Biko’s Ghost: The Iconography of Black Consciousness

415 Pages·2015·44.64 MB·English

by  Shannen L. Hill

H I L L
ART / AFRICAN STUDIES
“When you say, ‘Black Is Beautiful,’ what in fact you
are saying . . . is: Man, you are okay as you are; begin
to look upon yourself as a human being.”
With such statements, Stephen Biko became the voice of Black Consciousness. And
with Biko’s brutal death in the custody of the South African police, he became a mar-
tyr, an enduring symbol of the horrors of apartheid. Through the lens of visual culture,
Biko’s Ghost reveals how the man and the ideology he promoted deeply infl uenced lib-
eration politics and race discourse—in South Africa and around the globe—ever since.
Tracing the linked histories of Black Consciousness and its most famous proponent,
Biko’s Ghost explores the concepts of unity, ancestry, and action that lie at the heart
of the ideology and the man. It challenges the dominant historical view of Black
Consciousness as ineff ectual or racially exclusive, illuminating instead how Black
Consciousness worked behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, a decade of height-
ened popular unrest and state censorship.
Engaging theories of trauma and representation, and icon and ideology, Shannen L.
T
Hill considers the martyred Biko as an embattled icon, his image portrayals assuming h
e
diff erent shapes and political meanings in diff erent hands. She shows how, in streams B I
l c
of imagery that continue to multiply nearly forty years later, Biko’s visage and the on- a o
c n
going life of Black Consciousness served as instruments through which artists could k o
C g
combat the abuses of apartheid and unsettle the “rainbow nation” that followed. o r
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SHANNEN L. HILL is an art historian near Washington, D.C. e
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University of Minnesota Press $29.95
Printed in U.S.A. ISBN 978-0-8166-7637-8
Cover design by Victor Mingovits
Cover art by Motlhabane Mashiangwako, A Dedication to the People
S H A N N E N L . H I L L
of Biafra: Four Meditations on the Biafran War, 1980.
Biko’s Ghost
Brett Hilton- Barber,
Shadow, circa 1979.
Biko’s Ghost
The Iconography of
Black Consciousness
SHANNEN L. HILL
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis | London
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges the generous
contribution made to the publication of this book from the Margaret S. Harding
Memorial Endowment, honoring the first director of the University of Minnesota
Press.
The frontispiece photograph on page ii by Brett Hilton- Barber is from Staffrider 2,
no. 4 (November/December 1979): 40.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce previously
copyrighted material in this book. If any proper acknowledgment has not been
made, we encourage copyright holders to contact the publisher.
Copyright 2015 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401– 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hill, Shannen L.
Biko’s ghost : the iconography of Black Consciousness / Shannen L. Hill.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-7636-1 (hc)
ISBN 978-0-8166-7637-8 (pb)
1. Biko, Steve, 1946–1977—Portraits. 2. Blacks in art. 3. Blacks in popular
culture—South Africa. 4. Black Consciousness Movement of South Africa.
5. Art and social action—South Africa. 6. South Africa—Race relations. I. Title.
N7628.B55H55 2015
704.9’49305896—dc23
2015000052
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
20 19 18 17 16 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Peter, Jonah, and Linus,
to no end

When I was very young . . . something in me wondered,
What will happen to all that beauty?
— James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Contents
Abbreviations xi
Introduction: Let’s Talk about Consciousness xiii
1. Shaping Modern Black Culture in the 1970s 1
2. Of Icons and Inquests: 47
“Steve Biko, God Be with You, BPC”
3. Contemplating Death: Artists and Abjection 87
4. Creating a Culture of Resistance 117
5. Silencing the Censors: 147
Black Consciousness between the Lines in the 1980s
6. Transitions and Truths in a New Democracy 191
7. Museum, Monument, Marking: 241
Black Consciousness in the New Millennium
Epilogue: 273
“After Such a Long Time His Life Is Still Dug Out”
Acknowledgments: I Write What I Must 277
Notes 281
Bibliography 335
Index 353