Negotiating difference, imagining intimacy: The role of ‘intermediate’ racial masculinity in Egoli: Place of Gold

Abstract

ABSTRACTSouth Africa’s entry into democracy was a moment of far-reaching political and cultural transformation. By ‘officially’ departing from a history of institutionalised racial segregation and oppression, a ‘New South Africa’ was born, one that would ‘look’ different. Yet exactly how this new democracy would take shape was still uncertain. The immensely popular television soap opera Egoli: Place of Gold (hereafter Egoli) emerged from this moment of transition and – contrary to the conventional scopic lens of this genre – aimed to actively reflect the changing social world of its viewers. With the reconfiguration of cultural identities necessitated by its temporal backdrop, Egoli served as a utopic tableau for its white middle-class viewers to engage with imaginings of ‘New South Africans’. This article explores Egoli’s use of the characterisation and representation of coloured masculinity as one of the mechanisms with which the programme could negotiate cultural difference on behalf of its viewers. The racial history and discursive intermediacy of colouredness is investigated as a site that holds the potential to limit the possible threats of political change and disarm the potential confrontations of racial and cultural integration.