Abstract:
In Ebrahim Patel’s, The world of Nat Nakasa: A collection of letters, Nathaniel Nakasa’s term
‘Native of Nowhere’ describes Nakasa’s experience of leaving South Africa on an exit
permit. Negotiating his classification as an aggressor of the state, Nakasa’s expression signals
his confrontation with his expendability as a Native in a country founded on the use of
Blackness as Blackbodies that prop up white supremacy and rule. ‘Native of Nowhere’ here
details how historically white universities in South Africa perpetuate ontological negations,
through denying Blackness in institutions formerly reserved for whiteness. Through an
analysis that implicitly posits education as a public good, I argue for the use of education as
an emancipatory tool. Using Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness to analyse negation, I
develop the ‘Native of Nowhere’ to articulate a critical pedagogy, which delivers on the
emancipatory potential of education.
