Identity In South Africa Research Articles

‘Not white enough, not black enough’: On black theology and coloured identity in South Africa

‘Not white enough, not black enough’: On black theology and coloured identity in South Africa

Radical social work in South Africa: a rapid systematic review

The social work profession defines itself as one that promotes social change and the liberation of people. In social work practice, there is often a controversy between solving problems and engaging social issues within political, economic and historical realities. The aim of this article is to determine the current landscape of radical social work within the South African context. Findings indicate that radical efforts and responses towards decolonial social work focus on locating social work in social movements, responding to the status quo and confronting neoliberal policies. A radical stance on various issues of gross human rights violations in current affairs must be considered as a critical component of reimagining social work identity in South Africa.

The Impact of White Supremacy on First-Generation Mixed-Race Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South African white supremacy has been shaped by over 400 years of settler colonialism and white minority apartheid rule to craft a pervasive and entrenched legacy of privilege and oppression in the post-apartheid context. This paper explores the constructions of white supremacy, specifically its role in shaping the perceptions of first-generation mixed-race identity in South Africa, through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Through a critical race theory and an intersectional lens, this paper unpacks the personal, political, and social impact of white supremacist structures on the identity construction of first-generation mixed-race people in post-apartheid South Africa; specifically, societal- and self-perceptions of their identity within power structures with which they interact. Moreover, this paper aims to understand how first-generation mixed-race people understand their connections to white privilege. Ultimately this paper argues that although first-generation mixed-race people experience relative privilege, their access to white privilege and acceptance within structures of whiteness is always conditional.

In(ex)clusion of transgender students in South African higher education institutions

This study aimed to critically assess the current state of transgender student inclusion in South African universities, highlighting the challenges, progress and potential areas for improvements that exist. This article highlights the complexities of legal identity, self-determined identity and the recognition of transgender identity in South Africa. Using photovoice and drawings as data collection tools, this study explored the lived realities of seven transgender university participants in a society that upholds heteronormative values and practices. Purposive and snowball sampling approaches allowed us to identify participants for the study among a population that would otherwise be difficult to reach.Contribution: The findings of this study are discussed under themes that are evocative of the students’ experiences of exclusion practices in their institutions of learning. We argue that South African universities should focus not only on increasing diversity but also on creating inclusive environments that support the success and well-being of all student populations, in this case, transgender students.

Role of Indian Diasporic Associations in Promoting Indian Diasporic Identity in South Africa

The Indian Diaspora in South Africa is not a monolithic identity and belongs to different parts and states of India. Each of them speaks a different language, has a unique culture and follows different traditions amongst themselves. In order to preserve and protect this culture especially during the colonial rule in South Africa, many of the Indian Diaspora Associations were formed. These Associations have a long history in promoting the unity amongst their specific communities through promotion of their languages, culture, festivals, practices, food etc. In a way this has provided the Indian Diaspora a unique identity within the larger context of the Indian Diaspora. The various associations and their work has proved to be beneficial in times of emergency and in promoting the interests and concerns of the Indian Diaspora in the global context.

Dirty politics: The stories of soap in South Africa

AbstractDuring the global Covid-19 pandemic, the practice of extensively washing one’s hands with soap and water became ubiquitous worldwide. In this contribution, I look at how cultural references to soap have been productive in producing social identities in South Africa. By utilizing Nira Yuval-Davis’s (2006) distinction between belonging and the politics of belonging, I trace how stories and narratives featuring soap that circulate in the South African cultural archive refer to specific cultural templates or social imaginaries. These stories and narratives perform different functions: they signify categories of social belonging, enable social subjects to identify with specific subject locations, and are utilized to both confirm and patrol the borders of these categories of belonging in acts that may be described as the “politics of belonging.”

“I’ve Really Let Go of the Language Thing.”: Language Learning in Transracial Adoptive Families in South Africa

In South Africa, transracial adoption could result in the loss of birth language for the adopted child. Language is an important part of racial and cultural identity in South Africa. Not being able to speak a local African language causes Black African transracial adoptees to be judged by outsiders. Lack of fluency in an appropriate language limits social circles associated with biological family and makes reunion more complex. Many transracial adoptive parents wish to facilitate the learning of a local language for their adopted children or the entire transracial adoptive family. However, despite their best intentions, most transracial adoptive families fail in this endeavor. Reasons for this and recommendations for practice are discussed.

Amaqaba nama Gqobhoka?

Abstract Working through the two concepts of amaqaba nama gqobhoka, I outline ‘ontological derision’. I argue that ontological derision is rooted in intra-Black conflict that leads to interracial conflict, and propose ontological recognition as a resolution to the tensions that exist in the South African political landscape. To reach the postcolonial condition advanced by scholars like Mahmood Mamdani (2021), the modes of life that existed in South Africa prior to colonial imposition need to be recognised as legitimate and worthy of participation in the formation of the public sphere. I argue that recognising this ontology will inform the genuine formation of an inclusive national identity in South Africa. Such a proposal is rooted in the thinking of William Wellington Gqoba, who suggests that the more the two cultures understand each other, the less tensions will exist between them.

Primary School Teachers Misrecognizing Trans Identities? Religious, Cultural, and Decolonial Assemblages

Background: Teachers’ support for addressing cisgenderism and cisnormative cultures in schools is necessary to support students’ freedom to express gender in expansive ways and to embrace trans identities. However, few questions are asked about how primary school teachers grapple with trans identities in South Africa. Purpose: The article fills this gap by focusing on how school teachers negotiate their understandings of gender identity and gender expression by showing their capacities and potential in creating a trans-affirmative climate in primary school. Participants: Participants were 30 self-identified heterosexual primary school teachers of diverse race and class backgrounds who were located in one primary school in South Africa. Research Design: This qualitative study employed in-depth face-to-face and telephone-based semi-structured individual interviews. The article draws from new feminist materialist approaches to “assemblages” and decolonial thinking to consider how participants negotiated gender expectations. Findings: Trans identity is conflated with being gay and misrecognized through a reliance on historically produced religious and cultural norms that are part of the colonial and apartheid legacies in South Africa. While the trans assemblage shows potential to challenge and question the sex-gender conflation, historical legacies, suffused with cis-heteronormative logics, lead to a fundamental misrecognition and erasure of trans as a sign of being gay. Conclusions/Recommendations: The utility of a decolonial trans assemblage is evident in examining how epistemic erasure occurs through historical mechanisms, while denaturalizing the reliance on binary gendered systems and Western knowledge. If primary schools are to support gender-expansive ways of being, addressing how historical processes, cisgenderism, and cisnormative cultures permeate teachers’ understanding of gender remains vital work.

Neither White nor Black: The Dutch Reformed Mission Church and the Colour Issue (1881–1982)

This study investigates the role and understanding of race, particularly “Coloured” identity on the formation and life of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church. Particular focus is given to how the DRMC has dealt with and responded to the colour issue since its inception. An attempt is made to indicate how the history of the DRMC and “Coloured” identity in South Africa are inextricably bound up together. More emphasis is placed on “Coloured” being perceived as neither White nor Black and how the initial critique from the DRMC comprised of “Coloureds” being “less” than White, but superior than Blacks. The study concludes with the influence of Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement on the DRMC.

You’re Damned if You Do, You’re Damned if You Don’t: Coloured Township Learners Caught in the English-Afrikaans Debate

ABSTRACT This paper explores the complexities of language and identity in contemporary South Africa. The on-going English-Afrikaans debate points to broader issues of power and identity. Several scholars have convincingly shown Afrikaans as inextricably linked to Afrikaner nationalism. During apartheid, Afrikaans was contentious as the language of the ruling elite and tool for Black oppression. This paper investigates how Afrikaans-speaking Coloured learners are caught in the debates around language and racial hierarchies. Results of the study show some scepticism about learning English in a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Coloured township community. While a “progressive” part of the community strongly associates English with elitism and power, a more “conservative” part views English as a threat to the preservation of Coloured identity. The study concludes that in spite of Afrikaans’ awkward position in South Africa’s linguistic historiography as the language of the oppressor and the oppressed, it should be considered a marker of Coloured identity. Finally, this study adds to our understanding of racialized identities and in-betweenness as regards language (and cultural) identities in South Africa.

Indelible apartheid: intergenerational post-colonial narratives of colonial-born coloured females about hair, race and identity in South Africa

ABSTRACT What do the narratives of five Cape Coloured women of three generations reveal about issues of race and identity in post-apartheid South Africa? This question is the essence of this study. Identity in apartheid South Africa was strictly and legislatively framed around race, defined by physical characteristics of skin colour and hair texture. Whiteness was the epitome with socio-economic privileges, which invariably created aspirations for this body or proximity to it among some Coloured South Africans in the pursuit of social-economic upliftment. But in a free, post-apartheid, and multi-racial South Africa, do the colonial constructions of identities still linger? Through a critical theoretical lens of postcolonial discourses about race and identity, this study explores intergenerational phenomenological expressions of five Coloured women between the ages of 48 and 104 born during South Africa’s colonial and apartheid eras. The aim was to explore if colonial narratives of hair still influence hair trends, self-presentation, race and identity. It seems racist ideologies of the past are generational, and still shape the perception of hair amongst this cohort of Coloured females.

Critiquing the ethics review process in the 2019 Nieuwoudt et al. study on the impact of age and education on cognitive functioning among coloured South African women

In April 2019, Nieuwoudt et al . published an article on the impact of age and education on cognitive functioning among coloured women in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (SA). The study reported that coloured women in SA have increased risk for low cognitive functioning, as a result of limited education and unhealthy lifestyles. The article was widely criticised, and the journal subsequently withdrew the piece. It was argued that the study was unethical as it perpetuated racial stereotypes through its failure to recognise the distinction between race and ethnicity when undertaking biological research on a race group. The study had received ethical approval, which raised pertinent questions about the ethics review process. This article looks at ( i ) the role of research ethics committees (RECs); and ( ii ) the normative framework within which ethics committees operate. It avers that an understanding of the ethical issues of scientific validity, fair subject selection and minimising harms must be viewed in the light of the complex social issues surrounding the construction of coloured identity in SA. The article finds that the REC should have considered this study unapprovable, because its methodology was based on racist assumptions, and its focus on one race or ethnic group posed social risks for that community. The REC ought to have interrogated why researchers were unclear in their distinction between race and ethnicity, and have been mindful of race being a social rather than a biological construct.

The Loss of Cultural and Language Identity by Black South Africans Due To Industrialisation/Urbanisation.

Over the past century, there has been a dramatic increase in establishing a powerful link between language and sociocultural identity, as language also gives individuals and groups their identity. Certain concepts, which has been developed in a specific language, tell us about the culture in which a language is used. Language can be perceived to be more social in nature as it has a deep-rooted connection with its users and creators, thus making it difficult to separate the two. In view of the preceding contention, the study is aimed at, identifying the implications of industrialisation on urban black families and their language usage in South Africa. Specifically perusing, the extend industrialisation has disadvantaged/ diluted black languages, cultures and identities. And discover ways to re-energise black languages, cultures and identities in South Africa. The investigation was conducted within the framework of ethnography underpinned by qualitative research method used to collect data. Interviews and fieldwork (observations) as well as supporting documents from literature material were also used to collect and analyse data. The population comprised of three (3) members from the eight (Sesotho, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, IsiNdebele, Setswana, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Tshivenda) black cultural groups in South Africa, native speakers in the Gauteng province and Free State province of South Africa. Findings revealed that language and culture has lost its value in black urban families, as there is no space for it in their current urban setting. Suggesting that a new lifestyle has been created that has limited usage of their own cultural values, norms and believe systems and that the youth is not interested in their cultural language. Keywords: language, culture, identity, industrialisation, families.

Material culture in Southern Ndebele identity making in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper examines the degree to which belonging to “Southern Ndebele”’ identity is expressed through material culture, such as beadwork, wall paintings, architecture and distinctive ways of dressing. Seeing material culture as a signifier and proclamation of Ndebele identity has attracted media attention and generated valuable insight about the expression of belonging to Ndebele identity in South Africa. However, drawing inferences about identity from material culture can obscure details and nuances about identity and belonging and the complex manner in which they relate to material culture. This article argues that the inherently complex and unstable nature of ethnic identities has to be considered when analysing and detecting shifts in material culture and its use as an identity marker in Ndebele communities. Drawing on the long history of association between Ndebele identity and material culture, this paper exposes the dynamics, complexities and nuances about identity and belonging to push beyond narrow interpretations of material culture as markers and expression of Ndebeleness. Based on ethnographic research conducted in the KwaMhlanga region, the paper explores the material production of Ndebeleness within the context of crafting a South African nation in order to illuminate the complexities of formulations of meaning and belonging.

Maskanda, Umkhosi wokukhahlela and the Articulation of Identity in South Africa

AbstractUmkhosi wokukhahlela is an annual ceremony in the KwaBhaca Great Kingdom (Eastern Cape, South Africa) that celebrates virginity among young women and girls. Not regularly practiced for decades, it has recently made a comeback, having been strategically adopted by King Madzikane II as a tool of empowerment in the fight against the HIV pandemic, the rise in teen pregnancies, rape and school dropouts, as well as the abuse of women in general. This article investigates the return of Umkhosi wokukhahlela through Antonio Gramsci’s notion of ‘articulation’. As we shall see, the ritual is a particularly engaging and thoroughgoing example of how local communities intertwine the past with the present to reshape their own identity, borrowing from tradition to articulate specific life lessons germane to the present – and future – of the Bhaca people.

‘You are a male teacher but you have a woman’s heart’: Foundation phase teachers negotiating identities in South Africa

ABSTRACT The paper seeks to demonstrate how societal constructions and gender policing inform male teachers’ identities in the schooling context of Foundation phase teaching in South Africa. This is a phase that has been historically dominated by women and is often regarded as a ‘women only’ space. The study was conducted using a case study methodology and a total of nine men from rural schools in the province of Mpumalanga participated. The data was generated using two sessions of semi-structured interview-conversations with the participants. This work was informed by Connell’s theory of masculinities. The findings suggest that men are offered positions on the basis of their sex. Male teacher’s age, dress and sexuality are policed, questioned and regulated. Such policing results from a paedophilic suspicion and carries homophobic undertones. The findings make a scholarly contribution, while also calling for deeper reflections and conversation on South African teacher recruitment strategies.

Engineered “Zuluness”: Language, Education, and Ethnic Identity in South Africa, 1835–1990

ABSTRACTIn modern-day South Africa, both the state and the wider society assume that people whose mother tongue is Zulu are Zulus. How can we explain this close relationship between language and ethnic identity? This essay rejects the primordialist answer, which holds that language and ethnic identity are naturally occurring as well as naturally related phenomena. Instead, it argues that a language-based Zulu identity emerged due to a complex historical process involving human decision-making about what constitutes the Zulu language and who speaks it. A series of stakeholders, notably American missionaries, created the standard, literary Zulu language between 1835 and 1930. At the same time, these stakeholders designed institutions and practices that socialized generations of people to the idea that this standard, literary Zulu language represented their mother tongue. The most important institutions were mission and state-led primary education programs in which standard, literary Zulu functioned as a mandatory language subject between the 1850s and the 1990s. As a language-based ethnic identity, Zuluness is, thus, the product of a historical process that involved language standardization and language education. It is a modern identity that is essentially different from its precolonial antecedents.

Land and identity in South Africa: An immanent moral critique of dominant discourses in the debate on expropriation without compensation

Ownership is an important identity marker. It provides people with a sense of autonomy, rootedness and opportunity. This essay examines the oral submissions of civil organisations to the Joint Constitutional Review Committee (04–07 September 2018) about the issue of land expropriation without compensation. The discussion pays specific attention to the philosophical understandings of land and identity that emerged during the hearings. Three dominant trajectories came into play, namely land as commodity, land as social space and land as spiritual inheritance. Some submissions espoused more than one view, which indicates that the boundaries between the identified paradigms are permeable. However, even those presentations tended to prioritise one approach above the others. Besides identifying the main approaches to land and identity, this essay also provides an immanent critique of their moral assumptions. In contrast to a transcendental approach, an immanent critique asks questions from ‘within’ and evaluates paradigms in terms of their plausibility, universal applicability, ethical consistency and moral integrity.

Translate(ral) bodies through Daai za Lady and Butoh

This article looks at a body of work, Daai za Lady, as a mode of translating complex notions of hybrid identity in South Africa. The translatability of the work lies in its inherent signature theme, that identity cannot be fixed as the body itself can access ways of knowing and being based on multiple elements, memories and origins within and beyond itself. Iterations of this work, performed over a 25-year period within different cultural, political and social contexts across the globe, are explicated. To avoid singular meanings, both visible and visceral cognitions are acknowledged in the descriptions and analyses. The article includes references to Benjamin’s theories, and draws from Spivak, Barad, Ahmed and Coetzee to argue for ongoing translation processes that require difficulty, difference, strangeness and the unknown, in order to discard hegemonic values and create new ontologies and epistemologies. The term translate(ral) is used to describe a dance vocabulary developed through Daai za Lady and its absorption of Butoh principles in both making and performance processes. Overall, the article argues for an otherworldly embodied thinking, along with an alternate and imaginative body language that affects modes of consciousness from lateral perspectives and calls for self-determination in the world.