Return to humanism: the future of English studies in South Africa

Abstract

Views on the history, current state and future of the humanities in Africa are sought from JM Coetzee's characters Elizabeth and Blanche Costello, and from Professor Malegapuru Makgoba and other advocates of the “Africanization” of South African universities. The implications of these views for English Studies are then considered in the context of the humanism of Frantz Fanon and Edward Said, particularly in the light of Said's emphasis on the importance of a literary education in the production of the “critical reader” – a key contributor to the civic well-being of the liberal democratic state.