Self-Consciousness and Impression Management in the Authoring of Apartheid-Related Narratives

Abstract

This chapter takes up the possible role of self-presentation in the Apartheid Archive Project in relation to four aspects that seem to warrant deeper consideration, but by no means suggests that this represents an exhaustive examination of the topic. These four aspects are: The Confessional Imperative; The 'Knowing' Subject; The Restricted Repertoire of Identificatory Positions; and The Implication of Significant Others. In discussing each of these dimensions the authors have drawn to some extent upon their own dilemmas in thinking about submitting material to the archive as well as upon anecdotal accounts of others who have volunteered contributions. Beyond these sources, however the discussion is premised upon a speculative-theoretical mode of analysis. This mode of analysis involves the adoption of a series of hypothetical identificatory positions in which the motives, anxieties, fantasies, tensions and self-management strategies of hypothetical contributors to the archive are imagined and explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)