Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Coloured Identity and Hip-Hop Music

Afrikaaps goes on further to explore the language of Afrikaans and how it was formulated in order to understand why it is used in a certain dialect by ‘coloured’ person. The artists participating in the documentary predominantly speak Afrikaans in the dialect of what is known as ‘kombuis taal.’ The concept of ‘kombuis taal’ can be interlinked to what Adam Haupt, and Cape Town-based hip-hop artists, call ‘gamtaal.’ The dialect of ‘gamtaal’ is a Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans that consists of non-standard dialects of English, Xhosa and Zulu (Haupt, 2001: 173). Cape Town-based hip-hop artists, or crews as they were called, used ‘gamtaal’ in order to create a connection with their communities through the use of music, with a particular focus on hip-hop. Haupt uses a quote from Prophets of Da City (POC)’s Shaheen to explain why the use of ‘gamtaal’ was incorporated in POC’s music (Haupt, 2001: 178). Shaheen stated when POC did interviews they spoke ‘gamtaal’ so that the community could relate to the fact that POC’s were speaking a language that they could understand. Shaheen also validated the fact that POC were not only using ‘gamtaal’ so that they could be understood by the average individual in the township but also the fact that they were there to represent the community, i.e., the townships on the Cape Flats and other townships, in general (Haupt, 2001: 178). In Afrikaaps, Emile YX? Jansen takes the cast and crew of the documentary to a high school in Lavender Hill on the Cape Flats to discuss the issue of the Afrikaans language with some of the students. The students are able to interact with the cast as they speak the dialect of Afrikaans that Afrikaaps presented in their production and documentary.

Artistic creativity is one of the ways in which individuals are able to express themselves in order to portray a certain message to a wider audience. Afrikaaps makes use of this artistic creativity through the use of music, dance and poetry. In his book, Stealing Empire: P2P, intellectual property and hip-hop subversion, Adam Haupt explores the influence of hip-hop, its technological subversion and its cultural, racial, social, political and gender dynamics. In chapter six, “Hip-Hop, Counterpublics and Noise In Post-apartheid South Africa,” Haupt discusses hip-hop in the context of identity and places particular focus on coloured identity with regard to the hip-hop subculture. He uses the works of Cape Town based hip-hop artists in order to validate his discussions and arguments. This can be interlinked as to what Erasmus and Afrikaaps are contextualising in their concepts of the ‘coloured’ identity and how it is, or is not, defined.

Haupt states that during the 1990s, Cape Town based hip-hop challenged issues of neo-colonisation, such as apartheid, and explored the politics of identity, history and location. (Haupt, 2008: 184) In the exploration of identity, Haupt refers to Zimitri Erasmus and her concept that “multicultural discourse obscures relations of power” and the concluding statement on coloured identity being reduced to minstrelsy (Haupt, 2008: 187). An interesting concept that Haupt discovers in his research is that most Cape Town based hip-hop artists who, under apartheid, would be defined as ‘coloured’ on racial levels do not conform to this identity, particularly on cultural levels but rather refer to themselves as ‘black.’ This aligns the concept of Black Consciousness thinking and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) which was initiated by anti-apartheid activists, such as Steve Biko (Haupt, 2008: 190).

Afrikaaps does not only employ hip-hop music in order to explore the cultural identity of the ‘coloured’ race and the history of the Afrikaans language. Jazz music is also used in Afrikaaps as the ‘coloured’ culture in Cape Town have been associated with the genre of the jazz since before the formation of the terminology ‘coloured.’ In the production and the documentary, jazz music is contrasted with hip-hop elements through collaborations by artists such as Kyle Shepherd and Jitsvinger. Shepherd, who is a multi-instrumental jazz musician from Cape Town, employs different forms of jazz into his own style. Many of the styles that he employs are local South African jazz rhythms such as marabi, kwela and what is known as Cape Jazz.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Haupt, Adam, 2001, “Black thing: Hip-hop nationalism, ‘race’ and gender in Prophets of da City and Brasse vannie Kaap,” Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities, Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), Kwela Books and South African History Online.

Haupt, Adam, 2008, “Hip-Hop, Counterpublics and Noise In Post-apartheid South Africa,” Stealing Empire: P2P, intellectual property and hip-hop subversion, HSRC Press.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ADAM HAUPT - VISIT:
http://www.cfms.uct.ac.za/faculty/staff-directory/Adam

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FREE DOWNLOAD OF "STEALING EMPIRE: P2P, intellectual property and hip-hop subversion" - VISIT:
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2219

TO PURCHASE "COLOURED BY HISTORY: SHAPED BY PLACE" - VISIT:
http://www.amazon.com/Coloured-History-Shaped-Place-Perspectives/dp/1588681645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311316928&sr=1-1

Afrikaans, Afrikaaps and Kombuis Taal

Dylan Valley’s award-winning documentary, Afrikaaps, explores the racial and cultural identity of ‘coloured’ people through the use of artistic and creative expressions such as film, music, dance and poetry. This interlinks with academic research and the formula of the documentary in order for ‘coloured’ people to share their lived experiences and how they define themselves racially and culturally. The documentary explores the formulation of the ‘coloured’ race by analysing the historical perspective of slavery and the reality of miscegenation. According to Cheryl Hendricks, the concept of miscegenation led onto ‘coloured’ people being a hybrid group (Hendricks, 2001: 29). She discusses how the representations of those who were considered to be of ‘mixed’ descent are tied to racial and sexual politics and through this explanation, she makes an aside to the fact that the term ‘mixed descent’ has become a signifier of the ‘coloured’ race within South Africa (Hendricks, 2001: 29). The production and the documentary explore the roots of the Afrikaans language to understand how it came into existence. The director of the production, Catherine Henegan, explains how she wanted the production to explore the Java and Khoi-San roots in order to contextualise how they made a contribution to the Afrikaans language and its creation (www.citypress.co.za, 2011). She also aimed to deconstruct the ‘white Afrikaner identity’ because of the fact that Afrikaans was not a language that was formulated by the ‘white’ Dutch settlers but rather was a formation of creole languages combined with Dutch and aspects of other languages (www.citypress.co.za, 2011).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hendricks, Cheryl, 2001, “‘Ominous’ Liaisons: Tracing the interface between ‘race’ and sex at the Cape,” Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities, Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), Kwela Books and South African History Online.

ONLINE RESOURCE:

www.citypress.co.za/Entertainment/News/Afrikaaps-evolves-cuzzie-20100403

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DYLAN VALLEY - VISIT:
http://www.plexusfilms.co.za/team-detail.php?&teamid=212

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CHERYL HENDRICKS - VISIT:
http://www.impumelelo.org.za/who-we-are/trustees/dr-cheryl-hendricks

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VIEW THE "AFRIKAAPS" TRAILER - VISIT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYifENqE3hU

TO VIEW OTHER CLIPS OF "AFRIKAAPS" - VISIT:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Afrikaaps&aq=f

TO PURCHASE "COLOURED BY HISTORY: SHAPED BY PLACE" - VISIT:
http://www.amazon.com/Coloured-History-Shaped-Place-Perspectives/dp/1588681645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311316928&sr=1-1

Coloured Identity and Jazz Music

The history of jazz in Cape Town, and South Africa, is one that tells a story of the struggle against apartheid and racial oppression to a stronger degree than that of hip-hop. The reason behind this is because jazz musicians were exploited and many of them went into exile when their music and performance was banned from South Africa (Miller, 2007: 133). Jazz music plays into the concept of what Afrikaaps is trying to portray because as Miller states, with reference to David Coplan, imported slaves from regions such as “Java, Malaya, the Malabar Coast of India, Madagascar, Mozambique and East Africa also brought with them a rich musical heritage” (Miller, 2007: 135). The musical heritage of the slaves combined with European influences and local Khoi-Khoi musical practices formulated what was known as ‘creolised’ forms of music such as ‘ghoemaliedjies’ (Miller, 2007: 135). Through these forms of music, a creolised language was created which is where the formulation of Afrikaans started occurring.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Miller, Colin, 2007, “Julle kan ma New York toe gaan, ek bly in die Manenberg: an oral history of jazz in Cape Town from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s,” Imagining The City: Memories and Cultures in Cape Town, Field et al (eds.), HSRC Press: Cape Town.

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FREE DOWNLOAD OF "IMAGINING THE CITY: MEMORIES AND CULTURES IN CAPE TOWN" - VISIT:
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2193

Friday, July 22, 2011

Coloured Identity and Zimitri Erasmus

An individual is defined by their identity, but what exactly does this mean? The concept of identity is one that is a broad context as it relates to a racial, cultural, societal and political identity. In South Africa, the term identity is a contested one especially with reference to the historical context of the country. Individuals were defined and segregated by racial groups under the apartheid system in order for the ‘white’ race to be the superior race. When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, the concept of racial identity was slowly being replaced the concept of cultural identity. One racial group in South Africa that was confused and never quite understood very well was the ‘coloured’ race. The term ‘coloured’ was given to a group of people who were of mixed descent and formulated through miscegenation. They were, on racial grounds, the mid-point between the ‘white’ and ‘black’ racial groups. Researchers of the ‘coloured’ race relate their roots back to the Khoi-San. Some elements, however, are not discussed with regard to their cultural identity.

The concept of ‘coloured’ identity is a factor that has been discussed in order to explore the historical perspective of South Africa and the people that live within it. This relates to the historical context of slavery and the domination of ‘white’ superiority in South Africa. Zimitri Erasmus explores the concept of ‘coloured’ identity in a book she complied of essays by various South African authors and academics titled, Coloured by History, Shaped by Place. Erasmus begins the book with an introduction where she explains the concept of ‘coloured’ identity and how it shapes South Africans who were defined by the term ‘coloured’ under the apartheid system. She uses her own experiences as a ‘coloured’ female to define the concept of ‘coloured’ by stating that she felt as though she was consigned to being a “half-caste outcast” (Erasmus, 2001: 13). She goes on further to explain that as she faced the possibilities of respectability and shame with regard to her racial identity as a ‘coloured’ (Erasmus, 2001: 13).

The term ‘coloured’ did not only relate to the racial identity of a ‘coloured’ person but also their cultural identity (Erasmus, 2001: 14). According to Erasmus, and the apartheid system in South Africa (Hendricks, 2001: 29), a ‘coloured’ person was considered to be more privilege than a ‘black’ person but “not quite [the] white” person (Erasmus, 2001: 14). The cultural identity of the ‘coloured’ has also been associated with negative connotations such as drunkenness and sexualised shame (Erasmus, 2001: 14). The identity, however, is reconstructed by the people themselves according to their beliefs, morals, values and attitudes. This, however, differs from one person to the next as there is no set definition as to what it is to be a ‘coloured’ person in South Africa. The label ‘coloured,’ therefore, is not only a term that was imposed on a group of ‘mixed’ race people by the apartheid system but is made, re-made and constructed by ‘coloured’ people themselves “in their attempts to give meaning to their everyday lives” (Erasmus, 2001: 16). Criticism of the ‘coloured’ race are, however, still prevalent and existent in South Africa. For example, ex-wife of former South Africa president F.W. de Klerk, Marike de Klerk, referred to ‘coloured’ people as a “‘negative group,’ ‘the leftovers,’ and as ‘people that were left after the nations were sorted out’” (Erasmus, 2001: 18). This is a result of why ‘coloured’ people are left with the problem of defining their racial and cultural identity.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Erasmus, Zimitri, 2001, “Re-imagining coloured identities in post-Apartheid South Africa,” Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities, Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), Kwela Books and South African History Online.

Hendricks, Cheryl, 2001, “‘Ominous’ Liaisons: Tracing the interface between ‘race’ and sex at the Cape,” Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities, Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), Kwela Books and South African History Online.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ZIMITRI ERAMSUS - VISIT:
http://www.soc.uct.ac.za/erasmus.html

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CHERYL HENDRICKS - VISIT:
http://www.impumelelo.org.za/who-we-are/trustees/dr-cheryl-hendricks

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TO PURCHASE "COLOURED BY HISTORY: SHAPED BY PLACE" - VISIT:
http://www.amazon.com/Coloured-History-Shaped-Place-Perspectives/dp/1588681645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311316928&sr=1-1

Monday, July 18, 2011

Identification In A Rainbow: Introduction

When someone is posed with the question ‘how do you define yourself?’ it seems fairly simple at first glance but once time is given to think about it most people are not aware of how to answer it. The question relates to a person’s identity and how they would define it in terms of their race, culture, class, religion and national identity. There is, however, a certain depth to this form of identification which most people do not think about as people are structured according to the society which they live in. This means that they live according to a certain routine on a daily basis which they define as their identification. The concept of identification can be classified further for each individual if time is given to the individual to think about who they are as a person.

In a country like South Africa, identity is a complex issue because of the historical evidence of colonialism and the oppressed governmental system of apartheid during the twentieth century. The apartheid government defined individuals according to their skin tone and not according to culture, religion, class or national identity. People were defined as either black, white, coloured or Indian. This did not give much leeway for the expansion of different cultures within these racial contexts. For example, black South Africans can be further divided into cultural groups through language, i.e. Xhosa, Zulu, Pedi etc. The same can be said about religion as in the coloured racial group, as an example, there are Christians as well as Muslims. National identity can be extended further than just South African as there are individuals who have a historical heritage of being of Irish, Scottish or Malay descent. These concepts began being dealt with when South Africa became a democracy in 1994, allowing research to be done into an individual’s identity as a person.

Today, the concept of identity is of extensive research based upon an individual’s historical heritage as well as their personal preferences. The idea of personal preferences interlinks with the establishment of sub-culture. Sub-cultures have existed for years but have just not been named, particularly within South African borders. They relate to an individual’s interest in a particular lifestyle such as a Gothic or Hip-Hop lifestyle. Most sub-cultures draw influence from forms of media that allow an individual to express their individuality within their society. The concept of sub-cultures, however, has become a dominating factor in most societies, as well as communities, because of its popularity status amongst the youth of South Africa and other countries around the world. The media portray that it is ‘cool’ to be different from other individuals and therefore, present, what they term, ‘alternative’ lifestyles. The question to ask is: how ‘alternative’ are these lifestyles if they are being followed by a certain amount of individuals around the world?

Sub-cultures relate to non-conformity. They design their own set of rules despite the fact that most of them claim that they are against the rules and regulations of the societies in which they exist. This means that there is still a certain structure that comes along with a sub-culture as well. Individuals who enter into sub-cultures usually fall into the basic standards of the sub-culture. For example, an individual who decides to be Goth will wear black clothing and listen to a certain genre of music in order to be validated by the Gothic sub-culture. Sub-cultures view these basic standards as stereotypes of the sub-culture as these standards become a ‘norm’ for individuals who are part of the sub-culture. In the same context, however, an individual who has differing views in a sub-culture is seen as an outcast of that sub-culture as they do not conform to the non-conformity of the sub-culture. This results in the individual being a non-conformist of the sub-culture’s non-conformity coming to the conclusion that even within sub-cultures there is no concept of individuality for an individual as they do not identify completely with the views and expressions of the sub-culture of which they form part of. This leads onto the next question: Is there a true reflection of an individual’s self-identification within society?

In order to understand this, I have researched a particular racial group in South Africa in order to understand the meaning of identity through the use of a sub-culture and the influence of the media on this particular racial group. I conducted interviews with individuals who, by societal standards and historical approaches, would fall under the classification of this particular racial group. I have used the works and research of other authors who have dealt with the particular racial group, the sub-culture and media in order to come to, what I hope will be, concluding statements about an individual’s identity within society.