Articles · Vol. 16 No. 1 (2012): African Sociological Review · Pages 4-18

1 - Mafeje and ‘Authentic Interlocutors’: an appraisal of his epistemology

  • Bongani Nyoka
    Bongani Nyoka education & Skills Development Unit Human Sciences research Council Private Bag X9182, Cape Town 8000 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8478-8725 (unauthenticated)
    Dr Bongani Nyoka is a Lecturer in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of South Africa and an MA from the University of the Western Cape. A Rhodes University alumnus, he graduated...
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Vol. 16 · 2012 No. 1 African Sociological Review ASR

Abstract

Very little is known in the South African academy about Archie Mafeje’s theoretical writings. When those who knew him, or those who knew of him, do write, they very often focus on matters that have little to do with his work. This paper seeks to remedy this deficiency in the said writings by attempting to grapple with his epistemological and methodological approach to the
social sciences – his notions of ‘authentic interlocutors’ and the ‘discursive method’. The paper affirms no unique position as such; its contribution consists, for the most part, in its exposition of Mafeje’s work.

Keywords

Archie Mafeje authentic interlocutors epistemology methodology the discursive method

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Author Biography

  • Bongani Nyoka, education & Skills Development Unit Human Sciences research Council Private Bag X9182, Cape Town 8000

    Dr Bongani Nyoka is a Lecturer in the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of South Africa and an MA from the University of the Western Cape. A Rhodes University alumnus, he graduated from Rhodes in the 2000s with a BSocSc in Political Studies, Philosophy and Industrial Sociology and, subsequently, an honours in Political Studies. He has worked as a Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council and the Archie Mafeje Research Institute, respectively. He was recently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. Dr Nyoka was a 2013 laureate of CODESRIA. He is the author of two books, Archie Mafeje: Voices of Liberation (HSRC Press, 2019) and The Social and Political Thought of Archie Mafeje (Wits University Press, 2020).

    Research Interests

    • African Intellectual History  
    • African Sociology
    • Land and Agrarian Studies
    • Revolutionary Theory

References

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