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Dirty Subjects : Shaping Jewish Colonial Subjectivities in Early Twentieth-Century South Africa
Abstract
In the early 1900s in the settler colonial states in Southern Africa, the nascent Jewish community institutions took actions to avoid the racialised accusation of dirtiness, thus shaping the community into adopting white colonialist subjectivities. Using Albert Memmi’s analytic framework of colonisers and colonialists, and Anne McClintock’s conceptualisation of the racial function of dirt, this article reassesses existing archival sources through the lens of dirty bodies, dirty sex, and dirty work to show how communal subjectivities were formed through close collusion with the colonial state and the internal enforcing of the social habits of Whiteness. This article argues that this colonial subject formation foreclosed the possibilities of a peruvnik: a potential South African anticolonial Jewish barbarism.
A principios del siglo XX, en los estados colonizadores del sur de África, las incipientes instituciones de la comunidad judía tomaron medidas para evitar la acusación racializada de suciedad, lo que hizo que la comunidad adoptara subjetividades colonialistas blancas. Utilizando el marco analítico de Albert Memmi sobre colonizadores y colonialistas, y la conceptualización de Anne McClintock sobre la función racial de la suciedad, este artículo reevalúa las fuentes de archivo existentes a través de la lente de los cuerpos sucios, el sexo sucio y el trabajo sucio para mostrar cómo se formaron las subjetividades comunitarias a través de la estrecha connivencia con el estado colonial y la imposición interna de los hábitos sociales de la blancura. Este artículo sostiene que esta formación del sujeto colonial excluyó las posibilidades de un peruvnik, una potencial barbarie judía anticolonial sudafricana.
No início do século XIX, nos estados coloniais colonizadores da África Austral, as instituições nascentes da comunidade judaica tomaram medidas para evitar a acusação racializada de sujeira, moldando assim a comunidade a adotar subjetividades colonialistas brancas. Usando a estrutura analítica de Albert Memmi sobre colonizadores e colonialistas, e a conceituação de Anne McClintock da função racial da sujeira, este artigo reavalia as fontes de arquivo existentes através da lente de corpos sujos, sexo sujo e trabalho sujo para mostrar como as subjetividades comunitárias foram formadas através de uma estreita conivência com o estado colonial e a imposição interna dos hábitos sociais da Brancura. Este artigo argumenta que esta formação de sujeitos coloniais excluiu as possibilidades de um peruvnik, uma potencial barbárie judaica anticolonial sul-africana.
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