In-Person Guest Lecture - May 15th, 2024, 2024
Research Presented by: Professor Sharad Chari, United States
Analysis Article Written by Omar Mansour, Published on May 22nd, 2024
On Wednesday, May 15th, 2024, Sharad Chari, Associate Professor of Geography and Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley, came to the Orfalea Center to present his recently released book, Apartheid Remains. Through long-term historical and ethnographic research, this book explores how people handle the remains of segregation and apartheid in South Africa as witnessed through portals in an industrial-residential landscape in the Indian Ocean city of Durban. “Part I, Racial Palimpsest,” shows how South Africa's twentieth century conserves the remains of multiple pasts in Durban, including attempts by the racial state to remake territory and personhood, while instead deepening spatial contradictions and struggles. “Part II, Remains of Revolution,” shows how these struggles took specific shape as they coursed through the late apartheid city.
In Apartheid Remains, Sharad Chari explores how the legacy of apartheid endures in Durban’s landscape, focusing on local resistance movements
Sharad Chari presented a powerful, visually driven presentation and narrative that connects the historical legacies of apartheid with the ongoing struggles for environmental justice in South Durban. The idea of a “racial palimpsest” encapsulates how past injustices influence present-day realities, as marginalized communities grapple with the effects of industrial pollution and exclusion. Charad then discussed his deployment of the framework of biopolitics, drawing on Foucault’s insights to explain how the apartheid state used public health and spatial control to enforce segregation. Authorities justified these policies by stoking fears of what Chari described as an “unruly black belt of slums,” framing non-white populations as both a social and environmental threat. This biopolitical management of space not only racialized urban planning but also laid the groundwork for environmental degradation that would disproportionately affect these communities for decades to come. The concept of the racial palimpsest underscores how layers of control and segregation persist over time, reshaping but never disappearing.
Through historical and ethnographic research, Sharad Chari highlights how Black Consciousness and documentary photography challenge racial capitalism and environmental harm
Chari described the landscape as a “patchwork quilt of industry and residents,” capturing the stark juxtaposition of residential areas with heavy industry. The valleys of Durban, where these communities reside, trap pollution from nearby refineries, with harmful consequences that span generations. This arrangement was not an accident but a product of apartheid’s deliberate spatial planning, placing non-white communities in close proximity to industrial zones. Chari argued that the refineries and chemical plants function as occupying powers, which symbolize the continued dominance of corporate and industrial interests at the expense of marginalized populations’ health and well-being.
The event concluded with an exciting and thought-provoking Q&A session
Despite the enduring legacy of apartheid’s environmental injustices, Chari highlighted the powerful resistance of these communities, particularly the role of black women in sustaining grassroots activism. Often overlooked in formal histories, these women “kept the means of struggle going,” he said, even when male leaders were absent, maintaining the fight against both apartheid and environmental exploitation. This resistance from often-dismissed and less powerful communities demonstrates how they have consistently found ways to challenge both the racial and industrial systems that sought to oppress them.
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