24 ноября 2015 года онлайн семинар "Contemporary Afrikanerdom & reproduction of whiteness in the poor white "shelters"

Уважаемые коллеги, 24 ноября 2015 г. приглашаем вас принять участие в первом онлайн семинаре со Стелленбошским Университетом, ЮАР. Рабочий язык - английский.​

Estimated number of participants (from each side): approx. 10

​Семинар пройдет в Дирекции Института Африки РАН.

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Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences University of Stellenbosch, Centre for Military Studies (CEMIS) Joint Online Seminar

CONTEMPORARY AFRIKANERDOM AND REPRODUCTION OF WHITENESS IN THE POOR WHITE “SHELTERS” OF THE GAUTENG PROVINCE

Vladislav Kruchinsky,
Institute for African Studies of the RAS,
Centre for Southern Africa studies,
PhD Candidate

Date: 24/11/2015
Time: 12:00–14:00 (Moscow)
11:00–13:00 (Stellenbosch)

Concept Note

The seminar is dedicated to the analysis of the current processes of spatial and economic autonomisation taking place across the diffuse network of so-called
‘shelters’, ‘missions’ or ‘white informal settlements‘ — informal settlements pop- ulated primarily by poor Afrikaners and concentrated mainly in urban and peri- urban areas of Gauteng Province.

The ‘shelters’ appear to be a peculiar update of apartheid government’s
‘improvement’ schemes aimed at reintegration of poor whites back into the soci- ety of privilege and a part of a broader tendency towards privatisation of some of the functions of the apartheid regime in a neoliberal setting.

The seminar approaches these spaces through the lens of whiteness studies, coupled with urban studies perspective. This methodological combina- tion allows, firstly, to pinpoint the current social, economic and political nature of the ‘shelters’, and, secondly, to shed some new light on the nature of postco- lonial whiteness in South Africa.

Based on a method of participant observation and in-depth informal in- terviews with residents and formalised interviews with the owners of the ‘shel- ters’, the seminar seeks to describe political economy, everyday functioning, sets of informal rules and spatial arrangements of these settlements. It also seeks to conceptualise the status of the ‘shelters’ and place them in the broader context of South African urban informality.

The aim of the seminar is to generate new theoretical insights into the (political) nature of contemporary (postcolonial) whiteness in South Africa. Drawing on the ever-expanding corpus of contemporary literature on whiteness, I suggest that the very essence of the contemporary (postcolonial) whiteness is currently undergoing a particular shift in South Africa. This shift is directly linked to the developments in the contemporary Afrikaner political thought and
practices, namely the tendencies towards decentralisation and deterritorialisa- tion of the Afrikanerdom, epitomised — but not limited to — the practices of the Solidarity (Solidariteit) trade union and its affiliated organisations.

Key issues to be discussed at the seminar:

• Squatters or not? Legal and formal status of the Afrikaans ‘shelters’ in Gaut- eng province
• Political economy and social infrastructure of the ‘shelters’
• The role of NGOs and charities in dealing with the ‘poor white question‘ of to- day
• Being a ‘good white’ today: bodily and other forms of control inside the ‘shel- ters’
• Changing meaning of being white: Afrikanerdom after modernity and the rise
of the cultural

The seminar is based on my ongoing PhD research project dedicated to the study of the Afrikaner community of South Africa after 1994. It is based on the fieldwork conducted in Gauteng and Western Cape provinces in 2011, 2013 and
2014.

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