Afterimages of Apartheid: Photography and Resistance
London; New York: Routledge (2026), xxiii, 177 pp.
Contains many photos, index
Series: Routledge Contemporary South Africa
ISBN 978-1-00-351540-1 (ebook); 978-1-03-284866-2 (pbk)4387-3; 978-1-04-044390-3
"Afterimages of Apartheid shows how photographs of the past can be mobilised as a critical tool for understanding the ongoing effects of apartheid in contemporary South Africa. Through close readings of significant images made during and after apartheid, the book shows how photography works as a means of documentation, commemoration, and resistance. Written by one of South Africa's leading scholars of visual history, the book considers the ways in which photographs can be used to contest impunity for state violence. Afterimages includes chapters on the Sharpeville and Marikana massacres, on the re-opening of cases of human rights violations that remain unresolved in the aftermath of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and on contemporary protests against the post-apartheid state. The book makes a powerful case for the role of photographs in drawing the viewer into the past time they represent, issuing a call to the living to remember, respond, and react." (Publisher description)
Introduction: Against Impunity, 1
1 Seeing Sharpeville, 20
2 States of Emergency, 47
3 Wounding Apertures, 70
4 Exhuming Apartheid, 90
5 Resistance and Resurgence, 115
6 Refusing Transitional Time, 138
Conclusion: Call to the Living, 158
1 Seeing Sharpeville, 20
2 States of Emergency, 47
3 Wounding Apertures, 70
4 Exhuming Apartheid, 90
5 Resistance and Resurgence, 115
6 Refusing Transitional Time, 138
Conclusion: Call to the Living, 158