Burdened by race: Coloured identities in southern Africa

Abstract

Since its emergence in the late 19th century, coloured identity has been pivotal to racial thinking in southern African societies. The nature of colouredness has always been a highly emotive and controversial issue because it embodies many of the racial antagonisms, ambiguities, and derogations prevalent in the subcontinent. Throughout their existence coloured communities have had to contend with the predicament of being marginal minorities stigmatised as the insalubrious by-products of miscegenation. This book showcases recent innovative research and writing on coloured identity in southern Africa. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines and applying fresh theoretical insights, Burdened by Race brings new levels of understanding to processes of coloured self-identification. This collection breaks virgin ground by examining diverse manifestations of colouredness across the region using interlinking themes and case studies from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to present analyses that both challenge and overturn much of the conventional wisdom around the identity in the current literature. Mohamed Adhikari teaches in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town and has published widely on coloured identity in South Africa. His books include ‘Let Us Live for Our Children’: The Teachers’ League of South Africa, 1913–1940 and Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in South Africa’s Coloured Community.