Shots in the Streets: Violence and Religion in South Africa - Hardcover

Chidester, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807002186 ISBN 13: 9780807002186

Publisher: Beacon Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Argues that nationalist politics in South Africa is interconnected with mythology and ritual, and describes how this results in ritual killing, torture, and armed conflict

About this title

From Library Journal:

Chidester's exploration of the relationship between religion and violence in South Africa begins with broad definitions of both terms. While he uses "religion" to describe relationships in every dimension of human experience, Chidester concentrates on three types of violence: ritual killing, torture, and armed conflict. Given these parameters, he considers violent acts of Afrikaner nationalists and mob violence in a black township that resulted in the killing of a municipal policeman both as ritual killings. Violence as a violation of humanity is discussed in regard to mines and prisons. Finally, Chidester discusses the religious aspect of armed conflict in relation to the South African Defense Force, the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress, and Inkatha. Too short a volume to do more than raise questions or point to different perspectives, this work is not easily understood without previous knowledge of historical, political, and religious events in South Africa. An optional purchase for academic collections.
- Maidel Cason, Univ. of Delaware Lib., Newark
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

In Chidester's persuasive analysis, South Africa's apartheid system of racist separation and domination functions much like a religion sustained by self-perpetuating rituals, symbols and myths. Torture of black prisoners, a frequent occurrence that is officially denied, serves as a "state ritual" to purify the body politic and "bestow divine power" on the white overlords. The book also examines the religious underpinnings of the violent ideology of the paramilitary South African Defense Force. A historian of religion who teaches at the University of Cape Town, Chidester extends his analysis to violence committed by black South Africans. The African National Congress, in his view, has romanticized violence as a means of sudden, apocalyptic redemption. In the murder of blacks by other blacks, the author sees ritual scapegoating at work. This powerful and unsettling study illuminates the dynamics of reaction and rebellion in South Africa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0807002186
• ISBN 13: 9780807002186
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220