Rupture, Repair, and the Civil Sphere: Moral Solidarity and Dynamics of Perception in Post-Apartheid South Africa

• In Event: 50806 - The Role of Culture, Institutions, and Power in Moral Action

Abstract

This paper examines the contested process of civil repair following the July 2021 unrest in South Africa, the country’s most severe instance of political violence since the end of apartheid. Sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, the unrest resulted in 354 deaths, widespread looting, and an estimated $3.4 billion in damages. While initially framed as politically motivated, the violence quickly escalated along racial lines, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where community defense groups mobilized in the absence of state intervention. Responses diverged dramatically: in Durban North, vigilante groups engaged in racial profiling and extrajudicial killings, culminating in the Phoenix Massacre, while in Durban West, cross-racial coalitions countered misinformation and de-escalated violence.
Drawing on Jeffrey Alexander’s Civil Sphere Theory and William Sewell’s eventful sociology, this study argues that civil repair is not a linear institutional process but an immediate and contested moral struggle. The paper introduces a three-part typology of repair—antifragile, restorative, and precarious—each shaping moral solidarity and democratic inclusion in distinct ways. Antifragile repair fosters inclusive civic participation, restorative repair maintains stability without addressing exclusionary structures, and precarious repair reinforces racialized moral boundaries, undermining democratic trust. Additionally, this study introduces Perceptual Aperture Dynamics (PAD) to explain how communities process crises through shifts in cognitive and emotional perception. Using 120 in-depth interviews, 800+ community-generated media files, and GIS mapping, it analyzes how communities filtered crisis information, either reinforcing cycles of violence or recalibrating toward repair. The findings highlight how historical memory, digital communication, and grassroots mobilization shape moral responses in crisis. By demonstrating that democratic commitments emerge from struggles over moral legitimacy, solidarity, and exclusion, this research contributes to the study of social conflict, crisis perception, and civil repair in divided societies.

Author

• Matthew Carl Coetzee, University of Notre Dame