White fight: the politics of white youth identity in South Africa

In the 1990s, 'whiteness' in South Africa was open to multiple rearticulati ons. As white is politically (although not necessarily economically) unhing ed from a position of privilege, it finds new paths and trajectories to fol low. IN this article, I examine ho white students at a predominantly black high school in Durban remake and resuscitate whiteness. Using the strategy of resentment, white students negate and dismiss both the historical and co ntemporary position of their black classmates, instead recentring themselve s as victims. As they survey their lives and futures, white students also p lot routes of escape out of South Africa, taking refuge in a global whitene ss that has many different facets. As white students elude and evade the bo undaries of th enation-state in their quest for a secure, privileged whiten ess, they lead whiteness to a global stage.