A Disgraced Whiteness: Tactics Used to Deny , Reduce Stigma, and Elicit Sympathy

By Suntosh R. Pillay (Department of Health, Durban) and Kevin Durrheim (University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Abstract The stigma of being white in post- is a complex challenge. In 2008 the town of Swartruggens was discredited in the media following a shooting of black shack dwellers by a white boy, igniting racial tensions and creating a media narrative of ‘victimised blacks’ and ‘violent whites’. This paper discusses part of a broader study investigating social relations in the town almost a year after the shooting. This paper focuses on qualitative, open-ended interviews with white residents of the town, arguing that managing a stigmatised white identity involves producing a positive construction of one’s place of residence, since identity and place are interwoven. The discursive production of place-identity in dialogue and interaction tries to accomplish the tasks of reducing stigma, denying racism, and even eliciting sympathy. This paper also calls for a foregrounding of geographical location in work on identity construction.

Keywords: discursive psychology, discourse analysis, place-identity, post-apartheid, racism, race-relations, sympathy, Swartruggens, Skierlik, stigma, white identity

Introduction High Court. Psychological assessments of Nel Despite growing up in “the ” of suggested long-standing beliefs that white peo- ’s post-apartheid state, 18 year ple were under attack from black people, and old Johan Nel’s actions reflected a prejudicial the judge commented that racism cannot be and anti-integrationist view of social relations tolerated (BBC 2008). However, the social reper- based on black inferiority and white supremacy. cussions of Nel’s actions dominated headlines The result was tragic: a shooting spree that left for months. Fuel was thrown into an already four people dead, eight injured, and dozens trau- tense national dialogue on ‘race’-relations and matised (Mail and Guardian 2008). post-1994 social transformation. The media In January 2008, Nel drove to Skierlik, a nearby dialogue was shaped by a discourse of pity and informal settlement (a ‘slum’ or ‘squatter camp’ blame. Pity was directed at the black residents that is a widespread phenomenon across South of Skierlik, whom the media portrayed as inno- Africa due to the historically inequitable distri- cent victims of a racist killing. Blame was directed bution of land and proper housing) and began at the white residents of nearby Swartruggens, randomly shooting the black residents, allegedly who were portrayed as violently resisting recon- while shouting “, kaffir, kaffir”, a derogatory ciliation and nation-building. Nel was made the reference to black South Africans (Mail Online exemplar of violent white racism; Swartruggens 2008). He was arrested and sentenced a year was made the exemplar of an untransformed, later to four life sentences by the Mmabatho racially divided small town (The Times 2008).

Diversities Vol. 15, No. 2, 2013 ISSN 2079-6595, www.unesco.org/shs/diversities/vol15/issue2/art5 © UNESCO Diversities Vol. 15, No. 2, 2013 • ISSN 2079-6595 S.R. Pillay, K. Durrheim

Individual acts of extreme, unprovoked vio- The research question that this paper lence are not uncommon in contemporary soci- attempts to address revolves around the rela- eties. Casella and Potterton (2006) note that vio- tionship between identity, race, location, and lence is part of the fabric of South African society, social relations. The small town of Swartruggens, and examine accidental shootings that occur in in the North West province, was chosen as the otherwise peaceful schools, when learners get site of research because these events catapulted access to guns and show them to friends. This it into national media and a flurry of journalis- paper wants to avoid the notion that the Skierlik tic analyses. Social commentators inferred that incident automatically fits into the repertoire of Swartruggens was typical of untransformed ‘racist incidents’. In the same way that the 2011 places still thriving in South Africa (see Figure 1 Norway shooting by Anders Breivik is not an for the map of Swartruggens Town). Media dis- uncomplicated expression of right-wing conser- course extended the implicit assumption that all vatism, these ideological concerns exist along- small towns were racist enclaves of mainly white side other factors, such as psychopathology and Afrikaans-speaking people who were resistant contextual enablers, which can result in the act- to post-1994 change (SAPA 2008; Sunday Times ing out of prejudices in extreme forms. However, 2008; The Witness 2008). despite these alternate explanations, the ensu- Group processes in South Africa are fre- ing public discourse after the Skierlik shootings quently racially tinted. However, “location” is assumed that it was a clear expression of racism. often quietly reduced to a mere backdrop to Therefore, this paper is not about the shooting action. The interplay of race and place rarely per se, but about the secondary identity work features in socio-political or psychological analy- following the shooting. ses of intergroup relations and identity. Despite

Figure 1: Aerial view of Swartuggens and nearby Skierlik Source: Maps created by Michela du Sart, EduAction.

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this, our historical points of reference, such as Ndebele (2000) all suggest that political change the Sharpeville massacres of 1960, the Soweto has occasioned a radical shift in identity con- uprising of 1976, Mandela’s release from Rob- struction among whites whose comfortable ben Island in 1990, the xenophobic attacks of social supremacy has been discredited as racism. 2008, and even the Skierlik murders, cry out for Goffman (1963) describe the ensuing stigma as a proper foregrounding of geography in social ‘the plight of the discredited’ (p.14). Steyn (2004) processes. has investigated the discursive strategies used This study, part of a larger research collabo- by white people to signify resistance to trans- ration called the Rural Transformation Project, formation in the country, labelling it “white talk”. attempted to bridge the gap by looking at how She argues that ethnic anxieties are pervasive, questions of identity are wrapped around ques- and explores the dual purpose of white talk: ‘to tions of location. ‘Place-identity’ will be explored restore the Afrikaner mythology that secured as ‘a collective construction, produced and modi- a special place for the Afrikaner in the political, fied through human dialogue that allows people economic, and social life of the country, so that to make sense of their locatedness’, acting also the ground gained through the apartheid era of as a resource for ‘rhetorical and ideological systematic Afrikaner advancement is not lost in action’ (Dixon and Durrheim 2000: 40). This con- the new social order, while presenting Afrikaner- ceptualisation challenges mainstream notions of dom as compatible with the New South Africa’ place-identity as a cognitive-affective construct (p.143). Similarly, Steyn and Foster (2007) assert that is mentally and individualistically located that the central challenge for white people today (e.g. Proshansky, Fabian, and Kaminoff 1983). is the question of how to maintain privilege Instead, shared collective constructions are seen despite black political rule. Jansen (2008, 2009) as imbued with the person/place knot, revealing also grapples with these questions, comment- the mutual nature of identity and location, and ing on the collective trauma of losing historical providing an interesting construct with which to privileges, and the process of remembering and think about stigma management. Other aspects enacting the past. of this study focusing on how black and Indian One way that whites have attempted to resist residents racialise place-identity construction transformation is through strategic place con- can be found elsewhere (Pillay 2010; Pillay and struction. For example, Ballard (2010) shows Durrheim 2012). how resistance to cattle slaughter in suburban areas is a way for some white residents to pre- Managing white identity serve the identity and character of historically The media discourse around Swartruggens (e.g. white neighbourhoods. Constructions of place SAPA 2008) rearticulated the idea that small have also been used by to towns are mini-citadels of apartheid (Centre for argue against the presence of black residents in Development and Enterprise 1996). This stereo- historically white urban areas (Dixon et al. 1994) type sits uncomfortably with the grand discourse and beaches (Durrheim and Dixon 2005), and of a reconciling, nation-building, politically stable to defend new practices of segregation such as South Africa. retreating to exclusive gated communities (Bal- Although assignment of a ‘white’ ‘racial cat- lard and Jones 2011). egory’ certainly does not imply membership This article aims to bring these two literatures to a homogenous group, post-1994, various together to show how place constructions can be research efforts have investigated white iden- used, not only to resist change, but also to man- tity management, given that being white means age a stigmatized identity. Contested dialogues grappling with the complex adaptive challenges were anticipated to emerge during interviews of a stigmatising history (Brown 2008; Gqola with white residents in Swartruggens. After pub- 2001; MacDonald 2006, Steyn 2001, 2004; Ver- lic humiliation, how would white residents con- wey 2008). Modiri (2011), Mangcu (2008) and struct identity and deal with stigma?

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Words as social reality types of discourse do white residents of Swartrug- Although events such as the shooting appear gens draw on to construct their place-identity in to epitomize poor intergroup relations, the the face of the Skierlik shootings, which has argu- lived reality of these relations occur within the ably threatened the post-apartheid credibility of seemingly banal, everyday conversations. In the both the town and its white citizens? The follow- supermarket; in the bank queue; around the ing analysis attempts to address these questions. braai [barbeque]; in living rooms; while chop- ping wood for the fire; or while chatting toa Post-apartheid dilemmas researcher who is offering an opportunity to This section analyses the discursive construction participate in a study. Discursive psychology sug- of place-identity that is primarily concerned with gests that words, as they are used in daily con- stigma management. White residents attempt to versation or highly technical arguments, are the reconstruct themselves as victims of stigmatiza- stuff from which social reality is made (Edwards tion and not villains. A mix of convenient- and 1991). An analysis of these words can expose the snowball sampling was used as myself and two taken-for-granted choices that individuals make interviewers walked around the central business when constructing a sentence, or a joke, ora district and asked residents for a few minutes of defensive social manoeuvre. Critical discourse their time and for names of people they thought analysis suggests that discourse is a worthy site might be keen to be interviewed. Efforts were of investigation for it provides empirical access made to sample for diversity and ensure repre- to the construction of social reality (Edwards and sentativeness in the overall sample. The follow- Potter 1992; Billig 1987). ing five extracts show how different speakers This analysis is a discursive one, taking the are all trying to achieve the similar objective of premise that living in this town requires partici- denying any racial tension in the town. An extract pants – residents of the town – to discursively from an interview with an Indian businessman construct a particular version of the town and contextualises the kinds of narratives that the their collective identity which is inextricably white participants are arguing against. linked. Descriptions of one self and life in the town are treated as a temporary version that Extract 1: Indian businessman, 40s1 2 3 serves a function for that specific interaction, to deal with the dilemma of having their town 1 P: In all the /the (1) these little (1) what u (and by extension, themselves) stigmatized. This call (1) little dorpies2 you know (1) uh:: (2) analytic view holds that all discursive actions are 2 There’s still very conservative whites here part of ’activity sequences’ involving such things you know (1) You take Swartruggens (.) you as blame and responsibility (Edwards and Potter take 1992: 155). A conversation is an activity in which 3 Koster (.) I mean Ventersdorp (.) you must intergroup issues are linguistically (re)produced have heard of Ventersdorp? (R: Ja) That’s where as individual versions of reality. Such discursive 4 3 tasks are the ‘primary stuff of lived human life’ Eugene Terre’Blanche comes from (1) Ja so (.) the Boere he still (2) I suppose they grew (Ibid: 156). The following extracts draw atten- up tion to the ‘dilemma of… interest’ (Ibid: 158) that white participants find themselves in while con- 1 structing versions of themselves. No conversa- These transcription conventions are loosely based on the Jefferson method, used frequently in studies tion is treated as a disinterested ‘factual’ account employing discourse analysis, e.g. Dixon and Durr­ – they are all constructed as factual using certain heim (2001). discursive techniques that this analysis exposes. 2 Afrikaans word for small towns, generally used in What strategies do people use to maintain a an affectionate sense. 3 Interestingly, Eugene Terre’Blanche, leader of the satisfying sense of self, if the place they live in Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) (the Afrikaner has been publicly stigmatised? Specifically, what Resistance Movement) was later killed in early 2010.

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5 that way and– (R: Ja) I suppose maybe not The third space of critical detachment that has this (.) but the next generation (.) will come no part in the black/white racial tensions of the out town bolsters place-identity that is manageable 6 with them ja (1) you find they still using the to live with, because white residents are made to K-word you know (R: Ok) I / maybe / not that be the real villains. 7 we won’t use it (.) we use it for fun you The next speaker makes no explicit reference know (R:Ok) We won’t go around using it on to the media or to the Skierlik event. Instead, it is people an unspoken premise upon which her entire con- structions of the ‘tight-knit small town’ are built. The discourse of small town racism is intro- Although the media’s grand narrative of a racist duced as a known feature of such places, but town is never articulated by either the researcher one that exists because of racist whites (lines or participant, it remains ever-present – the dis- 1-2). Blaming ‘conservative whites’ from ‘little cursive elephant in the conversation. dorpies’ absolves this Indian resident from any role in maintaining this known culture of racism, Extract 24: White female, 50s (interviewed jointly which he is well aware of but implies non-par- by Indian and black male researchers) ticipation. This distance is constructed in three ways. Firstly, there is an ‘othering’ process that 1 R: So tell me about the people in takes place by referring to ‘conservative whites’ Swartruggens? (line 2), ‘the Boere’ (line 4), ‘they’ (lines 4 and 6), 2 P: I say (.) you know what (.) when they ‘them’ (line 6), and making Eugene Terre’Blanche come through my door they always the exemplar of white (racist) conservatism. 3 laughing always smiling (1) ‘hello Ma!’ (.) Secondly, there is the construction of innocent always (.) they haven’t one (Indian) bystanders who observe these racist 4 woman in the truck and they never drink whites “using the K-word”. Despite a frank admis- sion that he also uses the K-word, the intentions because I don’t drink (.) so I smell are constructed as different, ‘we use it for fun 5 the alcohol first (1) Never (R: mmh) you know’ (line 7) and ‘won’t go around using 6 P: Never never:: (2) so you know what (1) I it on people’ (line 7). There is the creation of haven’t got even (.) uh uh:: um two separate categories of people who use 7 safety things around my shop ‘the K-word’, i.e. racist conservative whites like 8 R: Ok Eugene Terre’Blanche, and Indians (“we”) who 9 P: Nothing merely use it in jest and never direct it at a black 10 R: Ja ja person. His dissociation from the first category 11 P: The people (.) I handle everyone who (whites), and his non-alignment with the “people” comes to me with respect whom the K-word is used to describe (blacks), creates an identity that is distinctly separate from 12 R: And they respect you back? (P: Ja) Ja both groups in the town. A unique place-identity 13 P: So sir if you want me to say negative is delicately discursively constructed: one that is things I haven’t got anything to say not the object of victimisation by white racism, nor a perpetrator of racism directed at blacks. There is an attempt to build a positive image of the town, which by the end of this extract is seen to be based on the premise that I, the

The white supremacist leader was murdered by two interviewer, am expecting something negative black men on his farm in Ventersdorp, reigniting ra- to emerge. The question “So tell me about the cial tensions in the North West area and reopening up major debate in the public sphere on race-relations in post-apartheid South Africa (Mail and Guardian On- 4 R refers to the researcher; P refers to the partici- line, 9 April 2010). pant.

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people in Swartruggens” is heard and inter- and children respect their mother. The family preted as a subtle accusation against the (white) image works as a metaphor for the town, a town residents of Swartruggens. “So sir if you want me that cares and respects its family-members/ resi- to say negative things I haven’t got anything to dents. The use of ‘never’ three times emphasises say” suggests that a competing discourse exists, the point that any sort of disrespect is both not is being argued against, but will not be explicitly expected and will not be tolerated. Her response acknowledged. That she hears the initial ques- hinges on a ‘scripted story of what generally hap- tion as an opportunity to argue against nega- pens’ (Edwards 2003: 38). As a discursive tactic, tive constructions of the town alludes to a stig- the formulation of this script works by construct- matised place. She works hard, throughout the ing a regularity in the way events happen in the interview, to construct a version of Swartruggens community, making them ‘factually robust and and herself – as both this place and her identity also somewhat knowable in advance without are mutually implicated – in a positive light. As a having to wait and see for any specific instance’ white woman in a town publicly branded as the (Ibid: 38). home of white racists, her race constructs her as The Skierlik shooting, consequently, emerges an individual ‘who is disqualified from full social as a breakdown in this resident’s construction of acceptance’ (Goffman 1963: 19). She is aware of Swartruggens as a mutually respectful and safe prevailing attitudes expressed in extract 1. small town. If the town had a disposition to be She quickly attends to several negative issues respectful, descriptions of the town as racist or in this small town: promiscuity of truck drivers violent do not fit with this disposition and must who pass through (line 3); alcohol abuse (line therefore be untrue or a rare exception. This 5); crime and safety (lines 6-7); and disrespect reduces stigma and blame. The shootings are not (line 11). Each of these issues is potentially stig- mentioned at all during the entire interview; yet, matising, especially crime and disrespect. It is her construction of the town actively counters crime, after all, that catapulted Swartruggens media portrayals, which although unspoken in into the media; and underlying this construction the interview, are present via their counter-con- crime is attention to the notion of respect. Lines structions. She expects me, after all, to be wait- 11-12 argue that respect involves a mutual give- ing for ‘negative things’ to be said (line 13). The and-take, attending to the nature of interper- mark of stigma in this town is being a white resi- sonal relations in the town, and the foundations dent. She also constructs an alternative version upon which they ought to be built. It suggests of whiteness to the one she assumes I have read that there is a common understanding amongst about in the papers. She is what Goffman (1963) people and amongst groups, that mutual respect calls a ‘discredited’ person, whose potentially is a given. The lack of safety fences around her stigmatising quality (in this case skin-colour) is shop is provided as further proof that crime is publicly visible and mutually known. not a norm, because people respect each other The following extract is less subtle, but tries to enough not to commit crime. Lines 2-4 create achieve similar goals with the talk. the image of happy people who are more than just passing truckers or customers of her shop; Extract 35: White female, 50s (interviewed by “hello Ma!” suggests familiarity and care. She white female) constructs herself as a mother-figure – they greet her as ‘Ma’ and she maternally ensures that they 1 R: Would you say the community is close? neither drive drunk nor pick up women to have 2 P: We are very small, therefore everybody sex with. An image of family is drawn on here to cares for each other. We don’t have the build this rhetoric of care, support and – most importantly if not subtly – intergroup stability. If she is the mother, then the others are like her 5 The extracts that were translated from Afrikaans children. And mothers care for their children, do not contain the usual transcription conventions.

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3 stories here that you have seen and also assigned to the identities of residents that heard on the news. We don’t know that occupy this place. A caring place, then, must things consist of caring people. A discourse of care (and respect in extract 2) is pitted up against a 4 the news is talking about. It doesn’t discourse of violent disrespect in an interactional matter if the people are black or white or effort to reduce a stigmatised place-identity and any save face. This defence of place is a defence of whiteness too. 5 colour, people support each other. Similar to Yiftachel and Tzfadia’s (2004) find- ings amongst Mizrahi residents (Jewish immi- Like the previous extract, the researcher does grants from Arab countries) who lived marginally not offer the participant a direct invitation to in Israel’s development towns, there is a con- speak about racism, opting instead to ask about certed effort here to portray solidarity and posi- the closeness of the community. Race relations, tive community sentiment, due to years of repro- however, becomes the salient point around duced discourses of ‘local pride’. The speaker in which ‘closeness’ is constructed, and an alterna- this extract makes clear her resistance to this tive version to media reports of racism becomes ‘new’ label of racism, which has been thrust upon the key point of reference around which a stig- residents by the media. Her preferred identity is matised place-identity is developed. one congruent with a version of Swartruggens She assumes I am well aware of what the before its public discrediting in 2008. She tries media have said about the town – “we don’t have to undermine this discourse of racism by creat- the stories here that you have seen and heard ing a discourse of unfair stigmatisation. Using on the news” – and pleads ignorance and denial the popular notion of tight-knit small towns, she as her defences – “we don’t know that things argues that “We are very small, therefore every- the news is talking about”. This denial, however, body cares for each other”. The use of ‘there- does not permit space for at least acknowledg- fore’ implies that everybody cares for each other ing the objective fact that a shooting spree did because of the geophysical fact that this is town happen, in a black settlement, by a white shooter. is small. The construction of place and identity One tenuous possibility is that a potentially racist and their mutual link is made clear in the state- incident (such as a shooting) is less stigmatising ment: people are caring because they come from than the long-standing effects of generalised rac- a small place, or put the other way, small places ism in the town. Generalising that a town is rac- create caring people. There is no space for rac- ist, which the media has done, requires proof of ism or socio-political instability in her construc- many other episodes of strained race-relations, tion of this small town. The forceful construction which upsets the peaceful historical grand nar- of an alternative (and by implication more legiti- rative that she (as a white resident) is construct- mate) version of the town is needed to dismiss ing. She is being strategically vague (Edwards the master narrative that predominates in the and Potter 1992) in her reference to “stories” media. In just four sentences, she works hard to in the news, attempting to reduce the validity undermine this narrative and reduce the associ- of “stories” that the media has created. Place- ated stigma. specific racism and racist white residents are The next extract neither omits mention of constructed as foreign and unknown, something Skierlik (as in extract 2), nor forcefully argues which is anomalous in a town where “everybody against strained relations in the town (as in cares for each other”. Intergroup friendliness is extract 3). Instead, the case for a rational conser- normalised. Like extract 2, a certain ‘character vatism is being made that subtly helps reduce the of the town’ is being constructed. By assigning stigma of irrational and violent small-town white a certain disposition to place, this disposition is people.

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Extract 46: White male, 50s (interviewed by of crime attends to the fact that white people are white female) also victims of violence, by black people, because just as blacks are afraid of whites after “the Skier- 1 R: Are you feeling in certain places less lik incident”, “there is a mutual underlying fear”, hinting that whites are also afraid of blacks. The comfortable or more comfortable? use of “mutual” does the job of lessening the 2 P: ummm… the fact is there is a mutual burden of stigma that only white people are vio- underlying fear and incidents like the lent and therefore only black people have reason 3 Skierlik incident and a few months/about to live in fear. The idea of Skierlik being a special a year ago where there was a farmer case of racial violence is dismissed by putting it 4 murdered and two weeks ago there was in the category of other criminal events like farm a farm attack just outside the town attacks. The use of “underlying” suggests that 5 R: Ja ok this fear may not be evident on the surface – we 6 P: (….) ummm this church complex has an see this clearly in the preceding extracts, where electric fence, alarm systems and safety fear of any sort is outright denied. This fear is 7 gates, for good reasons (R: ok) ummm “underlying”, not visible to an outside visitor; per- haps not even visible to each other. there was years ago burglary in our hall The discourse of friendly tight-knit small town, 8 and during church services car theft. It where one does not even need fences around was simply a necessity to do this, even if their shop (as in extract 2), is acknowledged but 9 you don’t want to. This situation you will carefully managed: “It was simply a necessity see everywhere. We just- to protect to do this, even if you don’t want to” hints at a 10 ourselves because/ because here/ resistance to put up safety features, drawing on because crime is a reality in the town. known discourses of a safe small town. Despite I think at this, his three-part list of “an electric fence, alarm 11 the end I will feel safe to go to places systems and safety gates” is put up “for good rea- during the day, but during the nights you sons”. But it is ultimately in the phrase “This situ- 12 are a bit more careful to go to certain ation you will see everywhere” that the work of stigma reduction is done most forcefully, because places. You would maybe pass there, but this normalises crime and the precautions one 13 you would not get out of your car there. must take against crime. By seeing this situa- We recently had a conversation with tion “everywhere” the issues of crime (as intro- 14 people who are staying in Borolelo duced by the “Skierlik incident”) is made into a where/ where they/ where they have pervasive feature of life, regardless of the place 15 especially middle aged women who one comes from, even a church. White criminals, doesn’t go out at night because they are then, like Johan Nel, should not be made exem- 16 scared. There are elements in the street. plars of any sort of special violence. Farred (2002) makes this point by drawing on themes from J.M. This speaker constructs place-identity differ- Coetzee’s novel Disgrace, to explore the ways in ently, but again, it is serving the same rhetorical which the post-apartheid nation, the ‘disgraced’ ends: to make a case for unfair stigmatisation. state of Coetzee’s novel, ‘makes violence a mun- The “Skierlik incident” is mentioned in light of danacity: an ordinary, everyday, ubiquitous, and other incidents of violent crime. All the farms are commonplace occurrence…’ (p. 352). Despite owned by white people in Swartruggens and its the historical and moral cost, South Africans surrounds. The use of farm attacks in the context accommodate violence and its divisive effect on racial reconciliation (Farred 2002). 6 Translated from Afrikaans to English. Indian and The racialised description of crime is managed black male researchers were present during interview. carefully at the end of this extract in lines 12-15:

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“You would maybe pass there, but you would not motif is clear. Similarly, in extract 4, despite get out of your car there. We recently had a con- attempts to remain politically correct, the pro- versation with people who are staying in Borolelo cess of othering is seen in his racialised construc- where/ where they/ where they have especially tions of dangerous “elements in the street”. The middle aged women who doesn’t go out at night situated action that his talk performs is the job of because they are scared”. He says that “during stigma-reduction, which removes whites as the the nights you are a bit more careful to go to cer- sole members of the category ‘violent criminals’ tain places” but does not mention these places which laced media discourses following the Nel immediately. When he finally cites Borolelo, it is incident. only because others have provided evidence that We further contend that, thematically, these Borolelo is unsafe. He is able to give an account discursive tactics revolve around the elicitation of ‘black criminals’ without explicitly mentioning of sympathy. Extract 5, below, represents a more black people. His “conversation with people” that explicit call for sympathy. The speaker argues are from Borolelo serve as ‘insider evidence’ and forcefully that unfair stigmatisation is upsetting. corroborates his argument that certain places are unsafe. That these places happen to be black Extract 57: White female, 40s (interviewed by townships is a fact offered to him by others, not white female) his own concoction. A sense of imminent danger that lurks at night is concretised in his statement 1 R: How would you describe the people with “There are elements in the street”. That these each other? Is there any racism? elements prey on “middle-aged women” who 2 P: No! You have probably recently seen the come from Borolelo simply reproduces (implic- news about the shooting that happened itly) a discourse of ‘dangerous black men’. This 3 here and the news going around that we latter discourse is prevalent in the media as well, are racists, that is not true! Well… I want and drawing on this discourse as an alternative 4 to say it very clearly that it is big lies, all discourse to the post-Skierlik one of ‘dangerous whites’, situates his construction in the broader lies! The people here are very caring narrative of theswart gevaar (Black Danger) that 5 towards one another, we are united in has been historically dominant in South Africa. Swartruggens. While media sensationalism may have unfairly 6 R: Okay I see. stereotyped white people as racist and violent 7 P: It upsets us when people are telling such in Swartruggens, he manages to undermine this lies. I want to say again, it is all lies! by reminding the researcher of other dominant discourses in the media that serve as alternative Extract 5 explicitly blames the media (“the news foci of attention. going around”) as being unfair (“big lies, all lies!”). Verwey (2008) found similar rhetorical strate- The use of location in line 4, “The people here” gies being used by white in his study helps tie together place and identity. By describ- of post-apartheid identity. There was an attempt ing “the people here” as “caring” and “united” a by participants to separate the Afrikaner identity sense of community is constructed to emphasise from a broader African identity, essentially ‘oth- that an insult to the town is an insult to all its ering’ black Africans and perpetuating a racist people, because the “lies” in the media “upsets ideology that evaluates black people negatively. us” (line 7). The use of “us” supports the analytic As one of Verwey’s (2008) participants remarks: point that stigma is experienced as a group (of “um they kill each other and murder and drink white residents). Sympathy is elicited by force- and fight, you know. Drinking and fighting with fully discrediting media reports, thus conveying each other and… I know there are many white people who also do that, but I feel that with 7 This extract was translated from Afrikaans to Eng- them it’s a lot more” (p.57). The ‘us’ and ‘them’ lish and does not contain the usual conventions.

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the emotional distress of being stigmatised, and ever, though their confessional narratives con- explicitly stating that “it upsets us”. Since sympa- cretised the ‘black victim’ in the national psyche, thy must be elicited in an interactional context, public discourse could certainly not ignore the the interview context creates a space for this ‘white victim’ that had also emerged from the kind of discursive work. TRC. These discourses continue to be reproduced Any methodology is implicated in its findings; in contexts such as Skierlik. For example, white in this case, it is probably a threatening experi- interests and identity is preserved by claiming ence to tell one’s story to a researcher who is victimhood. Given an awful historical baggage, perceived to come from a big city and who is for whites, the maintenance of victim status aware of stereotypes in the news. In fact, my absolves them from any collective blame for own viewpoints were rarely made explicit; par- the actions of Johan Nel (who is a stark, albeit ticipants never asked me what prior knowledge extreme, reminder of the political ideology which I had about the town, or what my impression of afforded them the privileges they still enjoy, the town was thus far. All participants’ assumed such as secure jobs, land, economic resources, I thought the residents were racist. and higher education). They, too, can claim The elicitation of sympathy as part of the to be victims of the Skierlik incident, by being argumentative work they were doing with their unjustly targeted by the media and stereotyped talk, gave their discursive constructions of place- as racists. Taking any other position other than identity credibility. Mangcu (2008) argues that victim would not be in their interests. Mangcu this is a frequent quality of white discourse in (2008) argues that the conservative nationalism South Africa, naming it a ‘racialised mobilisa- of white opposition politics worked by invoking tion of sympathy’ (p.103). He says this rallying the shared fears of white South Africans who cry of solidarity, to forgive or to understand, can were struggling to form a new post-apartheid be seen in other events of white transgression identity. The ‘discursive hardening’ was done such as former South African cricket captain through election campaigns that failed to help Hansie Cronje being caught for match-fixing. his ‘mainly white constituency transcend the Cronje was initially vilified in the media, but later fears of an unresolved past’ (Ibid: 109). Nation- rehabilitated as a repentant hero of national building took a backseat in the political struggle sport, especially after his unexpected death. for parliamentary seats. As Barber (1998: 14, in However, Mangcu argues that the same media Mangcu 2008: 107) quips: ‘Liberals, ever wary, leniency is rarely offered by white citizens when still preach: “Defend yourselves! The enemy is the ‘perpetrator’ is black, but that this is con- everywhere!” These kinds of ideologies translate sistent with the punitive, long held stereotypes into the common sense of everyday racism. of black incompetence and the need to punish black people. He comments: Conclusion Goffman (1963: 14) asks: ‘Does the stigmatised Too often executioners are able to mobilize public individual assume his differentness is known sympathy by hogging media conferences, and call- about already or is evident on the spot, or does ing an amazing array of sophisticated diversions he assume it neither known about by those and metaphors… before we know it, a reversal of roles has taken place… the original perpetrator has present nor immediately perceivable by them?’ become the victim (Ibid: 104). The above extracts have been used to show that ‘whiteness’ in Swartruggens had become This was perhaps best seen in the early post- a publicly knowable mark of stigma, because it apartheid years during publicly broadcasted was extensively attended to in the talk of- par Truth and Reconciliation Commission. White ticipants. White participants assumed their “dif- ‘perpetrators’ of apartheid atrocities became vic- ferentness” was evident on the spot, i.e. they tims of their time, or victims of a cruel system were those white people from that place that where good people had to do bad things. How- had been publicly labelled as racist. The extracts

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lend support to those fears. These conversa- underlies many of the extracts shown, including tional interactions, then, were examples of ‘the the interviews with black and Indian residents plight of the discredited’ (Goffman 1963: 14), (Pillay 2010; Pillay and Durrheim 2012), the sub- who were trying to reconstruct their publicly text of Mahlangu’s statement implies a need for shamed identities to fit historical narratives of public sympathy to be shared, like a post-apart- what it used to mean to be white and live in this heid prize that no one race group must lay claim town. to. The benefits of such a prize may be the pres- The relevance to present day South Africa is ervation of a sense of place, a sense of self, and seen in events that have captured further media sense of history. attention, reverberating through the political dis- Racism and reconciliation continue to be com- courses that dominate public debates on race, peting discourses. It is little wonder that white reconciliation and nation-building. The town residents, when accused of the former, would of Ventersdorp, in the vicinity of Swartruggens, begin a frantic endeavour to (re)construct iden- made headlines following the allegedly racist tities in a way that provides stability amidst a murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche. The gruesome changing environment. By reinforcing narra- murder of this infamous white supremacist in tives that remind themselves of a town that is early 2010 led Afrikaner political party the Free- safe, friendly, hospitable, and respectable; or by dom Front Plus (FF+) and Afrikaner civil rights normalising problems as part of life anywhere, group AfriForum to claim that then ANC Youth the special attention to geography helps in the League president inflamed racial work of identity (re)construction. Place-identity tension by singing an apartheid defiance song remains discursively intact and accusations of with the words dubul’ibhunu (shoot the Boer) racism can be downplayed, argued against, or prior to this killing. In an ironic twist, the ANC used to elicit sympathy. planned to take AfriForum and the FF+ to the Johnstone (2000) remarks that discourse Equality Court for making such claims, accusing analysis is always partial, provisional, and incom- them of running “a campaign of hatred” that plete. How far outward from the text one needs racially polarises South Africa (Mail and Guard- to go depends entirely on the goals of the analy- ian Online, 9 April, 2010). ANC lawyer Siyabonga sis. This study has drawn sufficient instances of Mahlangu remarked: “Their (i.e. white Afrikan- talk-in-interaction from the interview material ers) campaign is polarising our society. They’re to illustrate its main analytic points around the saying Malema’s songs are causing the death racialised constructions of place-identity and of Afrikaner farmers, when the facts speak to the discursive repertories used to deny racism, the contrary. They’re claiming sole victimhood reduce stigma and elicit sympathy. Many discur- from the struggle that our country experienced” sive stones have been left unturned, such as the (Mail and Guardian Online, 9 April, 2010). Simi- impact of class or gender in racialised identity lar efforts to deny racism and reduce stigma constructions, and these can become the topic are seen. And while the battle for victim status of future studies and analyses.

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STEYN, M. and FOSTER, D. 2007. “Repertoires for talking white: Resistant whiteness in post-apart- Media articles: heid South Africa”. Ethnic and Racial Studies 31 BBC 2008, November 21. SA racist killer gets life (1): 25-51. term. [Online]. Retrieved from http://news.bbc. VERWEY, C.T. 2008. “Jy weet jy kan jouself in co.uk/2/hi/africa/7741301.stm k?kstraat vind deur jouself ‘n Afrikaanerte MAIL and GUARDIAN 2008, January 19. ‘These peo- noem…’ (‘You know, you can find yourself in ple are out to get us’. sh?tstret by calling yourself an Afrikaner to- MAIL and GUARDIAN 2008, November 21. Where day…’): Afrikaner identity in post-apartheid fear still lingers. South Africa”. Unpublished Masters thesis. Uni- MAIL and GUARDIAN 2010, April 9. Now ANC versity of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. takes FF+ to court. Mail and Guardian Online YIFTACHEL, O. and TZFADIA, E. 2004. “Between [Online] Retrieved from http://www.mg.co.za/ Periphery and ‘Third Space’: Identity of Mizra- article/2010-04-09-now-anc-takes-ff-to-court him in Israel’s development towns (203-235)”. SAPA 2008, March 11. Racism ‘alive and well in In: A. Kemp, D. Newman, U. Ram and O. Yifta- South Africa’. Mail and Guardian Online [Online]. chel eds., Israelis in Conflict: Hegemonies, Iden- Retrieved from http://mg.co.za/article/2008- tities and Challenges. Sussex: Sussex Academic 03-11-racism-alive-and-well-in-south-africa Press. THE TIMES 2008, January 21. An unlikely setting for a killing spree. THE TIMES 2008, November 23. Fear and loathing in Skierlik. THE WITNESS 2008, June 3. High level of violent crime sees SA tumble in peace rankings.

Note on the Authors

Suntosh R. Pillay is a clinical psychologist in public practice in Durban, at the King Dinuzulu Hospital Complex. He has an interest in sociopolitical issues, critical-community practices, and group psychotherapy, and write regular online and newspaper columns. He completed his Mas- ters of Social Sciences degree as a Mandela-Rhodes Scholar while at the University of KwaZulu- Natal, Pietermaritzburg.

Kevin Durrheim is professor of psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he teaches social psychology and research methods. He writes on topics related to racism, segregation and social change. He has co-authored Race Trouble (Durrheim, Mtose & Brown, 2011, Lexington Press) and Racial Encounter (Durrheim & Dixon, 2005, Routledge); and is co-editor of Research in Practice (1999, 2006, UCT Press) and Numbers, Hypotheses and Conclusions (2002, UCT Press).

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