Theorizing Afrophobia Beyond Apartheid: Conflict Cultures in Neill Blomkamp's District 9

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1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The persistent Afrophobic attacks on black African immigrants in South Africa since the 1990s alert us to a new cultural watershed. Just when the country had done away with apartheid, the black-on-black attacks reified the emergence of a new cultural crisis. This article reflects on the emergent cultural identities enabled by practices of black-black violence. It takes conflict cultures as a frame to discuss Afrophobia in the context of new identity consciousness. This is achieved through a critique of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (2009), a film where racial antipathies are supplanted with a nebulous culture of aversion. Theorising this scenario as a euphemism for struggles with post-apartheid cultural reorganisation, the article suggests conflict culture as a theory that can account for incomplete identity transformation among all races of the South African nation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-31
Number of pages15
JournalCritical Arts
Volume37
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • Afrophobia
  • conflict culture
  • District 9
  • post-apartheid black cultures
  • South African cinema
  • visual ethnography
  • xenophobia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Communication
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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