Cultural theory in post-apartheid South Africa: ecotones as theory for cultural enquiry in Mad Buddies (Gray Hofmeyr, 2012)

Abstract

This article discusses ecotones as a theory and method for cultural enquiry in post-apartheid South Africa. It applies semiotics to critique cultural configurations in Gray Hofmeyr’s Mad Buddies, arguing that, first, the film’s figuration of ecotone through the imagery of debris enables theorization of the shift toward post-racial cultural thought; and, two, that visual of ruins affords us a chance to intercept the new racial configurations. The main proposition is that application of ecotones theory in post-apartheid cultural criticism allows us to grasp the incompletion of the racial and cultural transition by anticipating nondescript cultural norms: neither rigidly segregated nor fully integrated.