Hospitality Versus Artificiality: Apartheid Social Barriers in Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People

Joseph Kamanda Kamanda Omoy^1,

¹University of Our Lady of Lomami/The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cite this paper:
Joseph Kamanda Kamanda Omoy. Hospitality Versus Artificiality: Apartheid Social Barriers in Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People. World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. 2024; 10(1):1-7. doi: 10.12691/wjssh-10-1-1

Abstract

Almost 30 years after the end of Apartheid system in South Africa, one can wonder about this articles. Apartheid in South Africa erected several social barriers to separate the different races living in the same country. The novel July’s People written by Nadine Gordimer in 1981 depicts the struggle of the protagonist July . By offering his hospitality to a white wondering family, July shows that it is only by the non-violent way apartheid erected social barriers can be suppressed even if it can take time. As a matter of fact, hospitality helps to restore both mental and social behaviour of the characters to stop the fear experienced as a reminiscence of past events like a pass and racial discrimination. The article is addressed to a twofold audience: the African public opinion as well as a Western readership. The intolerance towards other African people joining South Africa for economic reasons pushes to recall the collective memory during Apartheid time. The same message is current to European who still discriminate immigrants. In the present article, I show that hospitality is necessary and sufficient on its own to create relaxation and interpersonal relationship. July’s People provides textual references to illustrate the topic. Two main strategies about the topic can be distinguished: a documentary mode and historical mode.

Keywords:
apartheid artificiality barrier hospitality pass racism

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