Urban Pacification and “Blitzes” in Contemporary Johannesburg

Urban Pacification and “Blitzes” in Contemporary Johannesburg

Bibliographic Data

ID10962829
AuthorsChristopher Mcmichael (School of Architecture and Planning; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg South Africa, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume47
Issue5
Pages1261-1278
Publication date2015-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntipode (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0066-4812 • E-ISSN: 1467-8330
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/anti.12160
OpenAlexW2106241707
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited19

The term pacification is regularly used in urban scholarship as a euphemism for state violence and social control. However, this term is used loosely and is underexplored as a concept. This paper aims to address this gap by discussing recent critical theory on pacification, which argues that the term captures the combination of war and police power in the replication of capitalist order. This concept will then be applied to a case study of “blitzes”, a practice which became central to urban management in Johannesburg from the late 1990s. Originally, the word was used to refer to aggressive raids led by the police in “trouble” spots, but has since been expanded to include inspections on general services. Understood as pacification, blitzes reflect how the state is constantly engaged in a low-intensity war against perceived “disorder”, which is intended to control and discipline spaces in South Africa's largest city

Criminology · Euphemism · Political science · Power (physics · Scholarship · Social control · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Term (time · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · South African History and Culture

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub