Maternal Incest as Moral Panic

Envisioning Futures without Fathers in the South African Lowveld

Bibliographic Data

ID5000237
AuthorsI Niehaus (0000-0002-9573-0238, Brunel University of London, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume36
Issue4
Pages833-849
Publication date2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057070.2010.527640
PMID21280394
OpenAlexW2110446465
LanguageEN
Citations received15

During 2008, rumours about revolting incestuous encounters between sons and their mothers circulated in the Bushbuckridge municipality of the South African lowveld. This article views these rumours as expressing moral panic, paying particular attention to the historical contexts of their emergence and circulation, and to their temporal orientation. I locate these rumours in the periphery of South Africa's de-industrialising economy, marked by increased unemployment and criminality among men and by a growing prominence of women-headed households. They express a regressive temporalisation and pessimistic vision, not of development, progress and civilisation, but rather of deterioration and de-civilisation. Through the alleged act of incest, sons who engage in crime usurp the authority of fathers who once produced value in strategic industries and mines. As such the rumours envision a dystopia marked by the 'death of the father' and chaotic disorder without morality and law

Civilization · Criminology · Economics · Futures contract · Moral panic · Morality · Pessimism · Political science · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gender Studies · History · Law · Sex work and related issues