White Anxiety

Landi Raubenheimer

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Chapter 8 White Anxiety

In: District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia

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Landi Raubenheimer

Landi Raubenheimer
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 179–193

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004710955_010

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Abstract

In this last chapter, I consider how the landscape of Johannesburg in District 9 may be regarded in some senses as racially white, and how its post-industrial and post-apartheid decay may be instrumental in and concomitant with a fear (for white citizens) of the loss of white hegemony after apartheid ended. I argue that the landscape itself may be seen as entangled with notions of belonging that are encapsulated in the term ‘white anxiety’. In depictions such as District 9, and performances by the collective AVANT CAR GUARD, where white male figures interact with urban ruins, the post-industrial sublime could be interpreted as offering a degree of critical potential in the context of white anxiety associated with a lack of belonging and the decay of white hegemony in the city. Since the sublime is associated with notions of transformation, I consider how sublime landscapes could present the opportunity for a productive transformation of such anxiety.

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District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia

Series: Contemporary Cinema, Volume: 10

Cover <i>District 9</i>: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004710955

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 13 Dec 2024

Subjects
- African Studies
  - Literature & Culture
- Literature and Cultural Studies
  - Criticism & Theory
  - Postcolonial Literature & Culture

Front Matter

Part 1 “District 9” in Context: Nostalgic Dystopia

Part 2 Analogue Aesthetics

Part 3 Ruin Aesthetics

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Chapter 8 White Anxiety

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District 9: Johannesburg as Nostalgic Dystopia

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