From South Africa to South Central L.A.: Transnational Black Protest, Celebrity, and the Cultural Boycott

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using Los Angeles as a case study, this essay explores transnational Black protest, celebrity, and the cultural boycott. Although cultural activism was a staple of anti-apartheid activity across the world, Los Angeles was distinguished in the U.S. context by an ongoing campaign that mobilised African Americans for the purpose of confronting Black celebrities who violated the cultural boycott. Organising around the cultural boycott took place alongside novel forms of Black American celebrity whose epicentre was Los Angeles, and amidst worsening social conditions for ordinary Black Americans. In seeking to constrain the activities of Black celebrities even as they critiqued the increasing depoliticisation of African American life, Black radicals injected class politics into an anti-racist struggle while leveraging the cultural capital of Black Americans. As part of a broader effort to highlight the commonalities between social conditions in South Africa and Southern California, work around the cultural boycott invigorated a Black American critique of American social conditions while also demonstrating the value of cultural work as a strategic terrain for transnational political activity.