Apartheid Remains

In Apartheid Remains, Sharad Chari examines how people in South Africa deal with the remnants of segregation and apartheid in an industrial-residential setting in Durban, India, through portals. He depicts South Africa's twentieth century as a palimpsest that preserves the remnants of numerous pasts, including attempts by the racial state to remake territory and personhood. Chari analyzes Black documentary photography as a critical audiovisual blues critique at the intersection of Marxism, feminism, and Black studies, offering a method and form of geography attentive to the spatial and embodied remains of history. He also looks out from South Durban to imaginations of abolition of all forms of racial capitalism and environmental suffering that define our planetary predicament.

Format: Hardback
Length: 496 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2024
Publisher: Duke University Press

Sharad Chari's book Apartheid Remains delves into the complex ways in which people in South Africa navigate the remnants of segregation and apartheid in the industrial-residential landscape of Durban, which is situated in the Indian Ocean. Through extensive historical and ethnographic research, Chari paints a vivid picture of South Africa's twentieth century as a palimpsest, preserving the traces of multiple pasts, including the attempts by the racial state to reshape territory and identity. At the same time, these efforts inadvertently exacerbate spatial contradictions and struggles.

In response to these challenges, the denizens of South Durban mobilized collectively in various ways, employing strategies such as Black Consciousness politics and other forms of resistance against the destructive articulation of biopolitics, sovereignty, and capital. During this period, submerged traditions of the Indian Ocean and the Black Atlantic emerged as powerful resources for the community. Chari interprets Black documentary photography as a particularly insightful audiovisual critique that sheds light on the spatial and embodied remains of history.

At the intersection of Marxism, feminism, and Black studies, Chari offers a method and form of geography that is attentive to the spatial and embodied remnants of history. Apartheid Remains serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing struggles against racial capitalism and environmental degradation, while also offering glimpses of abolitionist imaginations that can shape our collective future.

Weight: 794g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478026174