and representation of coloured identities, but also how it was adopted and incorporated within the community. Wicomb calls attention to oppression in both external and internal forms, exemplifying the failures of the struggle against apartheid and the self-contradictions that can also be violent. Specifically, this dissertation analyzes the spaces of home, neighborhood and nation, which were locations of deracination through external forces of imperialism and colonialism. Moreover, it examines oppression, which has led to these spaces being gendered and racialized, has persisted in coloured identities in post-apartheid South Africa and transnationally into Europe, two areas in which Wicomb’s fictional writings take place as sites of both home and displacement. Furthermore, this dissertation scrutinizes the notion of truth, through an examination of violence, memory and his/herstories as a way of bringing lesser-known stories to the light.

Utilizando un enfoque interdisciplinario, esta tesis analiza la ficción de Zoe Wicomb, autora sudafricana (1948- ), a través de dos colecciones de relatos: You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town (1987) y The One that Got Away (2008) y dos novelas: David’s Story (2000) y Playing in the Light. En la tesis hemos utilizado el concepto de deraciNation, o desarraigo y discriminación de los pueblos para apoyar la noción de Nación, y una adaptación de la teoría del borderland de Gloria Anzaldúa para la investigación de la comunidad coloured (mestiza) en su construcción como un grupo intermediario entre los blancos y los negros. Esta tesis examina cómo la discriminación ayudó la construcción y representación de las identidades coloured, pero también de que forma se empleaba dicha discriminación dentro la misma comunidad. Wicomb llama nuestra atención hacia la opresión tanto fuera como dentro de la comunidad, demostrando así los fracasos en la lucha contra el apartheid. Además, esta investigación analiza los espacios de hogar, barrio y nación, lugares de desarraigo como producto del imperialismo y del colonialismo. Y finalmente, en este trabajo se examina la opresión, que aun perdura en las identidades "coloured" en Suráfrica tras el apartheid y que ha llegado hasta Europa.