Transformation as social drama: Stories about merging at North West University, South Africa

Abstract

South African higher education is going through a transitional phase of transformation in which existing cultures and identities are strongly contested. The ambiguity and insecurity that come along with such a process are demonstrated in this article through presentation of two rival ‘narratives of change’ that can be found packed into a number of reports concerning the merger of universities that now form the North West University. Following Victor Turner's vocabulary, this transitional phase of social, political, and organisational restructuring is labelled a social drama. This is because the changes in the higher education sector starting in 2004 have meant a breach in the normative order at various higher education institutions, a breach that has caused feelings of insecurity and crisis which the South African government has tried to deal with through a series of redressive actions. The different narratives dealing with the particular institutional transformation, the outcome of which is North West University, are a clear demonstration of what Turner refers to as the liminal and indeterminate aspects of social drama.