Postcolonial casualties: ‘Born-frees’ and decolonisation in South Africa

ABSTRACT

In South Africa, ‘decolonisation’ has re-emerged as a theme for identity, economic and cultural contestations among the youth. In this, the celebratory rhetoric of rainbow nationalism of post-apartheid utopia is confronted head-on. From a theoretical discourse of the problematics of ‘the postcolonial’ this inquiry engages a critical question: if decolonisation is to undo colonial (and apartheid) economic, political and cultural legacies, to what extent has this been achieved for the South African youth? The struggle for political decolonisation (freedom) was such a long and painful journey that the wounded still bear the scars. But political freedom is an imagined trophy that newly independent states parade as decolonisation; cultural and economic colonisations are more indelible to unsettle. Drawing from public data, social statistical information, media narratives and academic literature, I argue that the post-apartheid youth, although ‘born-free’, remain victims of coloniality and the difficult process of decolonisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Postcoloniality
• coloniality
• youth
• South Africa
• decolonisation
• born frees

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The South African currency, the rand, at the time of writing was around R16 to one US$.

2 In South Africa, ‘coloureds’ generally designates people of racially mixed parentage or descent.

3 Luister is an Afrikaans word, meaning listen.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Toks Dele Oyedemi

Toks Dele Oyedemi (PhD Communication, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA) is an associate professor of communication and media studies. He takes critical and postcolonial approaches to his scholarly inquiries intersecting issues of culture, identity, social inequalities and marginalisation. He studies youth's experiences of identity and participation in post-apartheid South Africa and engages intellectual inquiries on digital culture, digital inclusion and marginalisation. He interrogates pattern of coloniality in the political economy of transnational activities of digital media corporations in Africa.