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Masculinity Contested Masculinity contested Strategies of resistance in art from South Africa and the oeuvre of Wim Botha Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines „Doctor philosophiae“ (Dr. phil.) an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig vorgelegt von Melanie Christine Klein 2008 Gutachter: 1. Prof. Dr. Beatrice von Bismarck, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig 2. Prof. Dr. Flora Veit-Wild, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 1 Introduction 5-7 1. Ideology and resistance 1.1. The state of art and art history in South Africa 8-15 1.2. Masculinity and resistance in art 16-17 Methodical approach 1.3. Defining power and representing masculinity 18-21 Theoretical suggestions 1.3.1. Power’s various expressions 21-22 The politics of legitimization 1.3.2. Power, ideology and its representations 22-24 Between consolidation and disturbance 1.3.3. Power and the state 24-26 Althusser, Foucault and the ‘mass inertia’ of change 1.3.4. Locations of power 26-29 Acting, producing and re-codifying 1.3.5. Techniques of power 29-35 Unveiled invisibility and the materialization of resistance 1.3.6. Alternations of power 35-38 Butler’s ambivalent subject 1.3.7. Contested masculinity I 38-42 Kaufman’s ambivalent man 1.3.8. Contested representation I 42-46 Spivak’s resistance as self-critique 1.3.9. Contested representation II 46-49 The limitations of resistance 1.3.10. Contested masculinity II 49-54 Connell’s multiple masculinities 1.3.11. Contested representation III 54-60 The limitations of interpellation 1.3.12. Detours of the psyche I 60-63 Fear, guilt and vulnerability 1.3.13. Detours of the psyche II 63-66 Mimicry as resistive strategy 1.3.14. Contested history 67-69 Alternative temporality 2 2. Resistance in art from South Africa 70 Reasons and strategies 2.1. The state 2.1.1. Introducing South African masculinities 71-74 2.1.2. Adjusting masculinity 74-76 Resistance as reaction 2.1.3. Creating the apartheid state 76-80 Heterogeneous intentions and varying formations 2.1.4. Creating the Afrikaner 80-85 Constructions of heroic masculinity 2.1.5. Unmasking the Afrikaner 86-91 Deconstructions of heroic masculinity 2.1.6. Consulting representation 91-92 Wim Botha’s irreverent treatment of state symbols 2.1.6.1. Hegemonic ideology as temporary phenomenon 92-94 Watermark - Oilslick I-V 2.1.6.2. Man’s invisibility 95-97 Fatherland and Motherland 2.1.6.3. Living in power’s cage 97-99 Untitled (Window) and Dispute I-III 2.1.6.4. Ideology’s illusions 99-100 Mirage and Scorched Earth 2.1.6.5. Decay and invasion 100-102 Mnemonic reconstruction (from memory) 2.2. Violence and exploitation 2.2.1. Addressing violence 103-108 Reasons and dynamics 2.2.2. Tools of struggle 108-111 Fanon’s legitimization of violence 2.2.3. Palliating violence 111-116 Afrikaner masculinity between victim and hero 2.2.4. Activating violence 116-122 The subversive mastery of representation 2.2.5. Appropriating history 122-132 The population of landscape 2.2.6. Consulting history Wim Botha’s release of violence 2.2.6.1. Extermination of the self 132-135 Tremor 2.2.6.2. The reinterpretation of suffering I 135-136 Commune: Suspension of disbelief 2.2.6.3. The reinterpretation of suffering II 136-141 Premonition of war and Scorched earth 3 2.3. Men’s psyche 142 2.3.1. Scrutinizing the Afrikaner 142-145 Masculinity in sociology 2.3.2. Perverting freedom 145-151 Imprisoning effects of apartheid ideology 2.3.3. Digesting guilt 151-157 Absurdities of self-accusation 2.3.4. Essentializing masculinity 157-165 The monstrosity of white rule 2.3.5. Maintaining masculinity 165-170 Adaptabilities of black tradition 2.3.6. Appropriating representation 171-177 Potencies of black miners 2.3.7. Consulting difference Wim Botha’s compulsory project of reconciliation 2.3.7.1. The invasion of the other 177-180 Commune: Onomatopoeia 2.3.7.2. Man as tabula rasa 181-182 Skeletor 2.4. Mimicry 183-185 2.4.1. Changing perspectives 185-188 Mimetic strategies in art I 2.4.2. Civilizing and primitivizing 188-195 The mission enterprise and apartheid ideology 2.4.3. Crossing boundaries 195-197 Creators of new identities 2.4.4. Producing alternative spaces 197-205 Mimetic strategies in art II 2.4.5. Consulting the self Wim Botha’s disturbing mimetic gestures 2.4.5.1. Essence exaggerated 205-207 Generic self-portraits 2.4.5.2. The opening of hegemonic images 207-209 Pros and Cons 2.4.5.3. The collapse of hegemonic images 209-210 Commune: Onomatopoeia Conclusion 211-212 Literature and sources 213-229 4 Introduction With the development of men’s studies since the 1980s and 1990s the general meaning of resistance and emancipation - the liberation from relationships of dependences in any sense - was enlarged towards an acknowledgement of masculinity as a product of social discourse and historical change. The positioning of the self between prescribed ideologies and dominant images as well as personal experiences is, especially in contemporary art and in a context of postmodern and postcolonial fragmentary identities, one of the major topics of artistic production - internationally and in South Africa’s recent history after the end of apartheid. In South Africa, the image of a man was mainly connected to virtues of a warrior, the man who fights for freedom and, of course, to the differentiation between a superior white masculinity and an inferior black one. After the official end of apartheid in 1990 South African society was transformed from a minority-governed segregated space into a majority-governed postcolonial democracy. Much has been written about the impact of this transformation on political, economical and social aspects and much is scrutinized in order to investigate parameters of the dynamics of former power-relations. Within this context of investigation analytical categories like race, ethnicity, class and gender are highly intermingled and complexly hierarchized. They are dependent on a respective positioning of the examined subject and do not allow to rely on relevant theories alone. Rather, the South African situation seems to offer specifications and extensions of such theories. Especially questions of identity come up after an era of far- reaching segregation of races, ethnic groups and genders. Being asked about the current situation of different African states Simon Njami, curator of the exhibition Africa Remix in 2004, says: "What fascinates me about South Africa is that nobody knows for sure who he is anymore."1 More strictly speaking, a South African knew exactly what he or she was supposed to be and how racial or gendered affiliation affected social and cultural behavior. Now, governmentally fixed categories of identification have lost their validity, and people start to re-define themselves and the hegemonic concepts that influenced their individual development. The Apartheid-Museum in Johannesburg informs about the re-categorization of persons concerning their racial affiliation after the end of apartheid. People who were classified as white or colored, for example, are now considered black. Some of them intentionally changed their racial classification in order to receive social advantages that 1 My own translation of Njami (2005: 113) "Was mich an Südafrika fasziniert, ist, dass dort keiner mehr so genau weiß, wer er ist." 5 would have otherwise been denied to them. Interestingly, no one has subsequently entered the category of being white which leads to the assumption that dominant and desirable - nevertheless hardly accessible - images of identity still exist. It also means that being white as a form of existential purity might not be accessible at all. Rather, everybody suffers from impurity and a hybrid identity. In her video Cornered from 1988 Adrian Piper, for example, who cannot easily be categorized herself into a clear-cut color scheme exposes the construction of racial categories and their purpose of regulating power. She says that probably every white American has five to twenty per cent of black ancestors which means that according to conventions of accurate racial classification almost no one is actually white. This statement reveals that race can not in any case be a legitimization for claiming superiority. I do not presume to adopt the idea of full equality or free-floating formations of masculine identities of today’s South Africa. Everybody is more or less still connected with his or her habitual realm of race and gender. But previously fixed relations of power are stirred up deeply, and the feeling of powerlessness and marginalization can now be found within any social group. Since racial segregation has officially been brought to an end formerly categorized identities can be negotiated anew. Now, South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions, and minority groups are protected by law against discriminations. Nevertheless, formations of power do not just disappear but tend to shift. Some consolidated structures collapse and renew themselves the other way around, others remain underneath a newly formed structural level. Economically, for example, most black people still lament and experience massive professional disadvantages in contrast to a white and properly educated population. Poverty among white people can be witnessed only sporadically. On the other hand, some white South Africans had to leave the country in order to avoid the prescribing laws of black empowerment which prefers black employers to white ones. The bewildering situation of South African society today is captured by David Goodman. He (1999: 7) writes: “The great divide that was a hallmark of apartheid South Africa remains firmly in place. It’s just more confusing now, as disparate images crowd onto the same screen.” The question of how images of masculinity in South Africa were defined and mediated by the state and other institutions and second, how they were and are attacked and outlined alternatively by artistic representation is of main interest here.
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