Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K
The purpose of this paper is to show how space is manipulated in order to create order and control over people in a totalitarian regime. Michael, the protagonist of the novel, problematises hegemonic and totalising perception of space by occupying a position that rejects either/or logic of modern...
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Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
2016
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/1/9301-33899-1-PB.pdf |
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ukm-97062016-12-14T06:50:36Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/ Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K Teimouri, Mahdi The purpose of this paper is to show how space is manipulated in order to create order and control over people in a totalitarian regime. Michael, the protagonist of the novel, problematises hegemonic and totalising perception of space by occupying a position that rejects either/or logic of modern thought. Not only does Michael pose a threat to the arrogation of space by apartheid but also problematises the appropriation and control of identity and meaning which in totalitarian regimes are closely connected to the control of social spaces. Michael, for the most part, remains impervious to spatial and semantic disambiguation by resorting to the politics of ambivalence and in-betweenness. Such positionality makes the novel a platform for the demonstration of postmodern identity politics which hinges on a resistance to epistemological disambiguation and dualistic structuring. The framework used here consists of applying the theories of thinkers whose ideas share a penchant for disrupting the binary divisions that have underlain our socio-political understanding in the modern era. The novel will be analysed in light of these ideas to establish its compatibility with such a kind of reading. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/1/9301-33899-1-PB.pdf Teimouri, Mahdi (2016) Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 22 (1). pp. 29-38. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/751 |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Local University |
| institution |
Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| building |
UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| description |
The purpose of this paper is to show how space is manipulated in order to create order and control over people
in a totalitarian regime. Michael, the protagonist of the novel, problematises hegemonic and totalising
perception of space by occupying a position that rejects either/or logic of modern thought. Not only does
Michael pose a threat to the arrogation of space by apartheid but also problematises the appropriation and
control of identity and meaning which in totalitarian regimes are closely connected to the control of social
spaces. Michael, for the most part, remains impervious to spatial and semantic disambiguation by resorting to
the politics of ambivalence and in-betweenness. Such positionality makes the novel a platform for the
demonstration of postmodern identity politics which hinges on a resistance to epistemological disambiguation
and dualistic structuring. The framework used here consists of applying the theories of thinkers whose ideas
share a penchant for disrupting the binary divisions that have underlain our socio-political understanding in the
modern era. The novel will be analysed in light of these ideas to establish its compatibility with such a kind of
reading. |
| format |
Article |
| author |
Teimouri, Mahdi |
| spellingShingle |
Teimouri, Mahdi Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| author_facet |
Teimouri, Mahdi |
| author_sort |
Teimouri, Mahdi |
| title |
Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| title_short |
Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| title_full |
Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| title_fullStr |
Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Place and the politics of space in J.M.Coetzee’s life and times of Michael K |
| title_sort |
place and the politics of space in j.m.coetzee’s life and times of michael k |
| publisher |
Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9706/1/9301-33899-1-PB.pdf |
| first_indexed |
2023-09-18T19:55:30Z |
| last_indexed |
2023-09-18T19:55:30Z |
| _version_ |
1777406501274517504 |