Retrieving Biko

Abstract

A name starts to function as a ‘master-signifier’ when, despite the predominance of a general ‘preferred meaning’, it is put to strategic use by diverse interest groups. This is not necessarily a situation to be avoided: such moments of hegemony indicate that a legacy is alive and well; that a given heritage, no matter how contested, has become a part of the popular imaginary of a given culture. Nonetheless, in such instances one is justified in asking what routinely ‘falls out’ of the legacy in question, what particular elements — indeed, what discomforting aspects — are consistently removed by such processes of hegemonic assimilation.