CRJU 2200H: Social Science and the American Crime Problem (Tami Thomas): Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

South African History Online

This essay analyzes Trevor Noah's memoir, Born a Crime, and the narrator's movement between racialized spaces, times, and identities in postapartheid South Africa. In spite of Noah's self-identification as Black, social interactions interpellate him as white or Coloured, which frequently leads to conflict. As a means of survival, he mobilizes cultural knowledge – particularly language – to diffuse tension, influence interpretations of his body, and access socioeconomic advantages or escape disadvantages that accumulate in racialized spaces.

How does it feel to be a problem? W.E.B. Du Bois posed this question over a century ago to critique American institutions that constructed being American as White, and therefore, made being Black an inherent problem in White America. Du Bois’s question was also a demand: that we reflect on and critique a system of racial oppression that teaches those in subjugated positions that their very being is problematic.

Interestingly, this is also a question that Trevor Noah, South African comedian and host of Comedy Central’s award-winning newscast The Daily Show, engages in his highly acclaimed memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Though Noah is not a trained sociologist, he uses the complexity and absurdity of his life to tease out numerous sociological concepts. Throughout his odyssey, he places issues of race and identity at the forefront. The most salient question is what does it mean to be born a problem?

The present study used census and survey data from 1996 to 2011 to examine changes in interracial marriages in South Africa a generation after the establishment of democracy in that country. While in-group marriages appear to be the norm, they have been declining dramatically over the years, especially amongst Asian/Indians and whites, the two groups least likely to marry outside their group. In fact, the odds ratio for overall in-marriage dropped from 303 in 1996 to 95 in 2011. Increased educational attainment increases the odds that black Africans and coloureds would marry Asian/Indians and whites and vice versa. Regardless of gender and of whether education is increasing or reducing the odds of intermarriage, the effects of education are declining over time suggesting the erosion of the social class differences between the races in South Africa.

This research explored how dominant narratives of Whiteness influence the construction of identity among mixed-race youth in post-apartheid South Africa. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who have one White parent and one parent of colour and were considered 'born frees', as they were born during or after the transition to democracy. Guided by critical race theory, through thematic analysis, three main themes emerged: defying Rainbowism, rejecting Whiteness, and policing identity. Ultimately, this research critically investigates how mixed-race people have constructed their identities while navigating pervasive power structures of White supremacy that continue to shape the rigid racial categorisations in post-apartheid South Africa.

In this interview, human biologist Noel Cameron reflects on his work on child growth and development in post-apartheid South Africa. The conversation focuses in particular on Cameron’s involvement with a cohort study called Birth to Twenty, which sought to determine the health impacts of apartheid on black children born in the year Nelson Mandela became president. Cameron considers the extent to which human population biology can contribute to the creation of new and potentially improved health realities for marginalized communities in the Global South.

The intersecting issues of intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol abuse in South Africa are often characterized as "disasters." Ethnographic research among women in Soweto demonstrates the different manifestations of IPV, perceptions of abuse, and coping mechanisms to manage harmful domestic relationships. Findings suggest a consistent relationship between excessive drinking patterns and IPV-most significantly, physical and emotional abuse-while indicating that domestic violence measures should include questions about stress.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social challenge with severe health and demographic consequences. Global statistics indicate that more than a third of women have experienced IPV at some point in their lives. In South Africa, IPV is considered a significant contributor to the country's broader problem with violence and a leading cause of femicide. Consequently, IPV has been the major focus of legislation and research across different disciplines.