"Ons ís mense. My kinders hét gesigte." Die natuurlike omgewing en die konseptualisering van die self in Karretjiemense (Carol Campbell)
Abstract
Carol Campbell se debuutroman, My Children Have Faces: A Novel About the Karretjiemense of
the Karoo (2013), in Afrikaans vertaal as Karretjiemense, is die verhaal van ’n brandarm, nomadiese
Karoo-gesin, voortdurend op reis met hul donkiekar. Hulle leef as “onsigbare” mense: op grond
van hulle lae sosiale peil en ongeletterdheid verag of geïgnoreer deur die samelewing, op grond
van hulle haweloosheid en gebrek aan identiteitsdokumente negeer deur die owerheid. Tog
demonstreer elke lid van Muis en Kapok se gesin ’n unieke besef van eiewaarde en van die persoonlik
onderskeidende eienskappe wat verband hou met wie en wat hy/sy werklik is. Die ondersoek is
daarop gerig om vas te stel in watter mate die invloed van die natuurlike omgewing bewys kan
word in die prosesse van die identiteitskonstruksie van die karretjiemense in hierdie roman en op
watter wyse hierdie beïnvloeding gestalte kry in die karakters se konseptualisering van die self.
Daar word bevind dat Muis en haar mense hulleself op aktiewe wyse met die natuur verbind:
deur die proses van betekenisgewing waarby hulle op kognitiewe, affektiewe sowel as spirituele
vlakke betrokke is en deur hulle interaksie met die natuur op fisieke en emosionele vlak. Die
karakters se individuele belewing van en reaktiewe betrokkenheid by die Karoo-omgewing is die
kernfaktor in die ontwikkeling en bevestiging van persoonlike identiteit, asook van elkeen se gevoel
van te behoort. Elke karakter in die karretjiegesin demonstreer op eiesoortige wyse die effek van
hulle natuurverbintenis op die konstruering van selfkennis en -identiteit. Carol Campbell’s debut novel, My Children Have Faces: a novel about the Karretjiemense of the
Karoo (2013), translated by Kirby van der Merwe into Afrikaans as Karretjiemense, is the story
of a desperately poor, nomadic Karoo family, continually journeying on their donkey cart. They
live as “invisible” people: because of their low social standing and illiteracy, they are seen as the
scum of society, because of their homelessness and lack of identity documents, they are disregarded
by the authorities. These characters struggle to find acknowledgment of their existence and
worthiness in the eyes of the world. Nonetheless, each member of Muis and Kapok’s family
demonstrates a unique understanding of self-worth and of the personal identifying characteristics
that relate to who and what he/she really is. The investigation is aimed at establishing to what
extent the influence of the natural environment can be proven in the processes of identity construction
of the karretjie people in this novel, and in which ways this influence shapes the characters’
conceptualising of the self.
The focus of this exploration is ecocritical: the purpose is to come to an understanding of the
concrete and psychological effects of the natural environment on human life and identity in
Karretjiemense. The investigation is approached within the framework of on-going interest in
questions of identity that are becoming an increasing focus of ecocriticism within South African
literary studies. In my theorising of the concept of identity, the question of identity construction is
thus placed within ecocritical context.
The novel is also examined with attention to the socio-political context. The karretjie family
are descendants of the San and Khoi people; the possibility that the development of their self-worth
and a sense of belonging, which are components of personal identity, can be coupled with their
relationship with nature is meaningful, read within the context of the debate on belonging and the
self in nature (Steenkamp 2011:23) in the postcolonial South African era. In this debate, questions
of place and displacement are central as a consequence of our history which is characterised by
segregation, land disputes, forced removals and dispossession. Karretjiemense casts light on the
experience of the self in relation to the natural world by those who could be expected to experience
the connection with the land as problematic as a consequence of our colonial past.
The investigation first establishes how the socially constructed identity of the karretjie people
appears and what the effects of social thinking are on their self-image and self-experience. From
this part of the investigation, it appears that Muis and her people struggle to form any positive
self-image from the opinions of the community that scorns or ignores them therefore, it strikes the
reader that none of these family members is depicted as someone without self-worth and self-respect.
The investigative focus then shifts to establish how the natural environment and experiences in
nature influence the characters’ self-regard as well as what the extent of nature’s impact on the
shaping of personal identity in the separate individuals of the family may be. This part comprises
a probing investigation into the nature of the interaction with the natural world by focusing on the
individual characters’ experiences thereof: those of Muis herself, Witpop, Fansie, and Kapok.
Attention is focused on the manner in which meaning is allotted to the Karoo landscape by this
family, and the various dimensions of their being that are involved in this process: the cognitive
and the affective, as well as the spiritual. Further, the guidelines offered by the text regarding the
scope and meaning of the physical and emotional interaction between these characters and the
environment are interpreted to establish how nature contributes to each character’s self-worth and
self-knowledge, qualities that are part of personal identity, and to establish an experience of
belonging.
Sufficient evidence was found that it is within the relationship with nature, through the individual experience of the Karoo environment and the reactive involvement with it, that Muis and her people
discover their own value as well as qualities that contribute to their self-respect. It was also found
that nature exercises a prominent and interactive presence in the lives of the karretjie family through
its unavoidable power and the climate changes of the Karoo. The increasingly dry landscape
becomes a character in itself through the impact that it exerts on the plot development and the
direct effect that it has regarding the karretjie family’s life situations and their final circumstances.
Evidence of the dramatic way in which nature affects the human experience in Karretjiemense
provides motivation for the finding that the people-nature connection is a key aspect of the characters’
experience of reality and consequently also on their self-perception and -image. Each character
in the karretjie family uniquely demonstrates the effect of his/her close ties with nature on the
construing of self-knowledge and self-identity as well as on each one’s sense of belonging. Read against the socio-political background of our times, Karretjiemense reflects insightful
character experiences regarding the depiction of the self in relation to the natural world. The novel
demonstrates close and unique connections between the self and nature, connections with an
important function regarding the creation of identity. This offers a surprising alternative for the
depiction of identity issues which accentuates the problematics of the concept of environmental
belonging within the postcolonial context. Karretjiemense presents a disconcerting account of a
segment of society that has so little and is so frequently overlooked, people who courageously
arrive at the conceptualising of the self with the help of what is available: the context of the natural
world
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- Faculty of Education [756]