Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

nts who ale 'customers', 'stake-holders'. etc Se~~tentious lnonetallst ~heto~lc, w~th ~ts
ies and doctrlne of econoinlc inevitabll~ty, often distracts trom the lntegrrty ot these
plocesses and obsc~nes the wo~k of genulne ~efonners cont~ontlng the lcmnants of
'S The Devil on the Cross,
The ~ost-cutt~ng neo-l~beral educat~on pollc~es assoc~ated w~th the heady days 01 Reagall
and Thatcher prov~de one I~tluted but pe~tlnent pornt of comparison from wh~ch to ahsess the or~grnallty
of South Afilcan attcmpts to modern~se highel educat~oll Wh~le the U S tertlary edu~at~on sect01
rharpened ~ts ~nalket-dr~ven ethos and a h~ghly successful btg bustness sector redssc~tecl its prlrnacy as
the key soclal partner, In the U K polytechn~cs (techn~hons) mod~tied themaelves to become
unlversct~es rhe lattel lep~esented both the upgradrng of the status of vocational stud~es and the
recogn~tlon ot the Importance ot academ~c research lnteractron between the practical and the features ofNgugi's Devll on the Cross is the way ~t directs attention
theo~et~cal offels the best retulms to1 a society mvestlng In ~ts future bq l~lteglat~ng cclucat~on and
om-the sacrifice of the body Except In this
tralnlng The excesses of the ut~l~tarlan wave effectively led to an acknowledgeruent oi the value oi a
s the devil's body that IS on the cross This in
blond educational tlalnrng that ~ncluded all aleas of culttue. even those not ~rnlned~ately
~ommod~liable
ns because the devil that we tend to associate
One of the posltlve leturns of educatroual neo-conservat~s~n ~n the U K flowed from the s been subdued on the cross. But even with a
demand that academics be productwe In terms of pubhcatlons, tlus often favoured younger academics
of the text, we soon realise that the devil has been rescued by its
and facilitated the emo oval ot an Inert senlor strata The negatlve aspect of Thatcher's revolut~onary and nee-colonial state) has been turned into a
pa~ochralism became clearer when the demand that academ~cs (and evelybody else) ~usttty the~r
usetulness targeted pedagogy From the stat ~ncrlmlnated In the consplraLy of tea~hlng useless
as a site upon which power IS re-enacted and
erests me here. The paper alms at exploring Ngugl's use of the body
knowledge, the sullen obscurantist has to plove her Innocence (nsefulner~) An attempt, of couise, that
sllnply confinns ~etroactlvely the val~d~ty of the ln~t~al charge slnce any plooi must be adduced In ich the banality of power in a post-colony IS dramatised in its stark
accoldance w~th the tenns of the trlbunal Thls authol~ta~~an luse ncvel falls to dellver the cuttlng of
on The paper argues that Ngugi uses the grotesque image of the body to
coulses and tacllltat~on of 'equ~table' ex~ts from the protess~on by dcmorallsed personnel Those with
staging of power in a post-colony, while at the same time undermining
I esea~~h capaclty and101 busmess 01 ~ented sk~lls find the~nselves most sna~ketable. and students are left rity through parody. The paper concludes by drawlng attentloll to
w~th the obstruction rn szt~i of a sedimentary staff awalt~ng the 'renegot~atlon' ot the~r contracts At the
adrn~nistlative level the ca~apace of 'rat~onal~sat~on' shelters both translent ~nonetar~sts and those
OW how the masses, the oppressed, are impl~cated m thelr own
gainbllng on the poss~blllty of restralnlng the fiscal funda~nental~sm of thelr coholts In tills case the
sion and how they mimic and emulate the absurd display of power by the rulers.
softunderbelly serves as auseful cushion against attack
Achille Mbembe (1992), in a paper entitled 'Provisional Notes on the Post-
The Inappropriateness of such a scenal~o In the developmental context of South Afrtca is
entlon to the nature ofpower and its actual performance In a post-
'lear, not least because the neo-l~beral agenda presulnes an ex~strng reserve ot cultural capital and
terises a post-colony simply as those societies which have recently
(~~seless)sk~lls walt~ng to be tr~mmed H~stor~cally blackun~ve~srt~es have struggled to cleal a space for d from the experience of colonisation and exhibit the violence which the
a none rdc~st and none sex~st hmnan~st~c education that IS unl~kely to quickly regeslerate II cut In this
wak111g nightmare the g~ave-d~gge~s of apartheld would resu~lect a revlnd~cated 'Bantu Education'
1 relationship par excellence involves. He argues that the
and set an old ghost walk~ng agaln A clun~slly admln~stered re-or~entatlon of the llnlverslty
ealnouflages the lnutat~on of stlateg~c plann~ng Into ~nst~h~t~onal Da~wlnls~n Febl~le buleauaats who
post-colony is characterised by a distinctive style of pol~t~cal ~mprovisat~on.
were seldo~~~ regarded as academic lum~nar~es themselves set the agenda wlth~n an institut~onal by a tendency to excess and a lack of proportion [and] a serles of corporate
strucklre that ~nst~nct~vely reve~ts to autocracy - the hackneyed ahb~ for thls lack of democrat~sation institutions and polltlcal machinery which, once they are ~n place. constitute
belng the admm~stratlve need to lnst~tute democlat~sat~on effic~ently Approacltes regarding a distinctive reglme of violence (Mbembe 1992 3)
acconntab~l~ty meet w~th the secret~on of exculpatory references to apalthetd and I ~tnallsed exhlbrt~ons
of p~ety Ult~mately, state-d~rected ~mpulses toward soclal respons~b~l~ty and ~~lstitut~onal tlansparency st-colony in fact becomes some form of a stage on which 'the wider problems
are d~gested by a culture ot opportunism
corollary disciplme' are played out (Mbembe 1992 3) It 1s thls theatrical display
My read~ng of the major~ty ofthe contr~butors to this Issue ofAltematton is that they attelnpt mbe calls the banal~ty of power in the post-colony He uses banality
to look beyoud the sterlle prospect of plcadlng and pageant1 y that can chal acterlse the contradlctlons ot
polttlcal libelat~on Authors wr~tillg from ma law^. No~the~n Ireland. the U S A , and a lallge of
un~versit~es In South Ahca turn to the past and present to recover n~arg~nal~sed tradltlons that may strll
be usefill In the struggle agamst multtple fonns of dolnlnat~on U D W 's offic~al cotnln~trnent to foster
those elements of the obscene and the grotesque that Mlkhall Bakht~n
research In all areas of the ~~nive~s~ty should ensule that tlle contr~butlon to tlns tntenlatlonal dlalogue
cla~ms to have located in 'non-official' cultures but w111ch ~n fact are
by scliola~s ot dlverse backgrounds will not be lost
lntrinslc to all systems of doinination and to the means by wli~ch those
systems are confirmed or deconstructed (Mbeinbe 1992 3)
Shane Moran
Guest Ed~tor Thus the grotesque and the obscene would seem to be some of the basic characteristics
2 AIIetnat~on 5,l (1998) 3-12 ISSN 1023-1757 3