Semiotic analysis of White Poverty (in a New South Africa) (2013)
The myth apparent in Figure 1 and Figure 2 is that of the empty land. This myth is maintained by the notion of the ‘settlers gaze’. The settlers gaze is the manner in which the colonizer represents the land of the colonized. The land of the colonized is represented as desolate of particularly the indigenous people. The state of the land is repudiated by this representation of emptiness. In this regard, the colonizer is argued to justify his claim for the land as being his own thought the representation mentioned above.
The myth of empty land in also depicted in artworks such as the one of Afrikaner landscape artist JH Pierneef’s of 1929. van de Watt (2001:63) argues that the artwork portrays a uniform depiction of a wide view of an idealist farm landscape. The dominant symbols in his artworks are argued to be of peace and prosperity in settlement. Observed in his artworks, with the attempt to emphasis the symbols mentioned above, is the prominence of the land emptied out of any human form or activity. This land van de Watt mentions is ready for the taking and is a strong representation of the ambition of white people.
One of the myths that are apparent in the documentary of White poverty (in a New South Africa) (2013), is also that of white supremacy. Dyer (1997: 44) argues that white power is hidden and therefore its dominance is retained. He mentions that even when whiteness is exposed it appears as emptiness, absence, denial or even death-like. He agrees that whiteness is a cultural construction. He mentions how image studies have focused on groups regarded as oppressed, marginalised and subordinated. He further adds that though the study of black people have given them the opportunity to be centre-stage the drawback is that they are perceived as odd, different, exceptional and regarded to be departures from the norm. Yet, for the norm life has continued the same and their ‘normality’ has been naturalised, regarded inevitable, and an ordinary way of being. The norm is this instance is white people and white supremacy.
Dyer maintains that the norm too is a construction. He mentions that power is retained in the normal rather than the superior in contemporary society. The scientific difference as taught in primary school equates black to nothingness and absence of all colour whereas white is equated to all colours there is. His interest is how such discourse has translated into the view and construction of ethnicity in black and white dominant representation. He mentions that black is always categorised as a colour for example the use of the term coloured. White on the other hand is nothing, not an identity, not a specifying character, that is because it resembles everything; it is no colour because it’s an embodiment of all colours. The representational power of whiteness, he argues, lies in its ability to be nothing and everything simultaneously. The colonisation of normal by white people asserts its dominion (Dyer 1997:44-45). Joe Kincheloe agrees that whiteness is about power difference between whites and non-white people.
Ideology
Ideology is informed by the myth. The myth of empty space and white supremacy can be argued to be driven by the ideology of capitalism. And as seen from the argument around the documentary Street Stories South Africa (2011), capitalism is the dominant ideology driving racial discrimination (white supremacy and black subordination). Ideologies are hosted within knowledge and social structures and are prevalent within changing histories. The term idéologie is regarded the science of ideas by French Enlightenment Philosopher Destutt De Tracy (1754-1836). This science was considered a rational manner in which societies and public minds could be ameliorated. Ideology is also considered to be a false idea that is constituted in a hegemonic social structure. This false idea argues a reality devoid of the natural reality and it is determined by ruling or dominant classes. The dominant class establishes these ideologies to maintain power over the masses. They naturalising certain practices so that the working class perceive the ideas as normal (unquestioned) everyday practise (Reyburn 2013: 41-42).
British and Dutch settlers and travellers that came to South Africa around 1797 and 1798 believed themselves to be better than the natives who are of darker-skin (Crais 1992: 127). In Figures 4 and 5 whiteness is maintained as a symbol of structural advantage. In this the representation can be argued to suggest that being racially white should render one privileged. Therefore, the practices of white people in comparison to black people are in principal unmarked and unnamed (van de Watt 2001:64).
South Africa is argued to have mimicked the capitalist markets of more advanced capitalist states, essential to this study is the unequal and systematically distribution of income during apartheid. Inequality was perpetuated by an undeniable display of racial discrimination towards black people. Regardless of their qualifications and skills black people were rewarded less than white people (Seekings & Nattrass 2005:2). This discrimination led to the demarcation of certain farm land to be restricted to black people. This phenomenon was owed to the Land Acts of 1913 and 1936, which was apparent before the apartheid era (Ashcroft, Griffiths &Tiffin 2000: 14).
Accordingly, white homelessness in contrast to black homelessness is considered to be undeserved. The white subject is depicted to have not caused their own current state of living. Rather the blame for their predicament is focus on outside forces beyond their control.
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