Black Nationalist Thought in South Africa: The Persistence of an Idea of Liberation (African Histories and Modernities)

This book maintains that South Africa, despite the official end of apartheid in 1994, remains steeped in the interstices of coloniality. The author looks at the Black Nationalist thought in South Africa and its genealogy. Colonial modernity and coloniality of power and their equally sinister accessories, war, murder, rape and genocide have had a lasting impact onto those unfortunate enough to receive such ghastly visitations. Tafira explores a range of topics including youth political movement, the social construction of blackness in Azania, and conceptualizations from the Black Liberation Movement. Foreword 8 Aluta Continua! (The Struggle Continues!) 8 Preface 12 Contents 16 List of Acronyms 18 Chapter 1: Introduction 21 Notes 31 Chapter 2: The Black Nationalist Movement in Azania 34 Existentialism and Humanism in BC Philosophy 41 Frantz Fanon 41 Steve Biko 43 Amilcar Cabral 45 Black Liberation Theology 45 Race and Class 49 Conclusion 55 Notes 55 Chapter 3: BC and Its Fortunes After 1976 62 Conclusion 69 Notes 70 Chapter 4: Black Consciousness in the Postapartheid Era 73 Blackwash 81 Political Education 84 Film Screenings 85 Bua Blackwash Bua 85 Black Socialism 86 Contradictions, Contractions and Contestations Among BC Youth 96 The September National Imbizo 109 Hagiography and Biko’s Contested Legacy 113 Conclusion 119 Notes 119 Chapter 5: Some Considerations in a Youth Political Movement 125 Love 125 Don’t Agonize, Organize! 128 Practice of Revolutionary Democracy 129 Collective Leadership 132 Conclusion 134 Notes 134 Chapter 6: Youth Politics, Agency and Subjectivity 136 Introduction 136 B 143 Siyaphambili Youth Pioneers 147 Blaq Aesthetics 150 Conclusion 151 Notes 151 Chapter 7: The Social Construction of Blackness in Azania 155 Introduction 155 The Black Body and Social Suffering 156 Blackness as Labour 163 Blackness as Agency 165 Is Postapartheid a Post Racial Society? 178 Conclusion 187 Notes 187 Chapter 8: The Black Middle Class and Black Struggles 198 Conclusion 210 Notes 211 Chapter 9: Culture and History in the Black Struggles for Liberation 215 Introduction 215 The Modernist View 216 Culture and History 222 The Roots View 225 Conclusion 229 Notes 229 Chapter 10: Collaboration, Complicity and “Selling-­Out” in South African Historiography 234 Collaboration and Complicity in South African History 235 Homelands and Collaboration 248 Categories of a Sell-Out/Collaborator 256 Impimpi/Mthengesi/Mdayisi 256 Askari 260 Amagundwane (Rats) 261 The Vigilantes 262 Why do People Sell-Out? 264 Conclusion 266 Notes 266 Chapter 11: Transference and Re(De)Placement and the Edge Towards a Postcolonial Conundrum 273 The Postcolonial Malady 274 The Black Condition 284 Education 286 Health 288 Police Brutality 289 Conclusion 290 Notes 292 Chapter 12: The Idea of Nation in South Africa, 1940 to Post-1994: Conceptualizations from the Black Liberation Movement 298 1940–1959 301 1969–1994 310 Nation in the Postapartheid Era 316 Conclusion 323 Notes 324 Chapter 13: Symbols, Symbolism and the New Social Order 333 The Masses 340 The 2010 Soccer World Cup and Sporting Jamborees 345 Conclusion 347 Notes 347 Chapter 14: Concluding Remarks 351 Index 353 Front Matter....Pages i-xix Introduction....Pages 1-13 The Black Nationalist Movement in Azania....Pages 15-42 BC and Its Fortunes After 1976....Pages 43-53 Black Consciousness in the Postapartheid Era....Pages 55-106 Some Considerations in a Youth Political Movement....Pages 107-117 Youth Politics, Agency and Subjectivity....Pages 119-137 The Social Construction of Blackness in Azania....Pages 139-181 The Black Middle Class and Black Struggles....Pages 183-199 Culture and History in the Black Struggles for Liberation....Pages 201-219 Collaboration, Complicity and “Selling-Out” in South African Historiography....Pages 221-259 Transference and Re(De)Placement and the Edge Towards a Postcolonial Conundrum....Pages 261-285 The Idea of Nation in South Africa, 1940 to Post-1994: Conceptualizations from the Black Liberation Movement....Pages 287-321 Symbols, Symbolism and the New Social Order....Pages 323-340 Concluding Remarks....Pages 341-342 Back Matter....Pages 343-365