Structural Violence and the Struggle for Recognition: Examining Community Narratives in a Post-apartheid Democracy

Abstract

Twenty years into democracy, South Africa’s post-apartheid landscape is awash with almost daily recurrences of protest violence. In marginalised spaces of township life, the protestors’ demands echo the same struggles that characterised apartheid life—the demand for water, electricity and shelter. Community-entry dialogues with leaders of the marginalised peri-urban township of Thembelihle revealed overarching narratives of “poverty and need” and “struggle for recognition”, wherein community members were emplotted as helpless, voiceless victims of oppression. These narratives may be read as stories of structural violence and struggles for cultural peace. Interpreted from within a peace psychology and critical psychology perspective, the stories highlighted markers of structural violence including poverty, inequality, geospatial deprivation, media colonisation, State failure to meet basic human needs and limited social community/social efficacy in the face of institutional intransigence. Peace, as the participants implied is contingent on social recognition, epistemic justice (need for recognition of community knowledge and voice) and representation. We reflect on the implications of violence and peace for Community Storylines, an inter-institutional collaborative project and for critical psychology enactments more broadly within a young democratic society marked by particular post-apartheid achievements and developmental challenges.