Engagements sécuritaires et féminisation du vigilantisme en Afrique du Sud
Résumé
Anticrime Activism and the Feminization of Vigilantism in South Africa
Patrolling and securing one’s neighbourhood is an old practice in South Africa, reflecting a widespread insecurity linked to the high prevalence of violence in urban areas since the colonial period. This long history of citizens’ initiatives in the field of policing is reflected in the now abundant literature dedicated to vigilantism in South Africa. Too often, however, vigilante groups appear as unified and homogeneous. On the basis of two life stories and an ethnographic and historical investigation on the outskirts of Cape Town, we have adopted a different perspective, which emphasizes two points that until now have received scant attention in the literature on vigilantism: its feminization and its biographical dimensions. The moral careers of women for long involved in these groups reveal a series of individual vulnerabilities, be it in their personal, family or professional lives. At the same time, these individual trajectories emphasize the role of the state in shaping citizen initiatives in the field of policing, especially in a context of impoverishment and mass unemployment.
Patrolling and securing one’s neighbourhood is an old practice in South Africa, reflecting a widespread insecurity linked to the high prevalence of violence in urban areas since the colonial period. This long history of citizens’ initiatives in the field of policing is reflected in the now abundant literature dedicated to vigilantism in South Africa. Too often, however, vigilante groups appear as unified and homogeneous. On the basis of two life stories and an ethnographic and historical investigation on the outskirts of Cape Town, we have adopted a different perspective, which emphasizes two points that until now have received scant attention in the literature on vigilantism: its feminization and its biographical dimensions. The moral careers of women for long involved in these groups reveal a series of individual vulnerabilities, be it in their personal, family or professional lives. At the same time, these individual trajectories emphasize the role of the state in shaping citizen initiatives in the field of policing, especially in a context of impoverishment and mass unemployment.
Surveiller et sécuriser son quartier est une pratique ancienne en Afrique du Sud, qui témoigne d’une insécurité diffuse liée à la forte prévalence de la violence en milieu urbain depuis la période coloniale. Ce dynamisme des pratiques citoyennes de maintien de l’ordre se reflète dans la littérature, désormais foisonnante, consacrée au vigilantisme en Afrique du Sud. Trop souvent, les groupes de vigilantes y apparaissent cependant unifiés et homogènes. À partir de deux récits de vie et d’une enquête ethnographique et historique dans les quartiers périphériques du Cap, on a ici adopté une perspective différente, en insistant sur deux points encore peu explorés dans la littérature sur le vigilantisme : sa féminisation et sa dimension biographique. Pour les femmes engagées sur le long terme dans ces groupes, le bénévolat, la professionnalisation et le désengagement sont les étapes de carrières morales qui révèlent de grandes vulnérabilités individuelles : personnelles, familiales et professionnelles. Ces engagements sécuritaires au long cours soulignent en même temps le rôle déterminant du financement des initiatives citoyennes dans le domaine du maintien de l’ordre, et par là même celui de l’État dans un contexte de paupérisation et de massification du chômage.