Hyperracialized: interracial relationships in post-apartheid South Africa and the informal policing of public spaces |
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Authors: | Melissa Steyn Haley McEwen Jennie Tsekwa |
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Affiliation: | 1. Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africamelissa.steyn@wits.ac.za;3. Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa |
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Abstract: | Dynamics of race in South Africa are deeply entangled within a world system that continues to enable hegemonic white privilege. Prevalent views and behaviours towards “interracial” relationships reveal a rebellion against the non-racial philosophies and policies of the new government and are an indicator of the ongoing salience of race in shaping lived experience. Drawing on interviews with couples in so-called “interracial” relationships, this article argues that unequal power dynamics continue to hyperracialize and regulate these relationships through “privatized” racial boundary policing, even though such relationships are no longer stigmatized and criminalized by the state as in apartheid South Africa. Their experiences of racism show up in two distinct ways: aggressive policing and covert policing; these in turn can lead to self-policing, and perpetuate racial social organization. |
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Keywords: | Interracial relationships borderzones informal policing post-apartheid South Africa race racism |
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