Decolonising the Conceptions of Race in South Africa: A Fanonian Analysis (original) (raw)
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Decolonising the Conceptions of Race Africa: A Fanonian Analysis in South
Strategic Review of Southern Africa, 2018
This article claims that racism is undoubtedly the foundation upon which colonialism prospered and assumed its nature and characteristics. Hence, a rethinking of issues associated with conceptions of race is simultaneously a decolonisation process. It is impossible if not inconceivable to think of racism in post-apartheid South Africa without making reference to the colonial nature of the practice. It is beyond dispute that the issue of race and identity is still a bone of contention in post-apartheid South Africa. A lot has been written and done in this regard but this article argues that from what has been accomplished no effective and workable recommendations have been successfully put forward. The article challenges the prevailing recommendations and proposals to be revised beyond anger and emotion. Such an endeavour does not perceive anger and emotion as irrelevant but pushes to re-channel them in ways that support emancipatory strategies that serve to unlearn racial stereotypes. It proposes not a solution but a foundation of a thinking process inspired by Fanon which seeks to understand the problem before we attempt to propose a solution.
Race, Ressentment and Racism: Transformation in South África
nai.uu.se
Over centuries, a particular "racial" regime emerged in which "race" came to be bound up with class. While the meaning of "race" was fluid over time, once apartheid was firmly entrenched, officially prescribed "racial" categories divided the country"s society. After apartheid, "black" and "white" people continue to live together in a democratic society in which all have equal rights and duties, notwithstanding their "race". However, the terms of reconciliation and what is required to live together is contested. From a qualitative perspective, this paper analyses how "black" people in South Africa strive to overcome and ressignify the marks of a history of repression and "racial" marginalization. We will follow the trajectory of Mpho, a "black" woman, with the objective to reflect on how the intersection of "race" and gender involves situations of negociation, cohersion, ressentment and refusal. In her narrative of the self, Mpho, explains how feelings of injustice about past discrimination, racism, and violence affect her co-habitation with "white" people. While there are points of entanglement, the legacy of past discrimination looms large and renders living together fraught with difficulties. The paper discusses how some individuals reorganize their network of sociability in post-apartheid South Africa with a focus on the "field of possibilities" available for different "racial" groups.
The Narratives of Racism in South Africa
12 Lenses into Diversity in South Africa, 2021
The early promises of a unified South Africa as a rainbow nation after its first democratic election in 1994 and a breakaway from minority rule, has certainly in its delivery, in the main, been forgotten, side-lined, faded or adjusted, 27 years on. A major part of the country’s centuries-old colonial history, Apartheid history and post-Apartheid/democratic history have always been intertwined with race. In 1994, the democratically-elected tripartite alliance – the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) – introduced legislative measures to eradicate racism. One research participant for this book chapter (P4, Camissa, identifying as female) reflected on the promise: “I was so excited that I was finally going to be considered a full human… at work, in the shops, on the road, when travelling… without the accompanying filters through which other people viewed me. I believed that there would be no more racism… I could get any job, if I was qualified for it. I could live anywhere, if I could afford it. I could go to museums and restaurants with other people, if I paid for it. I could openly date and marry people from other races, if I was in love and inclined to do so. The stares would stop. The suspicion would stop. I could stop pretending… I could be me and be accepted for being me”. In addition to scrapping the Apartheid legislation, an extensive policy and legal framework was developed to promote affirmative action in education, employment, sport and other areas of life, including a far-reaching programme of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE). B-BBEE has attempted to move diversity from being a political ideal to a practical business mandate. The belief in the end of racism in the nation, as well as the promise of a non-racial society, have endured in the minds of many citizens, however researchers and writers have, over the years, highlighted some of the enduring social, political and economic obstacles to the development of a mature, non-racial democracy in South Africa. These include low levels of industrialisation; poor public service delivery; ailing state-owned enterprises; widespread poverty; high levels of unemployment; violence; homelessness; weakened governance structures, particularly at municipality levels; considerable inequality in the distribution of wealth; skewed land ownership; low skills levels of the majority of the population; and a low educational level of large segments of the population. These latter issues are not the substantive focus of this chapter however, as they have been extensively explored and written about in relation to race, and are still being written about by researchers and journalists alike. Instead, this chapter will seek to shine a light on the less-mentioned aspects of racism in South Africa, specifically the changing narratives and therefore outworking of racism, and the resulting psychological and behavioural effects on those who reside in the country.
Identities-global Studies in Culture and Power, 2019
This paper explores strategies deployed by a sample of white, British-born South Africans to account for their positions during apartheid and post-apartheid. Whereas literature on white racism identifies denial as a key strategy towards racial discrimination and the maintenance of privilege, the historical and political context of South Africa makes this tactic implausible. The paper contributes to understandings of pluralism within white identifications through investigation of diverse discursive strategies used to frame the overtly racist, apartheid regime and the present post-apartheid, supposedly, 'post-race' state. A range of positions are identified, in different ways attempting to minimise individual implication. A common feature however is to reimagine the structure of social relations, in order to diminish responsibility for the sins of the past or the success of the future. While the picture is fractured by the plurality of white responses, the paper demonstrates profound difficulties in adjusting to the new social reality.
Transformation Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa , 2018
There is a consensus amongst many South African scholars, activists, human rights advocates, and citizens that South Africa should become a non-racial society. So strong is our collective belief in a non-racial society in the future of South Africa that we have this principle inscribed in the founding provisions of our Constitution. As an ideal, it stands as a guiding principle in the virtues and values promoted in our society. Arguments abound in the literature for why non-racialism is a noble and worthy cause, but little attention is given to the question of if the attainment of such a society is possible. If non-racialism is a state in which we no longer think about race, I argue that such a state is probably not in the future of South Africa. In this article, I ask what should be done if the attainment of such a non-racial society is not possible. Particularly, I ask if the strategy of racial eliminativism is useful in the endeavour towards a more racially just society if racial thinking will persist despite any of our efforts to move past the idea of race.
Twenty-six years into a constitutional democracy in South Africa and the majority of black Africans continue to suffer from institutionalised racism, high levels of poverty, racialised inequalities, unemployment, landlessness, and economic inactivity. This paper discusses the main barriers to true liberation and development, such as the institutionalised racism and white supremacy, which have been embedded in our constitutional democratic state. This paper presents an argument that until the democratic status quo and the constitution are challenged and reviewed, black people of South Africa will continue to be oppressed by racist institutions which breed and reproduces white supremacy. This challenge for the emancipation of black South Africans from institutionalised racism and white supremacy forms the foundation of a post-apartheid liberation struggle. The future and salvation of a black impoverished society lies in African philosophical ideologies such as Black Consciousness and Pan Africanism. Only from a position of socioeconomic power will black Africans dismantle institutionalised racism an conquer white supremacy