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An Outsider in South Africa: Critical Reflections on Ubuntu

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Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

This chapter is about being – or feeling myself to be – an outsider in South Africa. My relationship with South Africa began 10 years ago but, in the chapter, I focus mainly on the past 3 years during which I have visited the country three or four times each year in connection with two projects with which I have been involved. I weave anecdotes of remembered events, including critical reflections on my involvement with the two research projects, together with my reading of literature on Ubuntu, on decolonization and decoloniality. I employ different voices in the writing as I braid together myriad threads of experience and insight, occasionally, scholarly insight. The chapter is, therefore, not intended to be a neat, linear account. It is a story – or several stories – of being an outsider. “The thing about stories is that they are like bindweeds that have to wind round and round and creep all over the place before they get to the top of the pole” (de Bernieres, Birds without wings. Secker & Warburg, London, p 141, 2004). My stories ‘wind round and round and creep all over the place’ but, whether or not they ‘get to the top of the pole’, wherever that might be, I leave it to you, the reader, to judge.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The ‘A’ level refers to the Advanced Level examinations that, in the UK, are the main determinant of university entry.

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Acknowledgements

The Southern African Rurality in Higher Education (SARiHE) project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Newton Fund. The grant reference number is ES/P002072/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Sheila Trahar

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  1. Sheila Trahar
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Correspondence to Sheila Trahar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Irma Eloff

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Trahar, S. (2019). An Outsider in South Africa: Critical Reflections on Ubuntu. In: Eloff, I. (eds) Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15367-0_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15367-0_23

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