The Politics of Making a New Space for School Libraries in South Africa

Abstract

In this paper I consider the politics around the school library in South Africa and what is emerging during this postapartheid period of social transformation, to assess the politics of the 'new space' being produced through that transformation. This requires me to look back, through memories and images, at what was inherited from the apartheid era – an approach often criticised by embarrassed white South Africans who wish to be blinkered, and move on, ignoring our painful history, our roots. Then I revisit the process of formulating national regulatory policy for school libraries in South Africa, and try to understand the obstacles to its progress. My conclusions will point to what we might need to look for in the emerging policy for a ‘new practice’ and ‘new space' for school libraries.