Colonialism, Liberalism And Identity In Alan Paton’s Cry The Beloved Country

Abstract

This paper examines how Alan Paton reveals the impact upon a traditional rural African community of the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation which arose out of colonialist capitalism. It focuses on the connection which Paton makes between the exploitation of the black urban migrants by the white minority, the loss of their traditional values and the social and psychological degeneration which arose out of the negation of the identity of the native as a human being. It examines Paton’s message that only through reconciliation and cooperation between the races can catastrophe be averted in South Africa, noting that Paton himself recognises that his solution leaves much to faith and human kindness. The paper examines evidence of paternalism in Paton’s attitude. In support of the idea that Paton’s solution, although well-intentioned, is too overtly Christian and over reliant on individual goodwill, the paper notes that, after a period in which Paton’s conciliatory ideas were unfashionable, they were revived in the 1990s by the integrationist government of the first black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, but as part of a process of political change, with their Christian context transcended through assimilation into the traditional inclusive African concept of humanism, “Ubuntu”.

Keywords: South Africa; colonialism; capitalism; identity