“There is only one place for me. It is here, entabeni” Inxeba (2017), Kalushi (2016) and the difficulties of “the urban” for the New South African Man

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Inxeba (2017, dir. John Trengove), an initiate, Kwanda, asks his ikhankatha (initiate guardian), Xolani, why he keeps coming back to entabeni (the mountain). Xolani responds that it is important to return with his “hand” to help the initiates’ journey to manhood. We later learn that Xolani’s return to entabeni can further be explained by his ongoing passionate affair with Vija – another initiate guardian, who is married to a woman. While much of the analysis of Inxeba has focused on this dynamic and volatile relationship between Xolani and Vija, this paper returns to Kwanda’s question: why do seemingly urbanised men like Xolani and Kwanda’s father, Khwalo, in Inxeba, and Solomon and his brother, “Bra Lucas” Mahlangu in Kalushi’s (2016, dir. Mandla Dube), perceive leaving the city as important for the attainment of personhood and manhood? While Inxeba is set in the rural areas, and Kalushi is set in the city, both postapartheid films represent what I call the “New South African Man” (NSAM). Building on the conceptual terrain of the “New South African Woman” (NSAW), developed by scholars such as Pumla Gqola, Nthabiseng Motsemme and Athambile Masola, among others, this paper employs the concept of the NSAM as a conceptual term to unpack the cinematic representation of postapartheid Black masculinities in these films.