Smoking sugars in Wentworth, South Africa: drugs, masculinity, and ‘coloured’ identity

ABSTRACT

In South Africa, many historically ‘Coloured’ (mixed-race) communities have inherited a drug crisis precipitated by the social and economic inequalities of apartheid. This article locates evidence from 35 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with men using heroin and other drugs within the complicated history of labour, vice, and race in Wentworth, a former Coloured township in Durban, South Africa. Narratives of life in Wentworth evince the social, economic, and structural inequalities that contribute to drug use in the community while also illuminating some shortcomings of post-apartheid life for its denizens. Community imaginings of archetypal drug users – particularly the so-called ‘sugarhead’ – alert us to the heterogeneous nature of Coloured identity in Wentworth. Moreover, men describe economic activities that signal a burgeoning informal economy in the context of rampant post-apartheid unemployment. Finally, respondents’ experiences with recovery programmes underscore the need for community-based and culturally competent rehabilitation. Together, these narratives elucidate the trials of life in an underserved township and offer insight into the ever-changing valances of masculinity, race, and identity in a post-apartheid South Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• Drugs
• heroin
• masculinity
• Durban
• South Africa
• Coloured

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Candy Jagers, Bronwynne Anderson, and Tania Maistry for their assistance with participant recruitment. He is furthermore indebted to his colleagues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Deevia Bhana and Delarise Mulqueeny, for their feedback and advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Most South Africans identify with one of four racial groups defined by apartheid-era legislation – White, Black African, Indian, and Coloured (multiracial). It is important that these designations are understood as a socio-political invention of the White minority government, which sought to hierarchize race and segregate social, political, and economic life. Nonetheless, racial designations continue to have important implications for the social and economic livelihoods of South Africans. The terms White, Black, Indian, and Coloured are used throughout this article not to reify racial categories as a biological fact, but rather in recognition of the sustained socio-political importance of these identities.

Additional information

Funding

The research in this paper was supported by a grant from the Fulbright Program of the U.S. Department of State.

Notes on contributors

Henry E. Chen

Henry E. Chen is a Fulbright research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal working with the SARChI research cohort on Gender and Childhood Sexuality. His research interests include multiracial identities, men and masculinities, and South African history. His previous work on South African masculinities has been published in the Journal of Southern African Studies and the Journal of Youth Studies.