Salon

THE JOHANNESBURG SALON VOLUME FOUR 2011
Edited by Lara Allen and Achille Mbembe

© 2011, The Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism Copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism (JWTC), and no part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission, in writing, of both the authors and the publishers. The opinionsexpressed do not necessarily reflect those of the JWTC, its trustees, members of the Council or donors. Authors contribute to JWTC publications in their personal capacity. First published by the JWTC www.jwtc.org.za Design and Typesetting — The Library Technical development — Black Square

cOVER iMAGE
Representations and Shadows: ‘Learning digital camera’ by Joe Athialy Flikr: Joe Athialy Anintiative of the University of the Witwatersrand

Made possible by funding from the Prince Claus Fund

cONTENTS

DEMOcRAcy AS A cOMMUNiTy OF LiFE
Achille Mbembe 1

FANON AND THE VALUE OF THE HUMAN
Paul Gilroy 11

ARE TROUT SOUTH AFRicAN? OR: A POSTcOLONiAL FiSH?
Duncan Brown 19

iS MONEy THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART? LESSONS FROM LiMPOPO
Bjark Oxlund 22

THE cOLLEcTOR OF ART
CobiLabuscagne 27

cOSMOPOLiTANiSM FROM BELOw: SOME ETHicAL LESSONS FROM THE SLUMS OF MUMBAi
Arjun Appadurai 32

SHARiNG THE PiE iN TiMES OF HUNGER: A TANA TALE
Lara Allen 44

THE iNcALcULABLE
Faisel Devji 50

A ViEw OF NORTH AFRicA FROM SOUTH AMERicA: A cONVERSATiON wiTH RAúL ZiBEcHi
Crista Cielo 53

UNA ViSTA DE LAS REVUELTAS NORTEAFRicANOS DESDE SUDAMéRicA: UNA cONVERSAcióN cON RAúLZiBEcHi
Crista Cielo 59

EVERyTHiNG SOLiD MELTS iNTO THE STREET
Raúl Zibechi 65

THiS iS NO TiME TO BE GiVEN TO DiSTRAcTiON
Raúl Zibechi 67

THE ARAB REVOLTS AND STRATEGic THiNkiNG
Raúl Zibechi 69

THE REVOLUTiONS By ORDiNARy PEOPLE
Raúl Zibechi 71

THE MODERN TiTANic. URBAN PLANNiNG AND EVERyDAy LiFE iN kiNSHASA
Filip De Boeck 73

wHy ZANZiBAR REEkS
Elizabeth Godfrey 83

THEMiRAcULOUS LiFE
Brian Goldstone 85

NOSTALGiA FOR THE FUTURE: TOGO AFTER THE cOLD wAR
Charles Piot 101

iN SEARcH OF THE BORDER
Jo Ractliffe 106

DEMOcRAcy AS A cOMMUNiTy OF LiFE
Achille Mbembe
(University of Stellenbosch)
What might be the conditions of a radical, futureoriented politics in contemporary South Africa? Interrogating the salience of wealth and property, race and differenceas central idioms in the framing and naming of ongoing social struggles, Achille Mbembe investigates the possibility of reimagining democracy not only as a form of human mutuality and freedom, but also as a community of life.

Abstract Flickr: mikebaird

Preliminary observations During the last quarter of the twentieth century we have witnessed the development of modes of ethical reasoningwhich dealt with the difficult question: what is “the human” – or what remains of “the human” or even of “humanism” – in an age of violence, fear and torture; war, terror and vulnerability. Propelled by the repetition of violent events and human-made catastrophes and disasters, this critique has profoundly shifted the manner in which we used to define law and life, sovereignty and the political. It isnow understood that if life itself has become the prime medium for exerting power, power in turn is fundamentally the capacity to control and redistribute the means of human survival and ecological sustainability. Some of these forms of political and cultural critique are not simply paying incidental attention to the religious. A number of secular intellectuals have
DEMOcRAcy AS A cOMMUNiTy OFLiFE

moved beyond a time, not so long ago, when generation after generation of leftist revolutionaries denounced religion as a force of alienation which threatened human freedom. To a large extent, this new critique has also taken the form of witnessing. As has long been the case in black radical intellectual traditions, to witness is the attempt to disrupt and destabilize the prevalent order...