{"title":"Colour-blind racism in post-apartheid South Africa","authors":"Ibrahim Steyn","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2023.2269277","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"AbstractSeveral scholars point out that racism now resides under the guises of equality, meritocracy, non-racialism, and multiculturalism. The term ‘colour blindness’ has gained noticeable currency in international and local scholarship on racism and race. In the context of South Africa, while several authors are using the term ‘colour blindness’, very few studies offer a systematic analysis of colour-blind racism (CBR). This article examines how Whites deploy CBR in historically white universities, and it considers the relationship between colour-blind racism and neoliberalism in post-apartheid South Africa. The article advances the following two arguments. First, colour-blind racism is an ideological resource that Whites can use in post-apartheid South Africa to silence discussion about historical injustices; to resist interventions intended to address racial inequalities, and to express racialized feelings without appearing defensive. Second, colour-blind racism has proven to be useful to proponents of neoliberalism (White and Black) in their pursuit to erase race from the affairs of the state, and to assign responsibility for development and justice to the market.Plusieurs chercheurs soulignent que le racisme réside désormais sous des signes d'égalité, de méritocratie, de non-racisme et de multiculturalisme. Le terme « daltonisme » a gagné en popularité dans les études internationales et locales sur le racisme et la race. Dans le contexte de l'Afrique du Sud, alors que plusieurs auteurs utilisent le terme « daltonisme », très peu d'études proposent une analyse systématique du racisme daltonien. Cet article examine comment les Blancs déploient le racisme daltonien dans des universités historiquement blanches. En outre, il examine la relation entre le racisme daltonien et le néolibéralisme dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid. L'article avance les deux arguments suivants. Tout d’abord, le racisme daltonien est une ressource idéologique que les Blancs peuvent utiliser dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid pour faire taire les discussions sur les injustices historiques, résister aux interventions visant à remédier aux inégalités raciales et exprimer des sentiments racialisés sans apparaître sur la défensive. Par ailleurs, le racisme daltonien s'est avéré utile aux partisans du néolibéralisme (blancs et noirs) dans leur quête d'effacer la race des affaires de l'État et d'attribuer la responsabilité du développement et de la justice au marché.Keywords: colour-blind racismneoliberalismracial inequalityindividualismuniversalismMots clés: Racisme daltoniennéolibéralismeinégalité racialeindividualismeuniversalisme AcknowledgmentProfessor Aziz Choudry made invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this article. Sadly, Professor Choudry passed away in 2021. I would also like to thank the reviewers for their comments on previous drafts of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The DA is currently South Africa’s second largest political party.2 In the South African context, the persistence of the racial logics of science is clearly manifested in an article written by White students from Stellenbosch University titled Age-and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Colored South African women, which was published in 2019 in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. Based on interviews with 60 Coloured women, the authors claim that Coloured women, between the ages of 18 and 64 years, are at higher risk of ‘intellectual deficiencies’, because of ‘low levels of education and unhealthy lifestyles’. Indeed, the article was roundly rejected, and the journal eventually withdrew it.3 This is evidenced by the tendency to put race in inverted commas.4 Based on the ideology of Black Consciousness, I embrace Blackness as a political category representing all three subordinate racial groups (black Africans, Coloureds, and Indians) that were causalities of colonialism and racial capitalism in South Africa. However, it is my contention that principled struggles for social justice require that we recognise differences in consciousness and social experience among and within these Black racial groups.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical African Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2023.2269277","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
AbstractSeveral scholars point out that racism now resides under the guises of equality, meritocracy, non-racialism, and multiculturalism. The term ‘colour blindness’ has gained noticeable currency in international and local scholarship on racism and race. In the context of South Africa, while several authors are using the term ‘colour blindness’, very few studies offer a systematic analysis of colour-blind racism (CBR). This article examines how Whites deploy CBR in historically white universities, and it considers the relationship between colour-blind racism and neoliberalism in post-apartheid South Africa. The article advances the following two arguments. First, colour-blind racism is an ideological resource that Whites can use in post-apartheid South Africa to silence discussion about historical injustices; to resist interventions intended to address racial inequalities, and to express racialized feelings without appearing defensive. Second, colour-blind racism has proven to be useful to proponents of neoliberalism (White and Black) in their pursuit to erase race from the affairs of the state, and to assign responsibility for development and justice to the market.Plusieurs chercheurs soulignent que le racisme réside désormais sous des signes d'égalité, de méritocratie, de non-racisme et de multiculturalisme. Le terme « daltonisme » a gagné en popularité dans les études internationales et locales sur le racisme et la race. Dans le contexte de l'Afrique du Sud, alors que plusieurs auteurs utilisent le terme « daltonisme », très peu d'études proposent une analyse systématique du racisme daltonien. Cet article examine comment les Blancs déploient le racisme daltonien dans des universités historiquement blanches. En outre, il examine la relation entre le racisme daltonien et le néolibéralisme dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid. L'article avance les deux arguments suivants. Tout d’abord, le racisme daltonien est une ressource idéologique que les Blancs peuvent utiliser dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid pour faire taire les discussions sur les injustices historiques, résister aux interventions visant à remédier aux inégalités raciales et exprimer des sentiments racialisés sans apparaître sur la défensive. Par ailleurs, le racisme daltonien s'est avéré utile aux partisans du néolibéralisme (blancs et noirs) dans leur quête d'effacer la race des affaires de l'État et d'attribuer la responsabilité du développement et de la justice au marché.Keywords: colour-blind racismneoliberalismracial inequalityindividualismuniversalismMots clés: Racisme daltoniennéolibéralismeinégalité racialeindividualismeuniversalisme AcknowledgmentProfessor Aziz Choudry made invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this article. Sadly, Professor Choudry passed away in 2021. I would also like to thank the reviewers for their comments on previous drafts of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The DA is currently South Africa’s second largest political party.2 In the South African context, the persistence of the racial logics of science is clearly manifested in an article written by White students from Stellenbosch University titled Age-and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Colored South African women, which was published in 2019 in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. Based on interviews with 60 Coloured women, the authors claim that Coloured women, between the ages of 18 and 64 years, are at higher risk of ‘intellectual deficiencies’, because of ‘low levels of education and unhealthy lifestyles’. Indeed, the article was roundly rejected, and the journal eventually withdrew it.3 This is evidenced by the tendency to put race in inverted commas.4 Based on the ideology of Black Consciousness, I embrace Blackness as a political category representing all three subordinate racial groups (black Africans, Coloureds, and Indians) that were causalities of colonialism and racial capitalism in South Africa. However, it is my contention that principled struggles for social justice require that we recognise differences in consciousness and social experience among and within these Black racial groups.
【摘要】一些学者指出,种族主义在平等、精英主义、非种族主义和多元文化主义的伪装下存在。“色盲”一词在国际和本地关于种族主义和种族的学术研究中得到了显著的应用。在南非的背景下,虽然一些作者使用“色盲”一词,但很少有研究对色盲种族主义(CBR)进行系统分析。本文考察了白人如何在传统的白人大学中部署CBR,并考虑了后种族隔离时期南非种族歧视与新自由主义之间的关系。文章提出了以下两个论点。首先,种族歧视是一种意识形态资源,在后种族隔离时代的南非,白人可以利用它来压制对历史不公的讨论;抵制意在解决种族不平等问题的干预,表达种族化的感受,而不表现出自卫。其次,事实证明,不分肤色的种族主义对新自由主义(白人和黑人)的支持者很有用,因为他们追求将种族从国家事务中抹去,并将发展和正义的责任分配给市场。“多种族主义”和“多种族主义”和“多文化主义”是不同的,“多种族主义”和“多文化主义”是不同的。“种族主义”一词的意思是,“种族主义”是一种“流行主义”,“国际主义”和“地方主义”都是种族主义和种族主义。根据南部非洲的情况,根据“种族主义”一词,根据“种族主义”一词,根据“种族主义”一词,我们建议对系统的种族主义进行分析。这篇文章考察了布朗斯的种族主义观点,即他的种族主义观点和大学的历史观点。此外,我将审查种族主义与种族隔离后的南方非洲之间的关系。文章提出了两个论点。在国外,种族主义是一种资源,在种族隔离后的非洲,种族主义是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源,是一种资源。为,le racisme daltonien年代是avere有益的辅助游击队du neoliberalisme(黑色布兰科等)他们在quete d 'effacer des风流韵事de la比赛我et d 'attribuer la responsabilite du开发署et de la正义盟马尔凯。关键字:色盲种族主义新自由主义种族不平等个人主义普遍主义种族主义daltonien samoli samolis samolisme samgalitrose种族主义个人主义普遍主义感谢Aziz Choudry教授对本文早期草稿的宝贵意见。不幸的是,乔德里教授于2021年去世。我还想感谢审稿人对文章先前草稿的评论。披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。民主联盟党目前是南非第二大政党在南非的背景下,科学的种族逻辑的持久性在斯坦伦博斯大学的白人学生写的一篇题为“年龄和教育对南非有色女性认知功能的相关影响”的文章中得到了清楚的体现,该文章于2019年发表在《衰老、神经心理学和认知》杂志上。根据对60名有色人种女性的采访,作者声称,年龄在18岁至64岁之间的有色人种女性患“智力缺陷”的风险更高,因为她们“受教育程度低,生活方式不健康”。事实上,这篇文章被彻底拒绝了,该杂志最终撤回了它这一点可以从把种族放在引号里的倾向中得到证明基于黑人意识的意识形态,我认为黑人是一个政治范畴,代表了南非殖民主义和种族资本主义造成的所有三个从属种族群体(非洲黑人、有色人种和印度人)。然而,我的观点是,争取社会正义的原则斗争要求我们认识到这些黑人种族群体之间和内部在意识和社会经验方面的差异。
期刊介绍:
Critical African Studies seeks to return Africanist scholarship to the heart of theoretical innovation within each of its constituent disciplines, including Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology, History, Law and Economics. We offer authors a more flexible publishing platform than other journals, allowing them greater space to develop empirical discussions alongside theoretical and conceptual engagements. We aim to publish scholarly articles that offer both innovative empirical contributions, grounded in original fieldwork, and also innovative theoretical engagements. This speaks to our broader intention to promote the deployment of thorough empirical work for the purposes of sophisticated theoretical innovation. We invite contributions that meet the aims of the journal, including special issue proposals that offer fresh empirical and theoretical insights into African Studies debates.