This book raises the question of identity and how different social groups make sense of the world around them. It is concerned with the implications that culture and competing interpretations of reality (worldviews) have on intergroup relations and building sustainable peace in deeply divided societies. The significance of this is well illustrated by the furore that erupted across South Africa following the public exhibition of a painting by a ‘white’ South African artist, Brett Murray in an art gallery in 2012. Expressing a strand of public perception relating to the numerous scandals surrounding Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, it depicts the president in a Lenin-like posture with his genitals exposed. As well as the painting being vandalised shortly after it was displayed, strong opinions both for and against it were expressed in the media as per the following examples:
It is a sad day for South Africa when creative production is being threatened with censorship from our ruling party…we support our artists’ freedom of speech and expression and encourage them to show work that challenges the status quo, ignites dialogue and shifts consciousness. (emphasis mine, Burbidge 2012)This man has insulted the entire nation and he deserves to be stoned to death. (May and Nagel 2012)
This was a fascinating debate to follow as it raised the question of why something one might have thought as an acceptable form of public commentary within the context of a democracy could provoke such an impassioned response. Due to the artist being ‘white’, and bearing in mind South Africa’s racist past, many have interpreted this painting through a racial lens. However, to interpret it in this way is insufficient as it does not account for the way in which the conflicting views crossed racial boundaries, as indeed many ‘whites’ also took exception to it. Pointing to different systems of meaning-making (worldviews) at play, I would argue the furore was the result of an unintended but volatile clash of values: freedom of speech versus dignity and respect, fuelled by an unresolved Apartheid past.
In the Western worldview, there is a growing sense that talking about culture is politically incorrect. Indeed, the extremes to which British society avoids deeper engagement with the complexities surrounding culture is inferred in a list of ‘racial micro-aggressions’ that was disseminated by Oxford University’s Equality and Diversity Unit (University of Oxford 2017). For example, it suggested that avoiding eye contact with someone was a form of racism. Not only does this trivialise a very serious and deep-rooted issue but it shows a complete lack of cultural understanding (in some cultures avoiding eye contact is a sign of respect) and is contributing to a social fear that by talking about culture one may be accused of racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia or perhaps even sectarianism. In a society that is driven by values of equality, the consequence is that the issue of culture has become the proverbial elephant in the room. Yet, the growing tensions and violence surrounding what has been dubbed the ‘European migration crisis’ underscores the fact that culture and worldview matters in fostering positive intergroup relations.
These illustrations raise a number of deeper questions that need to be probed. For example, it raises the question of identity and how different groups interpret and make sense of the world around them. It raises the question of social values and how groups prioritise certain values over others. It requires asking what happens when competing values and ways of interpreting reality collide and investigating what this means for reconciliation and social healing in societies emerging from conflict and violence. It also requires asking how one’s process of meaning-making influences one’s interpretation of peace and how cultural pluralism, and potentially competing worldviews, impact on building a lasting peace. Perhaps more importantly, what does this mean for how we undertake peace-building in deeply divided, multicultural societies? It is to this issue of intergroup communication in divided and culturally diverse transitional societies emerging from conflict this book seeks to contribute.
1.1 Book Rationale
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) marked the country’s transition from a long history of inequality and racism that reached its zenith during Apartheid, to a state of democracy in which majority rule and equal rights for all were recognised (Terreblanche 2002).1 As embodied in Desmond Tutu’s symbol of the Rainbow Nation, this was accompanied with the hope of national unity, social reconstruction, peace and reconciliation (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa 1998: vol. 1). However, since then, persistent economic inequality, intergroup conflict, racial and ethnic divisions, xenophobic violence and disputes around land redistribution are impeding national stability and the building of a sustainable peace. More recently this has been exacerbated by public displays of police brutality, such as the events that took place at Marikana,2 bringing into question the full impact of police reform (Dixon 2013).
Since the TRC, a number of policies (referred to as transitional policies) were implemented through which to facilitate the country’s transition to democracy. These include, among others, affirmative action policies which were implemented to promote employment equity; Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment which was developed as strategy to assist with the economic transformation of the country (from here on it shall be referred to simply as Black Economic Empowerment [BEE]); land reform processes aimed at increasing land ownership among ‘black’ South Africans; and other policies relating to housing, education, social welfare and health that were developed under the Reconstruction and Development Programme.3 However, despite these efforts at redressing the wrongs of the past, almost 25 years since the birth of its democracy South Africa remains a deeply divided society largely on the basis of race.
The study is anchored in three interconnected concepts namely: identity, culture and worldview. Located within the constructivist school of thought identity is understood as the unit of survival that speaks to one’s sense of survival, safety and belonging in the world (Arthur 2011a; Northrup 1989).
Culture is often understood by scholars as a shared system of meaning-making for making sense of the worl...