The relevance of Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and intellectuals to apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa
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Date
2013
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University of Zululand
Abstract
This dissertation focuses on the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci and the relevance of his concepts of hegemony and intellectuals to South Africa. Gramsci’s writings have a strong Italian resonance. The dissertation emphasises parallels as well as differences between the Italian and South African contexts to demonstrate that his theories on topics such as the creation of a proletarian state, the Revolutionary Party, passive revolution and language, in addition to the key concepts of intellectuals and hegemony, can be successfully applied to apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa – even though these theories were originally designed to fit the turbulent Italy of Gramsci’s own time. The argument proceeds through a rigorous textual analysis of both Gramsci’s pre-prison and prison writings as well as the works of various commentators on Gramsci. Through interpreting, assessing and analysing Gramsci’s writings and those of commentators, it becomes evident that underpinning all of Gramsci’s activities and writings is a vision for an improved society in Italy, a proletarian state in which the masses were no longer exploited by other social classes. The dissertation uses this vision to reflect on past and present South African political and social landscapes, exploring in the process how Gramsci’s thoughts can be used both to illuminate the problems inherent in apartheid South Africa and to redress the growing inequities in post-apartheid South Africa. The dissertation also applies Gramsci’s thought to South African literary texts, especially to Zakes Mda’s Heart of Redness. Though Gramsci has been used to interpret South African situations before, there has been to date no detailed study on his theories’ applicability to both the apartheid and the post-apartheid eras. The dissertation therefore contributes to the growing reputation of Gramsci’s works as textbooks for promoting and achieving a better society, free from all forms of exploitation.
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Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013.
Keywords
Gramsci Antonio -- writings