ABSTRACT

This article aims to discuss the relation between political theology and apartheid critically. The relation is traced by reconsidering Carl Schmitt’s notion of political theology and the accompanying friend-enemy distinction within the South African context in dialogue with Achille Mbembe. The political theology of apartheid is accordingly analysed as the creation of a racial figure of enmity intertwined with a religious myth. Within this heuristic framework, the philosophical roots of the racial concept of the “K”-figure – as a figure of enmity – are outlined by delineating its foundations in the metaphysics of modernity with specific reference to the writings of Immanuel Kant. This concept is further considered regarding its intertwinement with the creation of the religious myth of justify Afrikaner Nationalism Volk as a chosen people of God, used to justify the Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid ideology. Finally, the opening of a space is sketched where the task of rethinking the political ontologically within a post-apartheid world may take place. The task that attempts to avoid a reconstitution of the political theology of apartheid in new figures of enmity, both religious and racial, while opening the possibility for the reparation of the dignity of those it was stolen from.

摘要

本文旨在批判性地讨论政治神学与种族隔离的关系。通过重新考虑卡尔·施密特的政治神学概念以及在南非背景下与阿基尔·姆本贝的对话中伴随的敌友区分，可以追溯这种关系。因此，种族隔离的政治神学被分析为与宗教神话交织在一起的敌对种族形象的创造。在这个启发式框架内，“K”形种族概念的哲学根源——作为一个敌对的形象——通过描绘其在现代形而上学中的基础并具体参考伊曼纽尔康德的著作来概述。这个概念被进一步考虑到它与证明南非民族主义人民作为上帝的选民的宗教神话的创造交织在一起，用来为南非白人民族主义和种族隔离意识形态辩护。最后，勾勒出一个空间的开放，在后种族隔离世界中重新思考政治本体论的任务可能会发生。这项任务试图避免在新的宗教和种族敌对形象中重建种族隔离的政治神学，同时为赔偿被剥夺尊严的人提供可能性。