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Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915

Bibliography : pages 312-319.

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Main Author: Noyes, John Kenneth
Other Authors: Horn, Peter
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: German Language and Literature 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Noyes, John Kenneth
author2 Horn, Peter
author_browse Horn, Peter
Noyes, John Kenneth
author_facet Horn, Peter
Noyes, John Kenneth
author_sort Noyes, John Kenneth
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description Bibliography : pages 312-319.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
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publisher German Language and Literature
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22490 Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915 Noyes, John Kenneth Horn, Peter Namibian literature (German) - History and criticism Bibliography : pages 312-319. The present study sets out to accomplish two things: first, to demonstrate that space and spatiality is the domain in which discourse partakes of the colonial project, and second, to isolate a number of textual strategies employed in the discursive production of colonial space. The first aim requires a lengthy theoretical discussion which occupies the first part of the study. Here I develop the thesis that spatiality as a philosophical preoccupation has never been divorced from the questions of sigmfication and subjectivity, and that the production of significant and subjective space is always a production of social space. In support of this thesis, it is shown that vision and writing are the two functions in which subjective space becomes meaningful, and that in both cases it becomes meaningful only as social space. It is thus in the context of looking and writing that the production of colonial space may be examined as a social space within which meaning and subjectivity are possible. The second aim requires an analytical study of a number of colorual texts, which I undertake in part II of the study. For simplicity, I have confined myself to the colonial discourse of German South West Africa in the period 1884-1915. The central thesis developed here is that discourse develops strategies for enclosing spaces by demarkating borders, privileging certain passages between spaces and blocking others. This organization of space is presented as the ordering of a chaotic multiplicity and, as such, as a process of civilization. The contradiction between the blocking and privileging of passages results in what I call a "ritual of crossing": an implicit set of rules prescribmg the conditions of possibility for crossing the borders it establishes. As a result, in its production of space, the colonial text assumes a mythical function which allows it to transcend the very spaces it produces. It is here that I attempt to situate colonial discourse's claims to uruversal truth. In conclusion, the detailed analysis of the production of space in colonial discourse may be understood as a strategic intervention. It attempts to use the texts of colonisation to counter colonization's claims to universal truth and a civilizing mission. 2016-11-10T14:13:00Z 2016-11-10T14:13:00Z 1988 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22490 eng application/pdf German Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Namibian literature (German) - History and criticism
Noyes, John Kenneth
Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
title_full Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
title_fullStr Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
title_full_unstemmed Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
title_short Space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915
title_sort space and spatiality in the colonial discourse of german south west africa 1884 1915
topic Namibian literature (German) - History and criticism
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22490
work_keys_str_mv AT noyesjohnkenneth spaceandspatialityinthecolonialdiscourseofgermansouthwestafrica18841915