The most telling image of my adolescence in 1980s South Africa was the silhouette of a war memorial, like many found all over the world, listing the names of soldiers killed defending our borders. Some of these soldiers were con-scripts. Most white South Africans could ignore the social and political consequences of apartheid, which cre-ated their privilege. “Our boys on the border” were an ever-present reminder to them of where they lived.
The “border” was that ephemeral place, more…