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Mapping Abjection: Dissecting Racial and Sexual Boundaries in Mark Gevisser's Lost and Found in Johannesburg.

Mapping Abjection: Dissecting Racial and Sexual Boundaries in Mark Gevisser's Lost and Found in Johannesburg.

Authors :
Wayne Koekemoer, Christopher
Source :
Journal of Literary Studies. 2023, Vol. 39, p1-14. 14p.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

This article details the deconstruction of social identity in Mark Gevisser's memoir Lost and Found in Johannesburg. It does so by emphasising how the city's design reflects racial and sexual segregation through the construction of borders and boundaries that are nonetheless nebulous and artificial. In Gevisser's memoir, his recollections are interspersed with the narratives of other marginalised individuals and groups. I employ Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection to understand how systems of exclusion function not only to exclude, but paradoxically, how they allow spaces of inclusion. I argue that the apartheid city can be read as a social body that can be analysed in a similar manner to how the individual subject distinguishes itself from others. The social body therefore creates subjective boundaries between racialised and sexualised others to maintain its sense of autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
02564718
Volume :
39
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Journal of Literary Studies
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
175244929
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.25159/1753-5387/12804