Les Carnets du Cerpac no 7
Gilles Teulié & Mélanie Joseph-Vilain

During his inaugural address in 1994, the first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, pronounced the now famous words « the time for the healing of the wounds has come ». The great hope born from the elections led to praised achievements along with less positive results. More than a decade has elapsed since the end of Apartheid. Are the wounds healed? How did South African society come to terms with former attitudes? How was the aftermath of the elections tackled? How do Whites and Afrikaners in particular cope with their new minority status? What are the new challenges for South African Literature? What is the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? What are the reactions to the changing of geographical names as far as identity is concerned?

This collection of essays aims at analysing the “new” South Africa. Among other topics one could examine the re-evaluation of the past (fiction and history / textbooks), commemorations, economic and social stakes, cultural priorities, the status of women and children, Aids and unemployment-related problems, the role of the media, the different forms of tensions, etc. This no 7 issue of Les Carnets du Cerpac (Journal of Commonwealth Studies, University of Montpellier, France. http://recherche.univ-montp3.fr/mambo/cerpac/index.htm) will be scrutinized from a historical and social perspective as well as from a literary standpoint. A title and a brief summary (300 words), along with a small bio., should be sent to Mélanie Joseph-vilain, Université de Dijon (melanie.joseph-vilain@wanadoo.fr) for literary articles and Gilles Teulié, Université d’Aix-Marseille 1 (Teulie7@club-internet.fr or teulie@up.univ-aix.fr) for historical and social papers. The articles (in English or French) are due on June 30th 2007.

Mélanie Joseph-Vilain is a Senior Lecturer in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Bourgogne (Dijon, France)

Gilles Teulié is Professor of British and Commonwealth Studies at the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille, France).