'Home affairs': The post-apartheid politics of identity and nation -building on South African television

Endeavoring to unite a once deeply divided country, the government of South Africa has harnessed television to facilitate the re-invention of the nation and the re-integration of its peoples. In particular, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), as the largest and oldest television institution in the country, has been mandated to "inform, educate, entertain, support and develop culture and education and as far as possible secure fair and equal treatment for the various groupings in the nation."1 Because women of all races have historically been marginalized in South Africa, their representation is of particular interest with regard to how they are being re-incorporated as contributing members of the public sphere.;In this dissertation I examine the post-apartheid television representation of South African women through women-oriented dramas, and the reception of these shows by female audiences. Utilizing the independent production company Penguin Films and its show Home Affairs as a case study, and paying attention to how the SABC communicates its nation-building objectives through programming briefs and production contracts, I explore how this drama establishes a view of the nation that contains particular gendered, ethnic, and racial significance and how these meanings are received and negotiated by a diverse range of women.;Overall, I argue that even as the SABC has been structured to serve the needs of the public sphere, independent of the government and market, commissioning editors and writers/producers act on behalf of state and private interests to construct and reflect a national identity that incorporates the interests of certain women based on an exclusive experience of race, ethnicity, and class. Moreover, the nation-building project on television, while pervading both public service and commercially-funded forms of the medium, has not yet been accomplished, and does not speak to all citizens of the nation.;1South African Broadcasting Corporation, About SABC TV Online 24 October 2005, http://www.sabc.co.za/portal/site/menuitem.e2b495785004d70637487e675401aeb9/ (accessed October 24, 2005).