Marabi and poststructuralism(s): an inquiry into the possibility of forging a rapprochement between aspects of poststructuralist thinking and marabi in its context (1920’s-1930’s)
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Date
2022-01
Authors
Denis, Nathne Alice
Journal Title
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
This study forges a rapprochement between aspects of poststructuralist theory and marabi in its socio-political, historical, ideological and labour contexts of the 1920s to 1930s. After considering the socio-historical context of marabi and possible resonances with poststructuralism, the focus falls on the various ethnic and multitudinous manifestations of marabi as music, dance, social occasion and as the symbolic prefiguration of a nascent black urban identity. Whilst bearing in mind the ‘indefinability’ of both marabi and poststructuralism in traditional binary, hierarchical terms, the study moves onto a consideration of marabi, its context, and various major poststructuralist theorists. Firstly, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s philosophy is employed to demonstrate how marabi can be regarded as a “minor music.” Thereafter, it is shown how Deleuze and Guattari’s notions of the assemblage and rhizome are able to accommodate as well as exemplify marabi’s multitudinous constitution. Secondly, the focus falls on how Jacques Derrida’s thought can be employed productively to demonstrate how marabi deconstructs the traditional (Saussurian) notion of the sign, text, intertext and context (generic, genetic and citational). Thirdly, the deeply entrenched binary horizon of Western thought and rhetoric is explored, specifically that of the male/female binary couplet, as disclosed by Hélène Cixous. A consideration then follows of how famo (Sotho) marabi resonates with Cixous’s notion of féminine écriture, notably its ability to undermine phallocentric structures. Finally, marabi’s ideological and labour context (as a rhizomatic part of marabi) is considered as refracted through the critical prism of Michel Foucault’s theorisation of disciplinary and biopolitical power. Having established that pre-Apartheid racist ideology is deeply social-Darwinist, the focus falls on marabi’s disciplinary, panoptical and biopolitical contexts, as evidenced in the mining industry. This chapter concludes by showing how marabi made life bearable in the face of the draconian measures used by the state apparatus to ‘deal’ with the ‘black peril.’ In the final analysis, the study demonstrates that, not only is there a correlation between aspects of poststructuralist thought and marabi in its context, but also that poststructuralism provides us with expanded ways of reasoning that potentially enrich the way we think about marabi and other aspects of society. Inversely, marabi has shown itself capable of enriching poststructuralist thinking as well.
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Keywords
Thesis (Ph.D. (Philosophy))--University of the Free State, 2022, Marabi, Poststructuralism, Deleuze, Guattari, Cixous, Foucault, Reason