Who Is an African?

Race, Identity, and Destiny in Post-apartheid South Africa

Foreword by Marshall W. Murphree, Nobuhle Hlongwa Contributions by Nico Botha, Scott Everett Couper, Ashwin Desai, Roderick R. Hewitt, Chammah J. Kaunda, Mutale M. Kaunda, Maserole Kgari-Masondo, Christo Lombaard, Rowanne S. Marie, Sibusiso Masondo, Bernard Matlin, Kennedy Owino, Justin Sands, Jeremy Seekings, Tahir Fuzile Sitoto, Golam Vaped, Vuyani S. Vellem Edited by Roderick R. Hewitt, Chammah J. Kaunda

Publication date:

15 September 2018

Length of book:

336 pages

Publisher

Fortress Academic

Dimensions:

231x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781978700543

The subject of race and identity is a burning issue which continues to occupy the attention not only of South Africans but also the wider residents of the continent of Africa and those who are Africans in the Diaspora. The outburst of xenophobic attacks against foreigners mostly of Black African origins in some communities of Kwa-Zulu Natal and areas of Johannesburg during 2008 and 2015 has raised questions about the social cohesion of South African society linked to unresolved structural identity issues bequeathed by the nation’s past colonial and apartheid legacy. This publication argues that there is an embedded schizophrenic identity crisis within the society that requires scholarly interrogation. The chapters assemble scholarly voices from different ethnic groups that examine the central research question of this study: Who is an African? Within the wider Southern African context, identity and ethnicity politics are framing nationalist economic policies and are impacting on social cohesion within many countries. Writing from different social and racial locations the authors have critically engaged with the central question and offer some important insights that can serve as a resource for all nations grappling with issues of race, ethnicity, identity constructed politics, and social cohesion.

Foreword: Marshall W. Murphree
Foreword: Nobuhle Hlongwa
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction: Who is an African?
Roderick R. Hewitt
Chammah J. Kaunda

PART I: RACISM, XENOPHOBIA AND CULTURAL IDENTITY

The Changing Salience of Race: Discrimination and Diversity in South Africa
Jeremy Seekings, University of Cape Town

Cracking the Skull of Racism in South Africa Post-1994
Vuyani S. Vellem, University of Pretoria

Black Solidarity Impaled: The Cause of Afrophobia
Bernard Matolino, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Race, Place and Indian Identities in Contemporary South Africa
Goolam Vahed, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Ashwin Desai, University of Johannesburg

Liberating Identifications: Being Black Conscious, Being Non-Racial, Being African
Nico Botha, University of South Africa

Umuntu Akalahlwa: An Exploration of an African Ethics
Sibusiso Masondo, University of KwaZulu-Natal

PART II: GENDER, SEXUALITY AND SOCIAL COHESION

“I am Born of a People Who Would Not Tolerate Oppression”: The Role of Indian Women’s Movements in Social Transformation
Rowanne S. Marie, Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary

Identity Construction of African Women in the Midst of Land Dispossession
Maserole Kgari-Masondo, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Re-enacting “Destiny”: Masculinity and Afrikaner Identity in “Religious” Post-Apartheid South Africa
Kennedy Owino, Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary/University of KwaZulu-Natal

“Some LGBTIQs Are More Unequal than Others”: Determinants of LGBTIQ Marginality in South Africa
Scott Everett Couper, University of KwaZulu-Natal/Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary

Rituals of Female Solidarity: The Role of Imbusa in Promoting Social Cohesion among Married Women in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Mutale M. Kaunda, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Chammah J. Kaunda, University of South Africa

PART III: RELIGION, PROTEST, AND AFRICANNESS

“Sing unto the LORD a New Song” (Psalm 98:1): Aspects of the Afrikaans Punk-Rock Group Fokofpolisiekar’s Musical Spirituality as Rearticulated Aspects of the 1978 Afrikaans Psalm– en Gesangeboek
Christo Lombaard, University of South Africa

Rastafari Perspectives on African Identities: Lucky Dube’s “Different Colours / One People” in Conversation with Peter Tosh’s “I Am an African”
Roderick R. Hewitt, University of KwaZulu-Natal

On Locating Islam and African Muslim Identity within Black/Africana Existential Thought: A Preview
Tahir Fuzile Sitoto, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Urban Immigrant Pentecostal Missiology: The Case of an Immigrant Zambian Pentecostal Pastor in South Africa
Chammah J. Kaunda, University of South Africa

Why Read the West? Messianicity and Canonicity within a Postcolonial, South African Context
Justin Sands, North-West University Potchefstroom

This important book serves as a pedagogical tool for students of religion, African studies, race relations and gender studies and is ground-breaking, not only in terms of the quality of the essays but also in the scope of the issues that it addresses. . . . It opens up new horizons in respect of what it means to be an African and is undoubtedly a "must-have" for every scholar of African thought, identity and philosophy as well as those engaged in interdisciplinary research on and in Africa.