Amnesia and Nostalgia in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Following Ali Mazrui’s notion of political nostalgia and political amnesia, the prevalence, manifestation, political utility and effect of political amnesia and political nostalgia in post-apartheid South Africa are analysed in this contribution. It contends that both political amnesia and political nostalgia are complicated and contested but that both are heteroglossic, indexical, allochronic and symptomatic always political and always about both the past and the future. The purpose of this contribution therefore is to determine whether they contribute to and/or undermine nation-building and reconciliation in South Africa.