Trends seemed mostly most to be followed through the form of influence by peers. This, however, was also related to as to whether the coloured youth was interested in the trend or not and whether it formed part of their identity. Erasmus further imposes two views to the concept of race with regard to identity. The first to ignore racial categories and this within itself is something impossible, particularly within a country such as South Africa which, through historical context, based itself on the concept of racial categories and white supremacy (Erasmus, 2005: 22). The second, or alternative, view of race is to “treat it 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). The second view does not seem to exist with regard to the people that were interviewed because they do not feel that they have certain cultural appropriations to maintain in order to be defined as a coloured individual:
Matthew: Do you follow the trends that you follow because they form part of your identity or do you follow them because you’re influenced by peers?
Shannon: Perhaps both.
Matthew: Why?
Shannon: Well let’s say I would necessarily follow a trend because my friends do it but if it’s something that they follow that I liked, then it would form a part of my identity and I would follow it.
Matthew: So following onto to that, do you follow the trends that you do, in fashion for example, because they form part of your identity or because you are influenced for example by peers?
Adam: Both I think. Your peers do influence you because you influence your friends and your friends influence you. You hang around people that are similar to you in identity, in that sense yes and the sense where you are relating to the clothing that you’re wearing is maybe because of what you see on TV and what style because each brand has its own feel to it and attitude or beliefs and there is something relation to what your friends would see in that brand and yourself. So you do identify with a brand and your friends as well.
The answers given in both these interviews relates to Hammett concept of peer influence with regard to cultural identity. This influential concept, however, seems to be prominent in youth of all different cultures, races, religions and ethnicities. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, some coloured youth were influenced the use of hip-hop as a tool against oppression. This, however, did not relate to all coloured youth because the concept that was expressed hip-hop artists such as Prophets of da City (POC), Black Noise and Brasse vannie Kaap (BVK) did not want to be defined as coloured but rather as black with regard to identity. This played a key role during apartheid and pre-1994.
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)
While the coloured youth of today found that hip-hop played an important role during the apartheid struggle, they were unaware of the groups mentioned above:
Matthew: Okay, moving onto my last theme now. With regard to the historical perspective of South Africa, do you feel that Hip-Hop played an important role as a tool against oppression and the fight for freedom?
Riyaan: Yes I do think so. I think Hip-Hop became a form of expression for people who were marginalised and it was of describing their history and what their experiences were, challenges were, what it was like to live in a particular area and face certain sort of challenges. I think it has become a form of expression.
Matthew: With regard to that answer that you just gave me now, do you think that Hip-Hop artists from Cape Town such as Black Noise, Prophets of da City and Brasse vannie Kaap, do you know any of them?
Riyaan: I don’t know any of them sorry.
Matthew: With regard to the historical perspective of South Africa, do you feel that Hip-Hop played an important role as a tool against oppression, i.e. apartheid, and the fight for freedom, i.e. democracy?
Mogamat: Um, where coloureds are concerned?
Matthew: Ja.
Mogamat: Okay, I think it has. I think that in apartheid’s time, there was always means, people looking for means of escape and Hip-Hop was one of those means where they didn’t have to listen to the conventional white music, if I can say that. And they formed an identity that represented their race. So in that aspect I think it was a means of, of, of identification in the apartheid time and it geared toward democracy where they didn’t conform to what apartheid wanted them to listen to or do but they formed their own identity.
Matthew: With regard to this answer, do you think that Hip-Hop artists from Cape Town such as Black Noise, Prophets of Da City and Brasse vannie Kaap had a positive impact on the coloured and black communities of South Africa?
Mogamat: I wouldn’t know. I don’t listen to them.
Matthew: So you don’t know any of them?
Mogamat: No. Not at all. I didn’t know they exist.
*************************************************************************
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.
Haupt, Adam, 2001, “Black thing: Hip-hop nationalism, ‘race’ and gender in Prophets of da City and Brasse vannie Kaap,” Coloured by History: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities, Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), pp. 173 - 191, Kwela Books and South African History Online.
*************************************************************************
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ADAM HAUPT - VISIT:
http://www.cfms.uct.ac.za/faculty/staff-directory/Adam
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ZIMITRI ERAMSUS - VISIT:
http://www.soc.uct.ac.za/erasmus.html
*************************************************************************
FREE DOWNLOAD OF "STATE OF THE NATION: SOUTH AFRICA 2004 - 2005" - VISIT:
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2042&cat=1&page=3
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
No comments:
Post a Comment