Sport in South Africa: The ‘Ideal Body’ and the Limitations of Political Equality and ‘Reconciliation’ in the Post-apartheid State, c. 1900-2020

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the supposed emancipatory potential of what is popularly known as ‘sport’, focusing on the South African context. The urgency of this research question is highlighted by the importance the democratic state has attached to sport in its policy of ‘nation building’ - a set of strategies aimed to dissolve the divisions prevalent in South Africa as created, maintained, and policed by minority rule in order for the country to emerge as a more equitable society. In the apparent aftermath of apartheid, sport has been positioned as having the potential to dissolve these divides, and therefore has tangible consequences especially for those communities formerly marginalized by minority regimes. Notwithstanding the role that sport historically played in the anti-apartheid struggle, and its discourse of equality and meritocracy, this dissertation ultimately argues that sport, at its most politically potent, can only make visible the inequities of South African society rather than emancipate those marginalized by these disparities.