Fear, trust and the South African Flinch. What divides us? What binds us?
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Clinical psychologist Professor Emeritus Gillian Eagle joins host Charmeela Bhagowat to examine how inequality, crime, trauma and political disillusionment shape trust and belonging in South Africa. She discusses how ongoing threat can harden prejudice, what helps people build social connection, and why hope may mean resisting negativity while creating small spaces of cooperation.
Gillian Eagle is a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she has taught on the master's programme in clinical psychology and supervised doctoral research. Her work explores trauma and violence in their social, historical and political context, and gender related issues. With Professor Debbie Kaminer she co-wrote Traumatic Stress in South Africa (Wits University Press, 2010). Within the book, they revived the idea of continuous traumatic stress: the trauma of living with ongoing danger and threat. She has worked with survivors of political violence, crime and persecution, including as a clinical supervisor at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), and currently practises as a psychotherapist and supervisor of clinical work.
Source Links:
https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1169-withdrawing-from-democracy-south-africans-increasingly-trust-army-support-military-rule/
https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1102-south-africans-embrace-ethnic-identity-distrust-other-ethnic-groups/
Gillian Eagle is a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she has taught on the master's programme in clinical psychology and supervised doctoral research. Her work explores trauma and violence in their social, historical and political context, and gender related issues. With Professor Debbie Kaminer she co-wrote Traumatic Stress in South Africa (Wits University Press, 2010). Within the book, they revived the idea of continuous traumatic stress: the trauma of living with ongoing danger and threat. She has worked with survivors of political violence, crime and persecution, including as a clinical supervisor at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), and currently practises as a psychotherapist and supervisor of clinical work.
Source Links:
https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1169-withdrawing-from-democracy-south-africans-increasingly-trust-army-support-military-rule/
https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1102-south-africans-embrace-ethnic-identity-distrust-other-ethnic-groups/
Chapters
- 00:00 The South African flinch: when help feels like a threat
- 03:52 Inequality, political disillusionment and lost moral authority
- 07:00 Anxiety, group identity and the search for certainty
- 09:25 Why safety and resources shape our ability to hold complexity
- 11:27 How social connection and reciprocity support a healthy society
- 14:51 Stress, apartheid’s legacy and continuing exposure to violence
- 18:14 How trauma creates hypervigilance, withdrawal and prejudice
- 21:17 Shared enthusiasm and the challenge of continuous trauma
- 24:14 What can connect South Africans beyond the rainbow-nation ideal?
- 27:22 Gated communities, envy and the roots of social division
- 31:59 Service, political values and the promise of public leadership
- 34:00 Global crises, young people and the limits of mental-health quick fixes
- 38:01 Everyday generosity, trust and the need for material redress
- 40:27 What has changed, and what service-delivery failures still cost
- 46:12 Wealth, technology, climate and the values shaping the future
- 49:15 Masculinity, disrespect and pathways away from violence
- 54:27 Hope as resistance, then a deliberate effort to build
- 55:50 Freedom as independent thought, safety and care for others
- 01:00:02 What privilege might Eagle sacrifice for a fairer society
