SWOP’s final Lunch Break of 2024, with Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos will be presenting his paper titled ‘After the rainbow. South Africa’s interregnum through Brazil’s lens’. The seminar will take place at Hofmeyr House from 1-2:30pm on Friday, 18 October.
Please take note that this seminar will be hosted at Hofmeyr House instead of the Humanities Graduate Centre. Hofmeyr House is located between Jubilee Hall and International House on East Campus. See the Google Maps link here and/or a Wits map with the driving route to the parking area marked here for further directions.
Abstract
The comparison of Brazil with South Africa is framed by the hypothesis that both countries face an hegemonic crisis and are,therefore, in an interregnum. The New Republic framework established in Brazil since the end of dictatorship (1964-1985) and the Rainbow Nation settlement under the ANC’s dominance following apartheid (1948-1994) have been progressively eroded. I argue, firstly, that the legitimation crises stemming from frustrated expectations of social integration and nation building emerge against the backdrop of a structural crisis of capital. Secondly, the attempts by the Workers’ Party (PT) in Brazil, and Mbeki and Ramaphosa in South Africa to contain the crisis through managed austerity sprinkled with social sensitivity is unable to reverse accumulation by dispossession that accelerated under Zuma or Bolsonaro. And thirdly, that the nationalist challenges to ANC dominance from Zuma or Malema share similar traits with Bolsonaro of contemporary far-right hate politics. That both are ANC splinters reveals the constraints on political renovation as well as of the far-right global sway.
