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White anxiety

The rise of the black intellectuals

Fear can be caused by a lot of threats and often than not people are never knowledgeable of the best action to take when confronted by it. Different people deal with fear in different ways. When fear presents itself, the natural reaction is to either fight or flight. Even so there are school of thoughts that suggest that fear is nothing but an illusion, an emotion of nothingness. In this post I will be reflecting on the content of the course discussing my opinions about responses to and experiences of digital media as it relates to the cultural life. I will be looking specifically at ‘White Anxiety’ and I will substantiate my discussion with reference to examples from my own knowledge as well as from the course material. My blog will include links, memes, gifs, images and other digital content, as well as citations from academic books and articles to further support my point.

White anxiety is a term used to describe the fear and panic experienced by white people in contemporary South Africa. When talking about ‘White’ here we are referring to the structural notions of race and not necessarily people or individuals. The anxiety is mainly caused by the rhetorical discursive statements and ‘white talk’ repertoire of conversation amongst white South Africans. The sense is that they are permanently at risk, and under some sort of threat. Generally crime rates in South Africa are very high, and poor black people who live in rural areas and townships are the most susceptible to it. Statistically the idea that only white people are under threat or some sort of attack is unfounded and data does not back it up. White anxiety comes from the racial discourse from years of apartheid and colonialism “black South Africans suffered social and economic discrimination for many years under the apartheid regime. White South Africans occupied a position of privilege in the socio-economic arena by virtue of their colour” (Wambugu, 2005:57). That is no longer happening, and that is the true source of the anxiety.

According to Wambugu (2005) the tables turned in favour of the previously marginalised and racialized group when the apartheid regime was replaced by a democratically elected black government in April of 1994. The general fear is that black people can oppress them as apartheid did to black people. To some extent the fear has become some sort of a reality to them, according ‘white talk’, as in, instead of confronting the aftermaths of apartheid, let us redirect fear by distorting reality and cry foul. Well, Steyn (2001) as cited in Wambugu (2005) further states that in the new South Africa, whiteness is perceived as a disadvantage since the privilege that accompanied it has been suspended (Steyn, 2001 as cited in Wambugu, 2005). The manifestation of this frustration has turned into fear and distortion of reality. Hence they want to believe that they are under some sort of attack and their lives are at risk instead of addressing the impact apartheid had on black people.

Truth is, the power of whiteness seems to be diminishing with time and the dominance of whiteness is becoming unclear. The line is blurring out. Which means that white people are loosing control and power they’ve enjoyed in the past and that frustrates them in that all that privilege is no longer there for them to enjoy. The hegemonic power systems and policies such as apartheid are no longer there to help maintain their power. Their ideological ideas that whiteness is pure and classy are no longer dominant in black peoples psyche and that creates the anxiety. So within the digital space whiteness is trying to strengthen itself through discourse and displaying racial protests using ideological cross dressing. Examples online campaigns like #Red October & #BlackMonday. Even though a lot of them still enjoy the generational wealth gained from exploitation of black people.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, says that defence mechanism redirects anxiety by distorting reality. According to Freud, an individual’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviours are the result of the interaction of the id, the superego, and the ego (what makes up the personality of an individual). Santosa further explains that they are continually in conflict with one another. This conflict generates anxiety. If the ego did not effectively handle the resulting anxiety, people would be so overwhelmed with anxiety that they would not be able to carry on with the tasks of everyday living. The ego tries to control anxiety (i.e., to reduce anxiety) through the use of ego defence mechanisms. Furthermore Santosa states that defence mechanisms operate at an unconscious level. We are not aware of them during the time that we are actually using them. However, we may later become aware of their previous operation and use. Agreeably “fear is the screaming physical response to the threats of injury or to threats to survival, it is a response to the obscurity of the unknown. Or fear is an ideological formation, an affect we learn in response to cultural and political prompts” (Coole & Frost, 2010:158).

Indeed this anxiety is out of fear posed by cultural and political discourses. The ideological notion of whiteness and westernised ways of life seems to be diminishing a lot when it comes to black people in contemporary South Africa, particularly black intellectuals. Historically black intellectuals are key players in the transformation of the country, in his book Gerhart (1978) recounts events of historical importance, but primary emphasis is on the intellectual dimension of black political history and in particular on the interplay of ideologies which has marked the post-war era and which has brought many present-day African intellectuals to their current Black power perspective.

Robert Sobukwe is a major figure with an international reputation. Ditshego (2012) wrote in his article about how Sobukwe was totally against white supremacy and stated so in no uncertain terms, quoting Robert Sobukwe: “In Africa the myth of race has been propounded and propagated by the imperialists and colonialists from Europe, in order to facilitate and justify their inhuman exploitation of the indigenous people of the land. “It is from this myth of race with its attendant claims of cultural superiority that the doctrine of white supremacy stem” (The Star). Robert Sobukwe like Steven Bantu Biko are the black intellectuals who have inspired a lot of the rising intellectuals in contemporary South Africa today, and that I feel is what is most contentious with white people in South Africa. Black people are waking up to education and many of them building their own businesses and taking their rightful place in the economy of the country. They are no longer that submissive garden boy who slaves away all day in the sun or that submissive helper who is raising white people’s children, while her own children are left alone at home without their mother. Black people are now educated and informed and passing on the knowledge to other black people. There is a silent black intellectual movement.

The rising black intellectuals are unapologetically pro-black and understand what apartheid was and what it did to the black nation and swear not to go back there. The black nation is slowly and surely building a space where black people can flourish without the dependency on white people. For example Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), rising South African political party, “members are expected to study and apply the theoretical line of the organisation being Marxist, Leninist and Fanonian philosophical thought and tools of analysis in a living way” (EFF online constitution), which means you have to be registered with a higher learning institution to be a member.

When it comes to business in relation to digital media. A lot of black businesses are using social media to promote and market their businesses and build a rich network of black intellectuals and likeminded ‘brownies’. Brownsense is one such platform for black entrepreneurs “it is about the promotion of Black business, creating an easily accessible database of Black owned businesses and professionals, and building and enhancing a community of like-minded people” (Brownsense). If ever there was a time for black people to stick together and pursue their dreams, it's now. Mzuzukile Soni, CEO and founder of Brownsense, shares why he created a platform that empowers and celebrates black business owners “SA is budding with young black entrepreneurs who have decided to take control of their financial freedom and are part of the ‘vukuzenzele’ phenomenon. Hashtags like #BlackExcellence and #unapologeticallyblack, have seen the deliberate celebration of black pride, something we reckon is long overdue” (Mbhete, 2016). Futhermore “With a membership of over 17 000, Brownsense is a growing platform that enables anyone who wants to buy black to do so. On the Facebook group, also named Brownsense, one will find black-owned businesses as well as customers who are in search of certain products or services” (Mbhete, 2016).

Initiatives like these are popping up everywhere around black communities, ideas of buying black are becoming an everyday narrative amongst black communities. Blacks are becoming more and more conscious of who they are and are expressing it through their everyday life in everything they do while also claiming their place in the economic landscape of South Africa through flourishing in business. White anxiety is just the heat felt from the rising black intellectuals. It is a defence mechanism that is meant to redirect by distorting reality and rather play victims instead of confronting the real issues underlying the aftermaths of apartheid and the impact it had on black people.

Bibliography

Brownsense. http://www.brownsense.co.za/.

Ditshego, S. 2012. Intellectual with a vision for Africa. The Star. February 29.

Economic Freedom Fighters. http://www.effonline.org/constitution.

Frost, S. 2010. Fear and the Illusion of Autonomy. In: Coole, D. & Frost, S. (eds) New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics. Duke University Press.

Gerhart, G. M. 1978. Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution of an Ideology. University of California Press.

Mbhete, B. 2016. Brownsense founder on why he created a platform for black people. Destiny Connect.com. October 12

Wambugu, j. 2005. ‘when tables turn: discursive constructions of whites as victims of affirmative action in post-apartheid south Africa’. Psychology in Society 31, pp. 57-70.

Santosa, E. T. Theories Personality & Assessment

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