Capitalism Disguised as Democracy: A Theory of “Belonging,” Not Belongings, in the New South Africa

Myambo, Melissa Tandiwe

doi:10.1215/00104124-1125295

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Violence against foreign nationals should be understood and interpreted within the framework of historical, social, political, and economic settings which exist in the country. One of the distinctive features of the failure of the independence project is the mushrooming of informal settlements which Myambo claims that are distinctly a "new South African problem" (Myambo, 2011). Despite the ANC government's promise to provide housing, the sprawling shanty towns are mushrooming across South Africa's urban areas.…”

Section: The South African Independence: a Revolution That Never Wasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is why the xenophobic violence has been concentrated primarily in townships and poor large settlements in metro cities. These areas are inhabited by people who migrated to urban areas in search of livelihood (Myambo, 2011). That they find themselves living in informal settlements is an indication that they have failed to get the life they anticipated.…”

Section: The South African Independence: a Revolution That Never Wasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Situating Dashed Prospects of Independence into the Xenophobic Narrative in South Africa

Yingi,

Ncube,

Benyera

2023

Journal of Black Studies

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Xenophobia in South Africa is often depicted as anti-immigrant sentiments and stereotypes that emanate from social, political, and economic misconceptions. This paper argues that though the causes of xenophobia are many and complex, they stem from the dashed hopes of independence and the legacy of apartheid. This narrative has over the years been overshadowed by the view that xenophobic attacks in South Africa are a product of hate and anti-migration. We argue that the failure of successive governments of the ANC to correct the wrongs of the apartheid past and make the economy inclusive has stoked the tensions between citizens and foreign nationals. To underscore this point, this paper undertakes a discussion on the pertinent implications of the political trajectory of xenophobia in South Africa and makes some recommendations on what can be done to reduce incidences of xenophobic attacks in the future.

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Section: The South African Independence: a Revolution That Never Wasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The South African Independence: a Revolution That Never Wasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Situating Dashed Prospects of Independence into the Xenophobic Narrative in South Africa

Yingi,

Ncube,

Benyera

2023

Journal of Black Studies

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“…Global capitalism often uses democracy to disguise its workings (see: Myambo, 2011), but, increasingly, contemporary iterations of choice/neoliberal feminism have come to play a similar role, thus 'fem-washing' it. That is, global chick lit allows neoliberal capitalism and the inherent inequalities it (re)produces to hide behind a feminist mask: the mask allows capitalism to present itself as freedom for women in the sense of increased consumer choice, (partial) socio-economic autonomy and a putative individualised independence from patriarchy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The spatial politics of chick lit in Africa and Asia: sidestepping tradition and fem-washing global capitalism?

Myambo

2019

Feminist Theory

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This article provides a spatial analysis of the types of microspaces, or Cultural Time Zones (CTZs), that constitute the narrative universes of chick lit from South Africa, China and India. I argue that although these books take place in ‘developing’ countries, their ‘First World’ spatial politics, and thus their political impact and cultural commentary, are both enabled and constrained by the settings of their narrative thrust. In the CTZ of the five-star hotel, or the elite spa, the books’ protagonists exemplify a popular notion of choice/neoliberal feminism. What, then, do they say about the possibility of feminism for confronting patriarchal traditions in CTZs like the ‘local’ neighbourhood? The three books analysed – Angela Makholwa’s Black Widow Society, Wei Hui’s Shanghai Baby and Anita Jain’s Marrying Anita: A Quest for Love in the New India – are set in the globalising cities of Johannesburg, Shanghai and Delhi in putatively ‘developing’ countries; however, the books’ female protagonists tend to inhabit a series of ‘global’, ‘First World’ CTZs, like the high-end shopping mall, the Western music-playing nightclub or the cappuccino-serving cafe. These CTZs are geographically distant from those of their Western chick lit counterparts, yet nonetheless not very far away if measured in cultural kilometres. The neoliberal, so-called feminist ‘choices’ available to these protagonists would not be possible in geographically proximate but culturally distant, ‘traditional’ CTZs. The key question this article asks is whether these narratives’ spatial settings, confined as they are to upper middle-class, ‘global’, ‘modern’ CTZs, produce a form of spatial politics that fem-washes global capitalism while failing to confront patriarchal and traditional structures which dominate in more ‘local’, ‘traditional’ CTZs.

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“…Despite attempts at affirmative action through, among others, the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program, these seem to have created a new multiracial economic elite at the expense of the poor black majority (Myambo, 2011). Myambo (2011: 81) argues that the central paradox of the New South Africa…is that the ideology of Rainbow Nation multiculturalism serves to mask race and class divisions in a system in which neoliberal capitalism turns out to be not so different from the racial capitalism of Apartheid.…”

Section: South Africa: the Rainbow Nation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fostering new spaces: Celebrating and growing a diverse economy in Cape Town, South Africa

Hosking¹

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This thesis explores and celebrates diverse understandings and experiences of the economy through the narratives of four people working in Cape Town, South Africa. The diversity and multiplicity of the economy has been made invisible by a capitalocentric economic discourse which casts alternative ways of being as uncredible and weak. Thus, from a post-development/community economy perspective, I seek to foster a space in which non-conventional economic and political practices are seen as relevant and valid sites for action, where hope for a better future can be enabled. Living in the segregated city of Cape Town, I began to question the polemic framing of the country‟s “two economies”, a framing which disregards the actions of ordinary people who are improving the well-being of their communities directly, in favour of neoliberal pro-growth strategies. Therefore, I interrogate the binaries used to describe the economy and scale of action so as reimagine other possible trajectories for transformation. In so doing, I trace some of the relational connections that the participants articulated and employed on a daily basis so as to foster a sense of place beyond dualistic notions of scale and politics. I also contend that if we are to appreciate the community economy as a significant and persistent site of struggle, there is a need to understand politics as happening beyond the horizon of direct mobilisation. Through these reframings I work to reinsert the experiences and perspectives of spatially and economically marginalised people and places into implications in broader issues. I approach this research from a post-structural, feminist stance, not only to deconstruct the supposed dominance of the capitalist economy, but also to contribute to a project of growing a diverse economic discourse and enabling people to occupy this terrain and reclaim their agency. Hence, using ethnographic and visual collaborative methodologies I aim to promote and value the agency and autonomy of ordinary people who are performing, dreaming, enacting, connecting and enabling a broad horizon of opportunities in hybrid, multi-scalar ways. Therefore, alongside its conceptual contribution of enabling other economic possibilities, I hope that this thesis adds to a conversation about the need for methodologies to be realised as part of a broader movement towards transformation and change.

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Capitalism Disguised as Democracy: A Theory of “Belonging,” Not Belongings, in the New South Africa

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Situating Dashed Prospects of Independence into the Xenophobic Narrative in South Africa

Situating Dashed Prospects of Independence into the Xenophobic Narrative in South Africa

The spatial politics of chick lit in Africa and Asia: sidestepping tradition and fem-washing global capitalism?

Fostering new spaces: Celebrating and growing a diverse economy in Cape Town, South Africa

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