Nostalgia in the post-apartheid state

Abstract

In this article, I join recent theorists in furthering an “anthropology of nostalgia,” seeking connections between disparate parts of the globe through a shared sense of loss in the face of global capitalism and liberal democracy. Highlighting contemporary work, I suggest linkages between seemingly disparate regional foci. I then move on to a case study of nostalgia for elements of apartheid in twenty-first century South Africa among historically oppressed residents. My broader contention is that nostalgia arises most poignantly in states and among populations that have in recent decades transitioned from authoritarian to democratic systems of governance, and that this can be understood through the complexity of cultural politics, anxieties of social reproduction and recent turns toward neo-liberal capitalism. Importantly, this nostalgia should be read less as a commentary on the past than as a critique of the present.