ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the theme of police and societal violence and police violence in relation to violence in South Africa more broadly, socially and historically; the ways in which police officers talk about, experience, and deploys violence in their work; violence as it relates to South African masculinities; violence in relation to feelings of shame and respect; and violence as a means of communication. The chapter frames police as people who turned to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for employment after other dreams and imagined futures had drifted beyond reach. Ultimately, through both talk and action, police communicate symbolic meaning, serving as both minders and reminders of community, of the way things are, and the way those in power think they should be. It concludes by exploring how violence delivered by the state shapes South African society, and how violence seeps into and spills out of both the SAPS as an organization, and private lives of its officers.
