“Breaking the Monologue?”

Abstract

In this paper the author tries to understand two movements of subjugated peoples of America and South Africa that claim to be for the political, cultural, and economic advancement of their particular ethnic group—the American Indian Movement (AIM) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Both groups actively use symbols and protests to tie their group to the traditional past and to the history of subjugation; both groups look to traditional leadership as a source of legitimacy. Inkatha in particular uses a highly controversial history, invented to suit its political purposes, that ties the current movement to the supposed greatness of King Shaka of the early nineteenth century. There can be no doubt history plays an important role in the construction of AIM and IFP. The prevailing question of this paper is: to what degree do the American Indian Movement and the Inkatha Freedom Party move their groups of people out of the shadow of isolation and achieve breaking the monologue of the colonizer's history?