ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the notion of moral insecurity among middle-class South Africans, theorized as the incommunicability or inoperability of ethical regimes to lead to a good, middle-class life in a good society in a context of plurality and uncertainty. This chapter continues the book's focus on South African literature, beginning with a reading of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, drawing out conceptions of confession and penance resonant in the work of Michel Foucault. The second section offers a broader analysis of discourses of confession and repentance in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The final section examines theological and policy discourse aimed at remediation or reeducation, with specific reference to taxation as a ritual form of repentance.