“Policing Borders”: Extermination and Relocation of Insects in Three South African Texts

Abstract

Summary Borders between states are spaces of aggression and anxiety about ownership, inclusion, exclusion and group identity, and they are often reinforced by shows of force that can yield to violence. Apartheid in South Africa was primarily and explicitly an attempt at controlling who could occupy space. The erection and maintenance of borders within the country, between spaces, became more aggressive and rigid as the era progressed and it became apparent that the Nationalist dream of racially pure spaces was not going to be feasible. Since the transition to democracy in 1994, borders have remained contested since different areas have continued to be apportioned, albeit informally, for different racial groups. Confident assertions of white supremacy yield to anxiety and even paranoia when owners feel that their borders are not secure. In this article, I explore the use of monstrous insect imagery in three post- transitional South African texts − The Ugly NooNoo (Buckland & Kani, 1994); District 9 (dir. Blomkamp, 2009) and Nineveh (Rose-Innes, 2011). In each of these texts, insects serve as metaphors for aggressive border-crossing by racial others, who are figured as undesirable and myriad.