Red socks and purple rain
The political uses of colour in late apartheid South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12700378 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arlene Archer (0000-0001-9013-7788, University of Cape Town, corresponding author), Stacey Stent (University of Cape Town) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 115-128 |
| Publication date | 2011-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Visual Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-3572 • E-ISSN: 1741-3214 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1470357211398437 |
| OpenAlex | W2134675789 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 10 |
This article explores the extent to which colour functions as an independent mode in a particular context and explores the culturally produced regularities in the uses of colour in this context. Drawing on a Hallidayan metafunctional view of text, we look at how colour instantiated systems of knowledge and belief (ideational function) and social relations and identities (interpersonal function) in South Africa during the last decade of the apartheid government. In this type of repressive socio-political context, colour was a less policed mode, and thus had different affordances to images and the verbal modes. We argue that colour can function as an independent mode under certain conditions, such as stringent press restrictions, where the use of colour in a range of media (clothing, flags, posters) can play a crucial role in communicating
Aesthetics · Affordance · Art · Clothing · Cognitive psychology · Context (archaeology · Function (biology · Government (linguistics · Interpersonal communication · Linguistics · Media studies · Mode (computer interface · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.55 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2024 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |