FEBRUARY — The photograph, the sign (ification), and the myth: The psychopolitics of liberation

Abstract

The recent death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has thrust the question of her significance in the history of South Africa to the fore—specifically, her role in the liberation struggle and subsequent developments in the history of this newly democratic nation. Rather than enter into dialogue with the diverse responses to her death and the question of her legacy, this article addresses the issue from a perspective opened up by Roland Barthes' semiotic analysis of a photograph showing a uniformed black soldier saluting (presumably the French flag). Barthes demonstrates the image's potency in myth-making. Similarly, I would like to demonstrate that the different responses to Winnie's death may be understood as deriving to a large extent from the sheer power of the myth that surrounded her in her relation to Nelson Mandela. This power is nowhere more apparent than in an iconic photograph, dating back to Nelson Mandela's release from prison on 11 February 1990. The couple are shown, side by side, arms outstretched in the black power salute. This photograph resurrects the other, which appeared on the cover of the magazine Paris-Match in the mid-1950s and was skilfully decoded by Roland Barthes in the context of the French “empire” at the time. Barthes' analysis suggests that a similar approach might yield interesting insights into the myth-making capacity of the photograph of Winnie and Nelson Mandela from 1990, which may, in turn, shed light on the different reactions to Winnie's recent death (April 2018).