South Africa
"Locating Generation X: Taste and Identity in Transitional South Africa" " When Douglas Coupland published Generation X in 1991, South Africa was undergoing massive political and social transformations. The preceding years had been marked by political turmoil, the danger of imminent civil war, and violent clashes between the apartheid state’s security forces and angry protesters against the apartheid regime. The government’s racist policies were ostracized by the international community—boycotts and sanctions were throttling an economy already at the brink of collapse due to the monstrous costs of an institutionally divided society and the lack of a sizeable affluent and well-educated middle class. In 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and at the time of Coupland’s writing negotiations were in full motion in preparation for the country’s adoption of a new constitution and its first democratic elections in 1994. Thus the characteristics of Coupland’s (anti-)heroes, their aimlessness, whininess, “slackness,” and very fictionality stand in stark contrast not only to the US black and white youth protesters of the 1960s, but also to the ambitions, anger, harshness, and the very reality of most young South Africans during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The one thing that South Africans did not suffer from at the time was “Historical Underdosing”: the Cafe Latte in the hand of a slacker lost in a suburban mall replaced by the rock in the hand of a young angry protester on the streets of Soweto as the gaze shifts across the Atlantic." ~ Jan Schenk & Jeremy Seekings, Excerpt from Generation X Goes Global There is a new hiphop band in Cape Town called Generation X!
See: Nyanga hip hop band rises "like a rose out of concrete" Generation X is a hip hop group from Zwelitsha in Nyanga, Cape Town. Nokubonga Yawa |
Jeremy Seekings. Director of the Centre for Social Science Research, and Professor of Political Studies and Sociology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a Visiting Professor in the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale. His books include Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa (2005, with Nicoli Nattrass) and Growing Up in the New South Africa (2010, with Rachel Bray et al.). He is co-director of the Cape Area Panel Study of adolescents in Cape Town. He is especially interested in the ways that inequalities are reproduced across generations. Jan Schenk. PhD student at the Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town. Since 2007 he has been doing research on the impact of cultural globalization on the racial attitudes of youth in Cape Town (South Africa) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). In 2007 he was a scholarship student in the Social Surveys Unit (SSU) in the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town. Jan is director of ikapadata, a South African research company specialized in conducting surveys in semi-urban areas using mobile data collection devices.
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For further Reading:
Baines, Gary. "Popular Music and Negotiating Whiteness in Apartheid South Africa." Composing Apartheid: Music for and Against Apartheid. Ed. Grant Olwage. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2008. Print.
Ballantine, Christopher. "Re-Thinking ‘Whiteness’? Identity, Change and ‘White’ Popular Music in Post-Apartheid South Africa." Popular Music 23.2 (2004): 105–31. Print.
Basson, Lauren. "Punk Identities in Post-Apartheid South Africa." South African Review of Sociology 38.1 (2007): 70–84. Print.
Bezuidenhout, Andries. From Voëlvry to De La Rey: Popular Music, Afrikaner Nationalism and Lost Irony. Seminar at the Department of History, Stellenbosch University, 2007. Print.
Blake, Cameron. Troepie: From Call-Up to Camps. Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2009. Print.
Bogatsu, Mpolokeng. “‘Loxion Kulcha’: Fashioning Black Youth Culture in Post-Apartheid South Africa." English Studies in Africa 45.2 (2002): 1–11. Print.
Boloka, Gibson. "Cultural Studies and the Transformation of the Music Industry: Some Reflections on Kwaito." Shifting Selves: Post-Apartheid Essays on Mass Media, Culture and Identity. Ed. Herman Wasserman and Sean Jacobs. Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2003. Print.
Bray, Rachel, Imke Gooskens, Sue Moses, Lauren Kahn, and Jeremy Seekings. Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2010. Print.
CASE. Growing Up Tough: A National Survey of South African Youth. Johannesburg: Community Agency for Social Enquiry, 1993. Print.
Conway, Daniel. "Masculinity, Citizenship and Political Objection to Military Service in Apartheid South Africa." (Un)Thinking Citizenship: Feminist Debates in Contemporary South Africa. Ed. Amanda Gouws. Cape Town: UCT Press, 2005. Print.
Coupland, Douglas. Generation X: Tales for An Accelerated Culture. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Print.
Dawes, Andrew, and David Donald. Childhood & Adversity: Psychological Perspectives From South African Research. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, 1994. Print.
Dlamini, Sibusisiwe Nombuso. Youth and Identity Politics in South Africa 1990–1994. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. Print.
Dolby, Nadine. Constructing Race: Youth, Identity and Popular Culture in South Africa. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.
Grundlingh, Albert. "Rocking the Boat in South Africa? Voëlvry Music and Afrikaans Anti-Apartheid Social Protest in the Eighties." International Journal of African Historical Studies 37.3 (2004). Print.
Hammett, David. "Local Beats to Global Rhythms: Coloured Student Identity and Negotiations of Global Cultural Imports in Cape Town, South Africa." Social & Cultural Geography 10.4 (2009): 403–19. Print.
Haupt, Adam. Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2008. Print.
Hopkins, Pat, and Lloyd Ross. Voëlvry: The Movement That Rocked South Africa. Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2006. Print.
Hornblower, Margot. "Great Xpectations of So-Called Slackers." TIME Magazine 9 Jun. 1997. Print.
Jensen, Steffen. Gangs, Politics and Dignity in Cape Town. Oxford: James Currey, 2008.
Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. Print.
Krueger, Anton. Sunnyside Sal. Grahamstown: Deep South, 2010. Print.
Marks, Monique. Young Warriors: Youth Politics, Identity and Violence in South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2001. Print.
Matlwa, Kopano. Coconut. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2007. Print.
Mhlambi, Thokozani. "Kwaitofabulous : The Study of a South African Urban Genre." Journal of Musical Arts in Africa 1.1 (2004): 116–27. Print.
Nkuna, Lucert. "'Fitting-In' to a 'Classy Place': The Zone and Youth Identity." Globalisation & New Identities: A View From the Middle. Ed. Peter Alexander, Marcelle C Dawson, and Meera Ichharam. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2006. Print.
Nuttall, Sarah. "Self and Text in Y Magazine." African Identities 1.2 (2003): 235–51. Print.
Ortner, Sherry B. "Generation X: Anthropology in a Media-Saturated World." Cultural Anthropology (1998): 414–40. Print.
Peterson, Bhekizizwe. "Kwaito, 'Dawgs' and the Antimonies of Hustling." African Identities 1.2 (2003): 197–213. Print.
SAARF. All Media and Products Survey. Johannesburg: South African Advertising Research Foundation, 1995. Print.
Salo, Elaine. "Negotiating Gender and Personhood in the New South Africa." European Journal of Cultural Studies 6.3 (2003): 345. Print.
Burman, Sandra, and Pamela Reynolds. Growing Up in a Divided Society: The Contexts of Childhood in South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan, 1986. Print.
Schenk, Jan. "Quantifying Taste: Findings From a Survey on Media and Taste Among Teenagers From Six High Schools in Cape Town." CSSR Working Paper 250 (2009). Print.
Seekings, Jeremy. Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s. Johannesburg: Ravan, 1993. Print.
---. "Media Representations Of ‘Youth’ and the South African Transition, 1989–1994." South African Sociological Review 7.2 (1995): 25–42. Print.
Seekings, Jeremy, and Nicoli Nattrass. Class, Race, and Inequality in South Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005. Print.
Steingo, Gavin. "South African Music After Apartheid: Kwaito, the ‘Party Politic’, and the Appropriation of Gold As a Sign of Success." Popular Music and Society 28.3 (2005): 333–57. Print.
Steyn, Melissa E. Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used to Be: White Identity in a Changing South Africa. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.
Straker, Gill. Faces in the Revolution: The Psychological Effects of Violence on Township Youth in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, 1992. Print.
Strelitz, Larry. Mixed Reception: South African Youth and Their Experience of Global Media. Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2005. Print.
Thompson, J H. An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok: Voices of South African National Servicemen. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2006. Print.
Van Zyl Slabbert, Frederik. Youth in the New South Africa: Towards Policy Formulation. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers, 1994. Print.
Baines, Gary. "Popular Music and Negotiating Whiteness in Apartheid South Africa." Composing Apartheid: Music for and Against Apartheid. Ed. Grant Olwage. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2008. Print.
Ballantine, Christopher. "Re-Thinking ‘Whiteness’? Identity, Change and ‘White’ Popular Music in Post-Apartheid South Africa." Popular Music 23.2 (2004): 105–31. Print.
Basson, Lauren. "Punk Identities in Post-Apartheid South Africa." South African Review of Sociology 38.1 (2007): 70–84. Print.
Bezuidenhout, Andries. From Voëlvry to De La Rey: Popular Music, Afrikaner Nationalism and Lost Irony. Seminar at the Department of History, Stellenbosch University, 2007. Print.
Blake, Cameron. Troepie: From Call-Up to Camps. Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2009. Print.
Bogatsu, Mpolokeng. “‘Loxion Kulcha’: Fashioning Black Youth Culture in Post-Apartheid South Africa." English Studies in Africa 45.2 (2002): 1–11. Print.
Boloka, Gibson. "Cultural Studies and the Transformation of the Music Industry: Some Reflections on Kwaito." Shifting Selves: Post-Apartheid Essays on Mass Media, Culture and Identity. Ed. Herman Wasserman and Sean Jacobs. Cape Town: Kwela Books, 2003. Print.
Bray, Rachel, Imke Gooskens, Sue Moses, Lauren Kahn, and Jeremy Seekings. Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2010. Print.
CASE. Growing Up Tough: A National Survey of South African Youth. Johannesburg: Community Agency for Social Enquiry, 1993. Print.
Conway, Daniel. "Masculinity, Citizenship and Political Objection to Military Service in Apartheid South Africa." (Un)Thinking Citizenship: Feminist Debates in Contemporary South Africa. Ed. Amanda Gouws. Cape Town: UCT Press, 2005. Print.
Coupland, Douglas. Generation X: Tales for An Accelerated Culture. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Print.
Dawes, Andrew, and David Donald. Childhood & Adversity: Psychological Perspectives From South African Research. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, 1994. Print.
Dlamini, Sibusisiwe Nombuso. Youth and Identity Politics in South Africa 1990–1994. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. Print.
Dolby, Nadine. Constructing Race: Youth, Identity and Popular Culture in South Africa. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.
Grundlingh, Albert. "Rocking the Boat in South Africa? Voëlvry Music and Afrikaans Anti-Apartheid Social Protest in the Eighties." International Journal of African Historical Studies 37.3 (2004). Print.
Hammett, David. "Local Beats to Global Rhythms: Coloured Student Identity and Negotiations of Global Cultural Imports in Cape Town, South Africa." Social & Cultural Geography 10.4 (2009): 403–19. Print.
Haupt, Adam. Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2008. Print.
Hopkins, Pat, and Lloyd Ross. Voëlvry: The Movement That Rocked South Africa. Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2006. Print.
Hornblower, Margot. "Great Xpectations of So-Called Slackers." TIME Magazine 9 Jun. 1997. Print.
Jensen, Steffen. Gangs, Politics and Dignity in Cape Town. Oxford: James Currey, 2008.
Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. Print.
Krueger, Anton. Sunnyside Sal. Grahamstown: Deep South, 2010. Print.
Marks, Monique. Young Warriors: Youth Politics, Identity and Violence in South Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2001. Print.
Matlwa, Kopano. Coconut. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2007. Print.
Mhlambi, Thokozani. "Kwaitofabulous : The Study of a South African Urban Genre." Journal of Musical Arts in Africa 1.1 (2004): 116–27. Print.
Nkuna, Lucert. "'Fitting-In' to a 'Classy Place': The Zone and Youth Identity." Globalisation & New Identities: A View From the Middle. Ed. Peter Alexander, Marcelle C Dawson, and Meera Ichharam. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2006. Print.
Nuttall, Sarah. "Self and Text in Y Magazine." African Identities 1.2 (2003): 235–51. Print.
Ortner, Sherry B. "Generation X: Anthropology in a Media-Saturated World." Cultural Anthropology (1998): 414–40. Print.
Peterson, Bhekizizwe. "Kwaito, 'Dawgs' and the Antimonies of Hustling." African Identities 1.2 (2003): 197–213. Print.
SAARF. All Media and Products Survey. Johannesburg: South African Advertising Research Foundation, 1995. Print.
Salo, Elaine. "Negotiating Gender and Personhood in the New South Africa." European Journal of Cultural Studies 6.3 (2003): 345. Print.
Burman, Sandra, and Pamela Reynolds. Growing Up in a Divided Society: The Contexts of Childhood in South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan, 1986. Print.
Schenk, Jan. "Quantifying Taste: Findings From a Survey on Media and Taste Among Teenagers From Six High Schools in Cape Town." CSSR Working Paper 250 (2009). Print.
Seekings, Jeremy. Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s. Johannesburg: Ravan, 1993. Print.
---. "Media Representations Of ‘Youth’ and the South African Transition, 1989–1994." South African Sociological Review 7.2 (1995): 25–42. Print.
Seekings, Jeremy, and Nicoli Nattrass. Class, Race, and Inequality in South Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005. Print.
Steingo, Gavin. "South African Music After Apartheid: Kwaito, the ‘Party Politic’, and the Appropriation of Gold As a Sign of Success." Popular Music and Society 28.3 (2005): 333–57. Print.
Steyn, Melissa E. Whiteness Just Isn't What It Used to Be: White Identity in a Changing South Africa. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Print.
Straker, Gill. Faces in the Revolution: The Psychological Effects of Violence on Township Youth in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, 1992. Print.
Strelitz, Larry. Mixed Reception: South African Youth and Their Experience of Global Media. Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2005. Print.
Thompson, J H. An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok: Voices of South African National Servicemen. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2006. Print.
Van Zyl Slabbert, Frederik. Youth in the New South Africa: Towards Policy Formulation. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers, 1994. Print.