'The Broken String': Re-Membering the Homeland in a Postcolonial Context

Walder, Dennis (2007). 'The Broken String': Re-Membering the Homeland in a Postcolonial Context. In: Palusci, Oriana ed. Postcolonial Studies: Changing Perceptions. Labirinti (97). Trento, Italy: Universita degli Studi di Trento, pp. 51–65.

URL: http://www.webster.it/libri-postcolonial_studies:_...

Abstract

The urge to create a new sense of identity by invoking a real or imagined, collective past or homeland among people deeply affected by colonialism, such as South Africans today, is exemplified by the author's personal history, the rewriting by certain writers and poets of a San/Bushman song named 'The Broken String', and by the creation of a new motto and Coat of Arms for the country. But this tendency towards 'restorative' nostalgia needs to be corrected by a more critical remembering, potentially leading to restitution.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 7375
• Item Type
• Book Section
• ISBN
• 88-8443-175-1, 978-88-8443-175-2
• Keywords
• remembering;identity;memory;nostalgia;homeland;post-colonial;redefinition;restitution;Bleek/Lloyd translations;Bushman;South Africa;Mbeki
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Arts and Humanities > English & Creative Writing
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Arts and Humanities
  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
• Research Group
• Postcolonial and Global Literatures Research Group (PGL)
• Depositing User
• Dennis Walder