practices that are often explained as simply a self-evident part of us, part of our cultures or vanquished traditions. The need to remain vigilant against all dominant practices, particularly those that appear obvious and straightforward, thus continues to exist. I think where one finds or builds this insubordinate vigilance against simple categories, one is likely to find or develop the necessary, enduring revolt against naturalisations, against obvious and hence oppressive practices, identities, cultures, ways of being, realities. Against the backcloth of continuing ‘nature’ discourses, pushing for varied and more sophisticated positions (which are not confined to African bodies, black male identities, or sexual hierarchies) retains urgency.
The argument developed here derives from constructionist, and specifically discursive psychological dialogues. The range of dialogues referred to as constructionism revolves around ways by which individuals come to account for themselves and the world we live in. For example, constructionists frame the notion of identity as a project arising out of our relationships with others and these relationships as historically and culturally specific (Burr 1995; Durrheim 1997; Frankenberg 1995; Gergen 1985). Similarly, discursive psychologists maintain that how we make meaning for ourselves is made possible by language and accomplished in social interaction (Antaki 1994; Billig 1998; Danziger 1990; Duncan 1993). These psychologists study how objects of psychological inquiry which orthodox psychology says are entities or processes inside individuals, are produced through discursive activity (Durrheim 1997; Levett et al. 1997). Where the latter kind of psychologist treats, for example, feelings such as attraction or disgust, identities such as woman and ‘coloured’, and notions of beauty and difference as internal states or natural processes, discursive psychology has shown that feelings, social identities and views of beauty, difference and other things, are produced in relationships between people and are achieved through discourse. Feelings, motivation, racism and so on are activities. People should be understood as ‘showing’ love, ‘acting’ motivated, ‘sounding’ intelligent, constructing themselves or being positioned as beautiful, black, African, men, coloureds, white, women or European.