“Original Venda hustler”: symbols, generational difference and the construction of ethnicity in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This paper provides an ethnographic analysis of contemporary articulations of “Vendaness” in Pretoria, South Africa. Current ethnic identifications articulate recent fluctuations in political, economic and social dynamics. Two case studies are offered as evidence. I evoke Turner’s symbolism to demonstrate that car stickers of the old Venda flag unite “the Venda” while at the same time dividing Tshivenda speakers into groups with loyalties to rival traditional leaders. Car stickers create and maintain metaphorical and actual borders that fuel re-imaginings of the previous homeland in contemporary urban settings. Secondly, I examine the emergence of an urban youth movement through which young men advertise with alacrity their ethnic affiliations. With captions like “Original Venda Hustler” and “I’m Venda, So What?!,” a younger generation of Tshivenda speakers has reinterpreted the notion of “being Venda”: from a stereotypically secretive and mysterious minority group to a conspicuous presence in the cityscape. I look at generational divisions as a way of interpreting this recent manipulation of materiality, and suggest that the connection between the two case studies is to be found in the dynamics of a dual crisis of masculinity in which young and older men have responded to changing socio-economic dynamics in divergent ways.