MULTICULTURALISM AND NATIONHOOD: A POSTMODERNIST READING OF NADINE GORDIMER'S NONE TO ACCOMPANY ME AND GILLIAN SLOVO'S RED DUST.

In order to forestall the trauma of the past, post-apartheid South African leadership has been legislating laws to reconcile cultural differences among its citizens in the hope of invigorating the spirit of nationhood. Thus for socio-political harmony to exist in this society, cultural pluralism and dialogue must be encouraged so that the different races and ethnic groups will see each other as part of the same nation. Using Nadine Gordimer’s None to Accompany Me and Gillian Slovo’s Red Dust, this paper verifies the place of multiculturalism in post-apartheid literary narratives and its influence in inculcating the spirit of national consciousness in South Africa. From the paradigm of postmodernist criticism, this paper sustains the premise that for social justice and harmony to reign in multicultural and multiracial societies, there should be the political will of state leadership to shun cultural exclusionism and articulate policies that will reconcile and accommodate cultural/racial differences thereby leading to what could be termed cultural ecumenicism. In other words, governmental policies in such societies should be directed towards bridging racial and ethnic cleavages in order to build a cosmopolitan society