After conducting eight interviews, it is evident to me, as a researcher, that there is a strong difference between the coloured youth of today in comparison to that of apartheid and post-democracy. The concept of identity holds a different definition for every person that was interviewed. 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. In order to get an understanding of the people that I interviewed, I would begin by asking them how they would define themselves and these are some of the findings:
Matthew: How would you define yourself?
Mogamat: Um, as in race?
Matthew: If somebody just had to come up to and asked you to define yourself, what would you say?
Mogamat: Um, that I’m a 21 year old guy, living in Cape Town, and ja, I would tell them that.
Matthew: If somebody had to come up to you and say to you how would you define yourself, what would you say?
Sasha: I definitely define myself as someone who is outgoing and positive and try to, when I meet people influence them in a positive way. So definitely a positive person.
Through the analysis of these answers, it is evident that each of them has a different concept of how they define the people they are. One aspect that I found that in the interviews is that most people reflect the views of Mogamat when I asked them the question of how they would define who they are. Many South Africans still think in terms of the racial grouping that the apartheid system implemented. Zimitri Erasmus, however, extends on this concept of racial identity when discussing the label “coloured.” She states that it is not only a label that was given by the apartheid government but that it is reconstructed by the coloured 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). Erasmus’ words are reflected in the interviews with regard to coloured people and their cultural identity:
Matthew: Do you self-identify as a coloured by identity, not by your race, but by your identity?
Carla: Do you self-identify as a coloured with regard to my identity? No because I look like a white person but I speak like a coloured person but I get asked if I’m from another country so I wouldn’t say I’m coloured but it is a part of who I am. The culture and everything is a part of who I am. But it’s so hard for me because if I go, if I go with white people, I feel uncomfortable, especially if they speak like white people so I will feel uncomfortable because they don’t speak like me and I don’t speak like them. Rather I don’t speak like them so the way I look will fit in but then with coloured people it’s like . . .
Matthew: The other way round?
Carla: Ja. Exactly. You’re a white girl. A lot of people will say you’re a girl white trying to be coloured. So it’s hard. But I wouldn’t, no I wouldn’t.
Matthew: So do you self-identify as coloured with regard to your identity, not your race?
Riyaan: No I don’t. Not in terms of my identity. My race yes because I am mixed race. I would identify it as coloured but not my identity.
Matthew: Do you self-identify as a coloured with regard to your identity?
Adam: In some aspects I do and in some aspects I don’t. In the aspects where I do identify myself as a coloured is where my racial heritage comes from and where I wouldn’t is where I’m a person and I shouldn’t be labelled as being a coloured.
It seems as though the coloured youth of today would rather not identify themselves as coloured when it came to culture. This, however, does not mean that they are not aware of their culture but rather that they do not want to be boxed into one particular culture. Erasmus states that there are two views which are taken when it comes to culture and race. One of these views is that race should be ignored whereas the other is to “treat it [race] as though it determines everything we do and all that we are, and as if it limits what is available to us.” (Erasmus, 2005: 24)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Erasmus, Zimitri, 2005, “Race and identity in the nation,” State of the Nation: South Africa 2004 – 2005, John Daniel, Roger Southall and Jessica Lutchman (eds.), pp. 9 – 33, HSRC Press and Michigan State University Press: Cape Town and East Lansing, 2005.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ZIMITRI ERAMSUS - VISIT:
http://www.soc.uct.ac.za/erasmus.html
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