Who belongs in South Africa? ‘Tapestry nationalism’ in the African National Congress

Abstract

AbstractPerhaps more than any other organisation, the African National Congress (ANC) has defined who belongs in South Africa. Yet, how does the organisation imagine national belonging, and how has this developed? We explore these questions through a discourse analysis of the organisation's annual ‘January 8’ statements. First, the ANC has historically embraced a ‘tapestry nationalist’ approach to belonging, which rejects majority–minority distinctions in favour of a single people and celebrates cultural diversity without reifying groups into distinct political constituencies. Second, while the ANC framed ‘the people’ as a militant democratic mass during the anti‐apartheid struggle, from the 1990s the organisation reimagined ‘the people’ primarily as economic subjects in need of services. Third, the avoidance of majority–minority distinctions is increasingly challenged by the political salience of racial inequalities in land ownership, to which the ANC has struggled to respond. The ANC's approach challenges common accounts of nationalism, such as liberal nationalism, multicultural nationalism, and post‐nationalism.