humanities and social sciences 8
H U M A N I T I E S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S
government, finally overcoming the chal- clichés like ‘international best practice’ in
lenge of Fascism (of which apartheid was economic practice closed out any possibil-
a variant) and Communism (which had ity that the local could offer anything fresh,
been embraced by many in the country’s or interesting, unless it had been approved
liberation movement). Public discourse was by the metropolitan gaze.
dominated by the idea that economics (es-
pecially its neo-liberal variant) had been at
The importation and appropriation of mar-
the centre of political change in the coun-
ket fundamentalism was a re-run of the
try. This was a return to the liberal logic of
past horror for the humanities, because the
the post-Second World War world which, as
approach passively accepted – as apartheid
illustrated, had been dislodged by the rise
had once done with the question of race
of Marxist thinking. In this narrative, the hu-
– a condition which should have been sub-
manities had no place; indeed, the critical
jected to intellectual scrutiny and critique.
ideas that they fostered were threatening
Especially materially, but also methodolo-
to the ‘new order’ under construction.
gically, it was less and less possible to offer
essential critique. Consider, as an example,
the issue of method. The country witnessed
As this idea took hold, the promise of the
a remarkable growth in the popularity of
enlightenment slipped further and further
scenario-building – a reductionist approach
away from its open-endedness towards a
to understanding social futures which is
vision of the future that rested on econom-
culled from management studies. Struc-
ics alone. These departures from the post-
tured scenario-building exercises compress
apartheid state’s anticipated destination
the possible futures which might be cre-
were often sponsored by northern institu-
ated from the social world into sound-bites
tions that were keen to see that South Af-
which, when strung together, sketch a fu-
rica should not deviate from the emerging
ture which is predetermined and can only
consensus that there was no alternative to
be mediated by market forces and its politi-
market-driven capitalism. In real ways, this
cal twin, liberal democracy – a return to the
outcome echoed earlier moments in the
‘end of history’ thesis. Through this kind of
country’s development. In his book on the
reductionism, the arts, the critical social sci-
history of scientific and social knowledge
ences – the humanities, in general – were
in South Africa, Saul Dubow repeatedly
increasingly regarded as superfluous to
suggests that science in the country was
the imperative of exercising ‘rational social
flattered by “the glow of metropolitan at-
choice’ in the interests of a single outcome:
tention” (Dubow, 2006:14-15). He goes on
economic growth.
to argue that the requirements of its sci-
ence “were often articulated in terms of This, of course, was the same intellectual
the country’s international standing or ... pattern which makes up the popular
(economic)... competitiveness” (Dubow, master narrative called globalisation. Given
2006:198). After the end of apartheid, a the intensity of theoretical questioning that
deepening subservience to homogenising had once marked the humanities in South
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