A very postmodern lecturer this afternoon

July 29, 2002 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

A very postmodern lecturer this afternoon. All she did was humbly challenge and renounce essentialism with the vision of moving beyond to a new progressive, not reactionary, individualist psyche within collective histories. Her discussion of bringing Coloured identities from the margins between black and white cultures was fascinating, because she didnÆt shy away from the issues so entrenched in antiracist work- the traps of colour-blindness, assimilation, and multiculturalism. Holding up critical antiracism and personal work is a new movement in sociology towards multiplicity and transcendence of essentialism. She questioned the narrowness of æblackÆ as privileging black æAfricanÆ identities over black Coloured and black Indian identities. She critiqued the Rainbow nation as depoliticising and multiculturalism as disregarding the history and process of power in shaping cultural identities. I drank it in.

Then she began discussing her newer work, her personal work, and a process of ôtaking down the armour of blackness without losing [her] politics and location.ö As someone who found herself arguing vehemently with one of my closest friends on the trip about the consumerist commodification of womenÆs bodies the hour before, I asked how one could separate a kind of defensiveness with maintaining strength in conviction. She said that defensiveness was a sign of weakness more than strength, and openness (but not porousness) is a key to opening needed dialogue about race. By this time, for me at least, this discussion has moved way beyond race in South Africa to a discussion of Smith and anti-oppression work as a whole.

The most essential thing she discussed was shifting racism from pathology (everyone is racist except for the person accuser) to norm. Thus, people may move away from a hierarchy of righteous black politics to a discussion of what we do with who we are. In that, all must acknowledge and work through their position within racist norms.

What I find most problematic about her discussion is that on a personal level, taking down the armour of blackness (as an example) works, but its implications are potentially depoliticising. In addition, this is an academic discussion that takes place apart from the pain of life and apartheid, and doesnÆt acknowledge a need for continued political solidarity that may be exclusive. A class analysis of race discussions was left out too- the conversation that may happen between a white Afrikaner and Cape Malay Coloured over a pool table in some club is accessible only to those who can pay the 30 Rand cover charge. I was impressed by the emphasis on dialogue, but like my views on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, there is a place for such things, and they cannot marginalize the equally essential issue of redistribution.

An issue that I have found too easily skirted with passive voice and an academic emphasis on symbolic cultural revival and African renaissance. IÆm still holding onto the perspective that cultural roads are formulated, paved, and used with money as fuel. I canÆt privilege classism over racism, but I canÆt forget class eitherà even in South Africa.