Colour-blind racism in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

AbstractSeveral scholars point out that racism now resides under the guises of equality, meritocracy, non-racialism, and multiculturalism. The term ‘colour blindness’ has gained noticeable currency in international and local scholarship on racism and race. In the context of South Africa, while several authors are using the term ‘colour blindness’, very few studies offer a systematic analysis of colour-blind racism (CBR). This article examines how Whites deploy CBR in historically white universities, and it considers the relationship between colour-blind racism and neoliberalism in post-apartheid South Africa. The article advances the following two arguments. First, colour-blind racism is an ideological resource that Whites can use in post-apartheid South Africa to silence discussion about historical injustices; to resist interventions intended to address racial inequalities, and to express racialized feelings without appearing defensive. Second, colour-blind racism has proven to be useful to proponents of neoliberalism (White and Black) in their pursuit to erase race from the affairs of the state, and to assign responsibility for development and justice to the market.Plusieurs chercheurs soulignent que le racisme réside désormais sous des signes d'égalité, de méritocratie, de non-racisme et de multiculturalisme. Le terme « daltonisme » a gagné en popularité dans les études internationales et locales sur le racisme et la race. Dans le contexte de l'Afrique du Sud, alors que plusieurs auteurs utilisent le terme « daltonisme », très peu d'études proposent une analyse systématique du racisme daltonien. Cet article examine comment les Blancs déploient le racisme daltonien dans des universités historiquement blanches. En outre, il examine la relation entre le racisme daltonien et le néolibéralisme dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid. L'article avance les deux arguments suivants. Tout d’abord, le racisme daltonien est une ressource idéologique que les Blancs peuvent utiliser dans l'Afrique du Sud post-apartheid pour faire taire les discussions sur les injustices historiques, résister aux interventions visant à remédier aux inégalités raciales et exprimer des sentiments racialisés sans apparaître sur la défensive. Par ailleurs, le racisme daltonien s'est avéré utile aux partisans du néolibéralisme (blancs et noirs) dans leur quête d'effacer la race des affaires de l'État et d'attribuer la responsabilité du développement et de la justice au marché.Keywords: colour-blind racismneoliberalismracial inequalityindividualismuniversalismMots clés: Racisme daltoniennéolibéralismeinégalité racialeindividualismeuniversalisme AcknowledgmentProfessor Aziz Choudry made invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this article. Sadly, Professor Choudry passed away in 2021. I would also like to thank the reviewers for their comments on previous drafts of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The DA is currently South Africa’s second largest political party.2 In the South African context, the persistence of the racial logics of science is clearly manifested in an article written by White students from Stellenbosch University titled Age-and education-related effects on cognitive functioning in Colored South African women, which was published in 2019 in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. Based on interviews with 60 Coloured women, the authors claim that Coloured women, between the ages of 18 and 64 years, are at higher risk of ‘intellectual deficiencies’, because of ‘low levels of education and unhealthy lifestyles’. Indeed, the article was roundly rejected, and the journal eventually withdrew it.3 This is evidenced by the tendency to put race in inverted commas.4 Based on the ideology of Black Consciousness, I embrace Blackness as a political category representing all three subordinate racial groups (black Africans, Coloureds, and Indians) that were causalities of colonialism and racial capitalism in South Africa. However, it is my contention that principled struggles for social justice require that we recognise differences in consciousness and social experience among and within these Black racial groups.