‘I am proud to be South African because I am South African’: reflections on ‘white pride’ in post‐apartheid South Africa

Abstract

In this essay I explore issues of ‘white’ subjectivity in post‐apartheid South Africa. I identify and focus on two types of ‘pride’ expressed and articulated by many white South Africans today. The first type of ‘pride’ is a validated pride (validated by the people who express it): for example, many white South Africans are ‘proud’ to be a part of ‘post‐reconciliation’, democratic South Africa. Moreover, many white South Africans feel proud that they lived through (and in some cases facilitated) the transition in 1994. The second type of pride that I identify is different to, or even contradicts, the first type. This second type of pride is encapsulated in the phrase: ‘I am proud to be South African because I am South African’. This (latter) pride is not ‘validated’ – it is a tautological, or ‘prideless’ pride, that is not contingent on specific characteristics of South Africa. The second type of pride is pride in being who you are (no matter who you are). In this essay, I explore these two ‘types’ of prides and investigate how they intersect, contradict, or support each other in the lives of contemporary white South Africans.