Memetization of the president’s speeches to the nation in South Africa as popular rhetoric elements

The perceived economic threat has given rise to narrow nationalism in South Africa, which has given birth to direct, cultural and structural forms of violence, commonly referred to as xenophobia, which is actually Afrophobia. The main argument is that in as much as there is evidence of the influx of mainly African migrants in South Africa, and these have been largely accused of various crimes and contributing to rising unemployment, this perception trivialises the need for a multipronged and people-centred approach to South Africa’s and Africa’s underlying domestic challenges. Xenophobia should not be seen as only a South African but also an Africa problem, which consequently requires a national and continental response strategy. This then implies that South Africa has a role in stemming the challenges that have given impetus to a new form of narrow nationalism. On the other hand, the article attempts to explain what a continental response strategy might entail. In fact, the narratives of African migrants as pervasive criminals and job snatchers conveniently relieves the post-apartheid government which is expected to enhance service delivery and create opportunities for the locals, as well as giving dignity to the immigrants.

Recently on AM Radio 702 from Cape Town, the host of the show Cape Talk noted how little South Africans really know about Africa, and for that matter, about each other within the country. Despite the unprecedented level of globalization realized in the twentieth century, the depiction of the world as increasingly unified and integrated fails to account for the increased degree of emerging xenophobia and insularity. Nationalism requires the psychological labeling of other societies and cultures as “foreign” in order to define its own collective identity. Contrary to the perceptions and cognizance of average national citizens, national identity and nationalism emerge from purposive state action rather than from the seemingly unrelated actions of individuals. Created identities and constructed nationalism provide the state with a mechanism for maintaining legitimacy through the control and channeling of citizens’ thought processes about their society and government. In the process of constructing national identity, contradictions and the falsification of history become integral components of the creation and maintenance of nationalism. This chapter explores the creation, maintenance, decay, and the attempts to recreate nationalism in South Africa and Japan. Nationalism in both South Africa and Japan underwent significant transformation in the past century due to internal political and economic developments and the external forces of globalization.

Jimmy Volmink: shaping the evidence base in South Africa

Nationalism in South Africa - The Rise of Nationalism in South Africa. The A.N.C. 1912–52. By Peter Walshe. London, Christopher Hurst and Co.1970. Pp. xi, 480. Bibliography, index, illustrations. £5.25.

ABSTRACTThe importance of music as a tool for political communication is widely acknowledged. In many societies and their respective traditions, cultures and customs, music has been central in reflecting the historical, contemporary and future aspirations of such communities. In reference to South Africa, recent student movements have been central in calling into question the postcolonial status of the country amid its colonial legacies. These movements have relied on decolonial discourses (#RhodesMustFall, #FeesMustFall, #StatuesMustFall) and have deployed them as a means of critiquing the condition of “formerly” colonised subjects within South Africa's postcolonial status. This paper focuses on the role of music in understanding colonial legacies within a postcolony. It deploys decolonial theories as a means of understanding the lived condition of black people and particularly Africans in the “post” settler colonial context of South Africa. Using Letta Mbulu's hit song “Not Yet Uhuru,” the paper argues that her lyrical message is instrumental in understanding the “colonial situation” within the country. Therefore in this paper, the question of the continuities and discontinuities of coloniality is read through Mbulu's lyrical content. Ultimately, the central argument of the paper relies on the role of music as a form of political or decolonial communication and how such can be instrumental in understanding the legacies of the past within postcolonial South Africa.

SummaryThis article explores the claim that the South African writer Antjie Krog is in essence asking the National Question in what I have termed her “transformation trilogy”: Country of My Skull (1998); A Change of Tongue (2003); and Begging to Be Black (2009). In writing about issues like “race”, identity and belonging in these texts, Krog is asking, “[t]o whom does the South African nation belong?” – a question that was central to debates about the National Question by liberation movements during apartheid. Although the “new” South Africa arguably is very different from the new “nation” that had been imagined, the National Question remains of importance. A postcolonial reading of the transformation trilogy encourages a focus on the National Question and the factors that complicate it. Existing studies about the theme of nationhood in Krog’s work do not draw connections with older discourses on nation and nationalism in South Africa.

The essay poses the question, ‘What can a biographical approach tell us about the nature of early African nationalism in South Africa?’ After briefly tracing the conditions under which African nationalist organisations emerged in South Africa, it focuses on two elements of the social makeup of the nationalist movement, class and gender. It argues that the term ‘elite’ to define the class which assumed leadership of the African National Congress can be misleading in its connotations. On the latter, it argues strongly that our understanding has been stunted by stereotypes, and that a biographical approach can assist in appreciating the complexities of African middle class life, the gendered nature of nationalist politics and the intellectual role that women played in the early years of the nationalist movement in South Africa.

In two recent issues of this journal Wallace G. Mills has discussed the religious component in early African nationalism in South Africa. In his first article he claimed that 'the roots of African political and nationalist movements in the twentieth century can be found in the revivalism which emerged in I866' in Cape Colony. In the second he asserts the the 'difficult decades' between 189o and I9IO 'saw the emergence of ...religious separatism and African nationalism', but that they were in no way linked; the contention that religious separatism was 'a precursor of and contributor to African nationalism... is, as far as South Africa is concerned, quite erroneous.' 1 In making this latter assertion, Mills believed himself to be challenging the view that religious separatism was 'the first manifestation of secondary resistance at the Cape.' For this view he cites a seminar paper I wrote in 1969 in which, wrongly according to Mills, I looked to religious independency for some of the roots of twentieth century African nationalism in South Africa. 2 Aware, however, that most separatist churches have in the twentieth century adopted an apolitical or anti-political stance, I spoke of religious separatism developing 'into a rival channel for black aspirations in the twentieth century' and pointed out that most Christians who occupied positions of leadership

Much of the work on the human rights advocacy focuses on how domestic actors successfully transnationalize to influence targets beyond borders. In contrast, this paper focuses on how international society influences domestic movements. I bring together international relations and social movement theories to explore the avenues through which domestic movements can benefit from — or be harmed by — global connections. This requires looking at relatively unsuccessful as well as successful movements, in this case, variants of ethnic and secular nationalism in South Africa. Overall, I stress the importance of legitimation as a neglected dimension of power in the international system.

This essay presents the argument for a model of postcoloniality that disavows the axiomatic determinations of oppositionality. It presents a case,in the history of nascent African nationalism in South Africa, in which subject formation by Africans under late colonialism was framed in apparent complicity with prescribed forms of Western civility. The essay argues that conventional notions of postcolonial resistance are unable to provide an adequate explanation for identity politics which are based on thedesire for Western acculturation instead of resistance to it. By recourse to the idea of a “civil imaginary,” the essay offers an alternative framework for understanding the intermeshing processes of colonial subjectification and African nationalism in South Africa.

The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: The African Nationalism in South Africa: The African National Congress, 1912-1952

Many of the characteristic strains of African Nationalism in South Africa, as were manifest during its peak in the 1950s, may be traced back to the historical situation on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony in the early nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the Port Elizabeth–East London–Alice triangle remained a highly significant area for nationalist ideas and action, and this derived from the effects on the Xhosa of the Black–White confrontation which began here 150 years earlier. In the early part of the nineteenth century the fundamental competition for land and cattle led to White military and missionary actions which, coupled with the preaching of Christianity, promoted attitudes among the Xhosa which may be seen in all subsequent African Nationalism.

Nationhood and Nationalism in South Africa - South Africa; two views of separate development. By S. Pienaar and Anthony Sampson. London: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Race Relations, 1960. Pp. 81. 5<i>s</i>.

Conference on ‘Land, Race and Nation in South Africa’, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 19–22 June 2013

PurposeThis retrospective phenomenological case study examines the experiences of 18 politicians who participated in a political campaign using performing arts and artists in a regional heads and legislators in Indonesia. Also, the role of Gandrung art as a performing art is becoming a political communication tool for political actors in Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a retrospective phenomenological case. The informants recruited were 18 politicians who have local, regional and national political levels. The participants were interviewed about their experiences of campaigning using traditional performing arts as a form of political communication. Data collection techniques used in this study include interviews and photo documentation during the campaign process to triangulate findings.FindingsBased on a case study analysis and through thematic analysis, this research reveals three emerging themes which indicate that performing arts function as political communication tools in three significant ways: (1) as a form of artistic expression for conveying political messages through movement and the use of dancer costumes; (2) as a medium for showcasing cultural identity and representation as a form of concern for the local culture of voters; and (3) as a means to garner mass appeal and propagate political propaganda.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has two limitations. First, the study only interviewed a small number of participants. Thus, generalization for wider contexts of politicians is not possible. Second, the study focuses on examining the voice of politicians and analyzing it using thematic analysis.Originality/valueThere is a scarcity of research that specifically focuses on uncovering the perspectives of politicians who employ performing arts as a political communication tool. This study contributes to the understanding that art performance is inherently non-neutral, highlighting how performing arts can actively engage in political communication by conveying messages, shaping cultural identity and influencing public opinion in the context of Indonesia.