The Possibilities of Researching Non-Racialism: Reflections on Racialism in South Africa

Abstract

Using as a starting point the research conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory for the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation in 2011 to explore the status of non-racialism in South Africa, we conclude that in nearly all of the focus groups the participants and moderators find it impossible to define the notion of non-racialism—at least, not in a way that distinguishes it from non-racism, multi-racialism or ‘good/better race relations’. We initiate the discussion of non-racialism by highlighting the ubiquity of the term, despite there being only rare indications of its actual meaning. One of the obstacles to imagining and giving meaning to non-racialism is the binding together of essentialist notions of culture and race to form unbridgeable divides between constructed groups. The prevalence of multi-racial notions of society, resonating closely with ideas of multiculturalism, means the task of critically discussing non-racialism still lies ahead, but demands that existing practices be critically analysed.