"Patriotic blackness" and "liberal/anti-patriotic" whiteness: charting the emergence and character of an articulation of black/white racial subjectivity peculiar to post apartheid South Africa

This research report offers a perspective in which to understand the emergence of two particular racialised subjectivities namely, the “patriotic black’’ subject and the “liberal/anti-patriotic” white subject, in post-apartheid South Africa. The argument is that the dislocatory experience of the country’s first democratically held elections in 1994 introduces the opportunity for different discourses of race to come forth. Particular racial discourses are then said to be productive of distinctly post-apartheid black and white subjects whose emergence, development and character are fundamentally connected to, and reliant on, each other. The “patriotic black’’ subject has the “liberal/anti-patriotic” white subject as its constitutive other and vice-versa, resulting in the existence of two oppositional subjectivities which threaten the realisation of post-apartheid South Africa’s ideals of non-racialis

The shifting iconography of drinking horns in the Western Grassfields, Cameroon

This paper examines the shifting iconography and iconology of the buffalo and cow horn drinking cup in the western Grassfields of Cameroon. It highlights the extraordinary creativity of how cow horn drinking cups have provided young people who were previously denied the opportunity of using objects of status to associate with the new aesthetic practices. By examining the fascination in cow horn drinking cups decorated with Bruce Lee’s facial image, this paper will show that successful youth who acquire such items have become the embodiments of a new iconography and iconology for the western Grassfields. More importantly, the study will demonstrate how these emerging youths, who are neither royals nor elites have reverse to their advantage the traditional iconography and iconology that was typical of the region and that was restricted to royals and elites

The shifting image of black women’s hair in Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa

In this article, we explore the motivations for the changing image of black South African women’s hair in Tshwane, Pretoria. We argue that black South African women’s hair, in the past, as in the present, has largely been misconstrued. We demonstrate that like all black South African inhabitants, South African women’s hair has had its own fair share of ridicule, ostracizing, and racial classification. As a result of this, black South African women’s hair is constantly in motion, searching for recognition and appreciation. The article is based on a review of literature and interviews conducted with 30 black South African women in Tshwane, Pretoria, from July to September in 2015 and in August 2016