On the Politics of Forgiveness the Afterlife of Violence: is it Time to Give Up on Forgiveness in
South Africa?
While most South Africans agree that the creation of a united, reconciled nation remains a worthy
objective to pursue, the country remains afflicted by its historical divisions. The majority feels that
race relations have either stayed the same or deteriorated since the country’s political transition in
1994 and the bulk of respondents have noted income inequality as a major source of social division.
Most believe that it is impossible to achieve a reconciled society for as long as those who were
disadvantaged under apartheid remain poor within the ‘new South Africa’ (Hofmeyr & Govender, 2015:1)
1.1 South Africa’s Colonial and Apartheid History
● 1652: the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Cape of ‘Good Hope’
○ Consider: what allows ‘God fearing’ persons from a supposedly ‘civilised’ nation to
dispose of indigenous people of their land, to denigrate their cultures, to enact
violence and oppression upon them?
● Apartheid (1948-1994) is colonialism in ‘perfected’ form
1.2 Religion and the Colonial Imperative: a Social Imagination Approach
"Racism as we know it today has its historical foundation in the late fifteenth century in the
Iberian Peninsula and was expanded and consolidated with such a construct, emboldened
by conquest, land dispossession, exploitation of labor and the slave trade.
Its seeds sprouted from the Christian imagination, flourishing in the narratives legitimising
the expulsion of Moors and Jews from the Iberian Peninsula (the vanguard at the time of
Western Christianity), and continuing to flourish through the years until it was consolidated
during the European enlightenment.
Scientific narratives contributed to reassure us that race is ontic and not ontological: that
they exist in reality, not that scientific narratives make us "see reality". But racial
classifications in conjunction with continental divides and hierarchies remain opaque until
this day."
Mignolo, Walter D. 'Africa in the Colonial Horizon of Western Modernity: 1652-2000'. Global Africa 1, no. 1 (2022): 50-64
Calvinism: emphasis on predestination, total depravity, God's sovereignty, and the perseverance of the
saints
To deal with psychological violence of wrongdoing (eg murder, rape), you have to create a
psychology to allow yourself to think that you are doing it for a greater cause
First use of Apartheid: separate but equal → we don’t want their culture to taint another
Eg In many African families, many practice polygamy. However, a missionary came in
establishing monogamy but many rely on family units for survival. Well-intentioned
missionaries attempt to protect African families with the teachings of Christianity.
,1.3 Charles Taylor: The Modern Social Imaginaries
Social Imaginaries: the collective understandings and shared meanings that inform a society's
practices and self-conceptions. These are not just ideologies or formal theories; they are the implicit
understandings that shape our everyday lives
Eg creation of ‘taboos’; women shaving legs
Three Dimensions of Modern Social Imaginaries:
1. The Individual: modernity emphasises individual rights, autonomy, and personal identity,
contrasting with earlier communal understandings
2. The public sphere: the development of a public sphere where citizens engage in discourse and
deliberation is essential for modern democracy → includes the role of institutions, civic
engagement, and public reason
3. The nation: notion of the nation-state has become a crucial element of modern identities,
creating a sense of belonging and collective purpose
1.4 Racism and the Diseased Social Imagination
"[...] Christianity in the Western world lives and moves within a diseased social imagination. I think
most Christians sense that something about Christians' social imaginations is ill, but the analyses of
this condition often don't get to the heart of the constellation of generative forces that have rendered
people's social performances of the Christian life collectively anaemic."
Jennings, Willie James. After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020.
Note: racism is a social construct (as xenophobia, homophobia etc) → we develop a preference for
how we want the world to operate and be
● Construction of race is a construction of the social imagination
Literature
● David Foster Wallace ‘This is Water’
● Jonathan Jansen, the tension between ‘race realities’ and ‘racial constructivists’
● The importance of a measure of ‘strategic essentialism’ (#BlackLivesMatter/Feminism equity
rather than stark equality). Serene jones and the ‘privilege of minoritised experiences’ and
realities
Critical race theory: an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of
American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare
→ recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice
Everything that is ‘true’ is a construction of social imagination
With reference to world maps, the Mercator projection of the earth (in use since 1569) greatly
exaggerates the size of countries in the Northern hemisphere. The Peters projection represents all
countries according to their relative area.
● Consider, why is Europe in the centre of maps? → all explorers lived in Europe and think this
is where the world starts
● Why is Europe bigger than Africa or China?
, ‘Equal Projection Map’, with the South at the Top
1.5 South Africa’s Born Free’ Generation and Continuing Inequality
Ongoing socioeconomic and spatial inequalities among Black South Africans
● Statistics show racial economic disparities, poverty, and youth unemployment have increased
(in a time that is claimed to be post-apartheid)
● The ‘Born Free’ generation is actually less free than their ancestors were → enactment of
rights have not been realised
Current ‘apartheid’ (economic segregation) is more entangled in everyday lives (in the past, the
‘enemy’ was obvious)
● When you are part of the economic system that upholds this, it becomes problematic
● Eg unemployment rates for individuals between 18 and 30 in South Africa is 60%
1.6 Generational Politics and Identity
Younger generations expresses unmet promises via identity politics and social justice
● #FreeMustFall and similar movements show discontent with slow progress → how long
should they wait?
● Increasing distrust of older liberation leaders by young South Africans. Sonwabile Qwavbe
‘shut the fuck up!’
● High rates of gender-based violence, substance abuse, and criminality
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade and can be overcome and eradicated
by the actions of human beings” (Nelson Mandela)
→ Consider, even in his own words, it is just a reconstruction of the social imagination
South Africa?
While most South Africans agree that the creation of a united, reconciled nation remains a worthy
objective to pursue, the country remains afflicted by its historical divisions. The majority feels that
race relations have either stayed the same or deteriorated since the country’s political transition in
1994 and the bulk of respondents have noted income inequality as a major source of social division.
Most believe that it is impossible to achieve a reconciled society for as long as those who were
disadvantaged under apartheid remain poor within the ‘new South Africa’ (Hofmeyr & Govender, 2015:1)
1.1 South Africa’s Colonial and Apartheid History
● 1652: the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Cape of ‘Good Hope’
○ Consider: what allows ‘God fearing’ persons from a supposedly ‘civilised’ nation to
dispose of indigenous people of their land, to denigrate their cultures, to enact
violence and oppression upon them?
● Apartheid (1948-1994) is colonialism in ‘perfected’ form
1.2 Religion and the Colonial Imperative: a Social Imagination Approach
"Racism as we know it today has its historical foundation in the late fifteenth century in the
Iberian Peninsula and was expanded and consolidated with such a construct, emboldened
by conquest, land dispossession, exploitation of labor and the slave trade.
Its seeds sprouted from the Christian imagination, flourishing in the narratives legitimising
the expulsion of Moors and Jews from the Iberian Peninsula (the vanguard at the time of
Western Christianity), and continuing to flourish through the years until it was consolidated
during the European enlightenment.
Scientific narratives contributed to reassure us that race is ontic and not ontological: that
they exist in reality, not that scientific narratives make us "see reality". But racial
classifications in conjunction with continental divides and hierarchies remain opaque until
this day."
Mignolo, Walter D. 'Africa in the Colonial Horizon of Western Modernity: 1652-2000'. Global Africa 1, no. 1 (2022): 50-64
Calvinism: emphasis on predestination, total depravity, God's sovereignty, and the perseverance of the
saints
To deal with psychological violence of wrongdoing (eg murder, rape), you have to create a
psychology to allow yourself to think that you are doing it for a greater cause
First use of Apartheid: separate but equal → we don’t want their culture to taint another
Eg In many African families, many practice polygamy. However, a missionary came in
establishing monogamy but many rely on family units for survival. Well-intentioned
missionaries attempt to protect African families with the teachings of Christianity.
,1.3 Charles Taylor: The Modern Social Imaginaries
Social Imaginaries: the collective understandings and shared meanings that inform a society's
practices and self-conceptions. These are not just ideologies or formal theories; they are the implicit
understandings that shape our everyday lives
Eg creation of ‘taboos’; women shaving legs
Three Dimensions of Modern Social Imaginaries:
1. The Individual: modernity emphasises individual rights, autonomy, and personal identity,
contrasting with earlier communal understandings
2. The public sphere: the development of a public sphere where citizens engage in discourse and
deliberation is essential for modern democracy → includes the role of institutions, civic
engagement, and public reason
3. The nation: notion of the nation-state has become a crucial element of modern identities,
creating a sense of belonging and collective purpose
1.4 Racism and the Diseased Social Imagination
"[...] Christianity in the Western world lives and moves within a diseased social imagination. I think
most Christians sense that something about Christians' social imaginations is ill, but the analyses of
this condition often don't get to the heart of the constellation of generative forces that have rendered
people's social performances of the Christian life collectively anaemic."
Jennings, Willie James. After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020.
Note: racism is a social construct (as xenophobia, homophobia etc) → we develop a preference for
how we want the world to operate and be
● Construction of race is a construction of the social imagination
Literature
● David Foster Wallace ‘This is Water’
● Jonathan Jansen, the tension between ‘race realities’ and ‘racial constructivists’
● The importance of a measure of ‘strategic essentialism’ (#BlackLivesMatter/Feminism equity
rather than stark equality). Serene jones and the ‘privilege of minoritised experiences’ and
realities
Critical race theory: an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of
American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare
→ recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice
Everything that is ‘true’ is a construction of social imagination
With reference to world maps, the Mercator projection of the earth (in use since 1569) greatly
exaggerates the size of countries in the Northern hemisphere. The Peters projection represents all
countries according to their relative area.
● Consider, why is Europe in the centre of maps? → all explorers lived in Europe and think this
is where the world starts
● Why is Europe bigger than Africa or China?
, ‘Equal Projection Map’, with the South at the Top
1.5 South Africa’s Born Free’ Generation and Continuing Inequality
Ongoing socioeconomic and spatial inequalities among Black South Africans
● Statistics show racial economic disparities, poverty, and youth unemployment have increased
(in a time that is claimed to be post-apartheid)
● The ‘Born Free’ generation is actually less free than their ancestors were → enactment of
rights have not been realised
Current ‘apartheid’ (economic segregation) is more entangled in everyday lives (in the past, the
‘enemy’ was obvious)
● When you are part of the economic system that upholds this, it becomes problematic
● Eg unemployment rates for individuals between 18 and 30 in South Africa is 60%
1.6 Generational Politics and Identity
Younger generations expresses unmet promises via identity politics and social justice
● #FreeMustFall and similar movements show discontent with slow progress → how long
should they wait?
● Increasing distrust of older liberation leaders by young South Africans. Sonwabile Qwavbe
‘shut the fuck up!’
● High rates of gender-based violence, substance abuse, and criminality
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade and can be overcome and eradicated
by the actions of human beings” (Nelson Mandela)
→ Consider, even in his own words, it is just a reconstruction of the social imagination
