University of Venda Discourses on Difference and Oppression

CONSTRUCTING RACE:

BLACK WOMEN ACTIVISTS IN THE WESTERN CAPE

Cheryl de la Rey and Floretta Boonzaier

INTRODUCING THE SUBJECT

Race and identity constitutes one of the most debated and contested issues in the history of South African feminism (de la Rey, 1997). However, for the most part South African feminist debates on difference have been primarily concerned with differences between black and white women. Differences among black women have only recently become a site of public debate. In 1997 a landmark forum entitled "New forms of racism in the Western Cape - implications for black gender activists" was held in Cape Town (Ntone & Meth, 1997). It was organised in response to divisions that had surfaced among black gender activists in the Western Cape. At the forum the impact of apartheid constructed divisions among black people was discussed, in particular the participants focused on tensions that have been observed between African and coloured women who are engaged in gender activism.

These contemporary experiences of division issues between coloured¹ and African² people in the Western Cape are remnants of apartheid strategies and policies which explicitly sought to divide black South Africans. One of the strategies was to enforce the separation of coloureds into a distinct racial group. The majority of people who were classified coloured live in the Western Cape and during the days of apartheid they were accorded relative advantage compared to African people. The Western Cape was a coloured preferential area which meant that coloured people were given preference for employment (albeit low-skilled and unskilled work), housing and education. The apartheid government strategy positioned coloured people in relative socio-economic advantage compared to African people, thereby creating a racial hierarchy and consequently, implementing a divide and rule policy.

Very few studies have examined subjective relations between African and coloured people. Stevens (1998) conducted one of the few studies on this issue when he examined the racialised discourses within a coloured community. Through group interviews he explored how participants constructed their positions and identities in relation to "others". Stevens reported that racialised identities are constructed under the notion of "perceived threat" from other groups. More specifically, in the community being researched, "other" blacks³ (Africans) were perceived as economically, physically and socially threatening. Stevens recognised that racist discourses are more than a function of individuals or social groups, but are shaped by political, economic, social and historical aspects.

This chapter focuses on the identity issues addressed in Stevens’ work and in the report from the Cape Town forum (Ntone & Meth, 1997). The chapter draws on an ongoing research project that examines the subjective experiences of race among black South African women. For the purposes of this chapter, we use excerpts from some of the interviews that we have conducted in this project. The material that we use reflects subjective experiences of race among a group of black women in the Western Cape.

THE PARTICIPANTS

In short our project uses a life history method to illuminate experiences of race and gender among a group of black women engaged in gender activist work in the Western Cape. All participants are employed in gender-related portfolios within organisations. Here we present brief descriptions of the participants using pseudonyms.

Jane is 38 years old and was born in the Eastern Cape but raised in the Western Cape. She was a teacher for many years.

Michelle is 24 years old and was born and raised in Cape Town. She is single and has completed an Honours degree in Psychology.

Sally is married and has an Honours degree in Community Development. She is 34 years old, and was also born and raised in Cape Town.

Theresa has a Masters degree in Education and is currently studying toward the completion of her PhD. She is 38 years old and married with two children.

Vuyisa is a 33-year-old single mother, and was born and grew up in the Western Cape.

Busi was born in KwaZulu-Natal and relocated to Cape Town in 1996. She is 44 years old and holds a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology.

Lerato was born in Cape Town and is 29 years old. She was reared in the Eastern Cape and later came to Cape Town to complete her education.

Mary is 48 years old and was born and raised in the Western Cape. Like Jane, she also taught for many years before her involvement in gender-related employment.

Thandi was born in Soweto and moved to Cape Town in 1987. She is 28 years old and has an Honours degree in Social Work.

Nozipho is a 22-year-old social work student. She was born in Pretoria and moved to Cape Town in 1996.

Jane, Michelle, Sally, Theresa, and Mary were previously classified as "Coloured". Vuyisa, Busi, Lerato, Thandi, and Nozipho were racially classified as "Bantu" or "Native".

Since the research was concerned with subjective meanings, the format of the interviews that were conducted was flexible within the parameters of the research objectives. The interviews lasted between one and two hours and were tape-recorded and transcribed. Our reading of the literature informed our analysis of the data, a process that involved the identification of themes that are discussed subsequently. In addition to Stevens (1998) and the report by Ntone and Meth (1997), the analysis was informed by the work of Mama (1995) who examined differences among black women in Britain. We were also informed by Essed’s research (1991) with black women in the Netherlands and United States. She explored manifestations of racism and posited the concept of "everyday racism" to illustrate how deeply racist practices are entrenched in everyday interactions. As will become evident in the subsequent discussion, elements of Essed's model were used to analyse how women reconstruct and interpret racist events.

APARTHEID CONSTRUCTIONS

Socialisation and systems of segregation

Early racial identifications of all participants had been shaped by the social milieu that had been in existence during the years of apartheid. The participants’ accounts of their growing years pointed to a time that was marked by geographic, social and psychological distance between apartheid-constructed racial groups. All participants talked about how as they were growing up, clear segregation between different races was apparent. Communities were geographically divided along racial lines. Consequently, housing, schooling, and all social experiences had been structured along racial lines. Tammy succinctly described the impact of apartheid organisation upon individual lives and experiences when she said: " everything in your life was determined by your colour or race group according to which you were classified".

Participants also emphasised language as a form of segregation. This was more so for respondents who did not grow up in the Western Cape. Schools were not only segregated by race, but also language.

" … the schools were structured in that way as well … Sotho-speaking people going to a particular school, Zulu-speaking people going to a particular school"(Thandi). Interaction between different racially classified groups was very limited. In the absence of contact, knowledge about the "other" was based on various stereotypes such as: "... coloureds (were) those people who liked fighting … "(Nozipho).

" ... you try to just avoid African people because you were scared that they might do something to you, more so if it was a male"(Tammy)

These stereotypes reinforced and perpetuated both social and psychological distance between different groups. In this respect people in both coloured and African communities internalised and perpetuated the dominant racist stereotypes. The above (and other) stereotypes were typical during apartheid South Africa. A vicious cycle seemingly developed - people were segregated along racial lines, these divisions and lack of contact led to stereotypical beliefs about each other. The stereotypes then functioned to reinforce the division of these groups.

Coloured privilege and shifting identifications

The participants noted that under apartheid coloured people were perceived as, " … not white enough to be white and not black enough to be black…". Several participants recalled that due to the material advantages accorded to coloured people, many lighter skinned African people changed their racial classification. Vuyisa described how this had happened within her family. She explained that her aunt, who previously lived in an African township had "pretended to be coloured" and had relocated to a coloured township. She justified it by noting that:

"If you were coloured, you were treated more privileged than blacks … that's why she pretended to be coloured, so she could get the benefits …" Vuyisa indicated that her family accepted her aunt's change since they understood her reasons for doing so. She further explained that her family was accepting in their attitude because the aunt had maintained her traditions and did not severe familial ties.

Busi was another participant who recalled an experience of an African family becoming coloured, although it was not her family. She recalled:

"I remember one family that lived in the same street as us. They had coloured features, a fairer complexion, maybe softer hair, but I also do remember that they had coloured associations. … they changed surname and then they moved…. I remember when we were that age, for us it was something of a wonder. How is it possible to change from being one of us, an African, and then become somebody else?". Although Busi expressed astonishment that changing one’s race is possible, she also indicated that she was aware of the privileges associated with the change. These accounts of how people changed their racial classification point to the constructedness of identity. They illustrate how identities and changes in identities are shaped by political, economic, and social forces. In order to equally compete for and receive economic privileges, these people changed their identifications.

A different manifestation of the ways in which racial identifications are lived as changing and constructed emerged in the accounts of how participants currently identify themselves in racial terms.

POST-APARTHEID CONSTRUCTIONS

Contextual Situatedness of Identity

All participants distanced themselves from apartheid labels and classification. Race as problematic was made evident in the descriptions of self-identification. None of the respondents, who were previously classified as "coloured", currently identified themselves as such; most identified as "black". Participants, who were previously classified as "Bantu", all identified as "African". The accounts revealed various attempts at redefining the self during the post apartheid period through the rejection of apartheid labels, but this is not a straightforward task.

The quotation below illustrates how living a "coloured" identity may be experienced as problematic. Although Tammy reveals that she is hesitant to identify as "coloured", she indicates that her use of the term would depend upon the context.

"I’ve always seen myself as a black South African, but after post-1990’s sort of, I think I actually feel with many so-called coloureds, we are not sure whether the term ‘coloured’ is acceptable for yourself, in terms of where you come from and where it was perceived really. I don’t really feel comfortable calling myself a coloured woman or a coloured South African. I prefer still to use the term ‘black South African’. And then another term which would be more acceptable probably may be is ‘a person ofcolour’. But at the same time I also am not that rigid. I think people need to understand what they mean, what terms they like, but it's also important for me that it does have a positive connotation now. In the past, it was seen as coloured being neither white nor African. That was officially explained, in fact. So I am not really open to call myself a coloured person. So I would still use the term black, but if you are in the community where people use the term '‘coloured', for example my husband comes from Namaqualand, then I use it sort of to fit in and not alienate people from you." (Tammy). Tammy's self-identification illustrates how identity constructions may be multiple, shifting and contradictory. She informs us that she shifts between the terms "black", "person of colour" and "coloured" to identify herself depending on the context. This is somewhat reminiscent of a respondent in Mama’s study who named it as "different expressions of the same personality"(p. 117). As we see in Tammy’s rejection of the "coloured" label and her acceptance of a black identity, the "different expressions" are influenced by individual historical as well as socio-historical and political factors. She notes that her rejection of a self-identification as coloured and her acceptance of herself as black are for her symbolic of her rejection of and activism against apartheid.

In a similar, yet different vein, participants, who rejected the term "black" and redefined themselves as "African", did so because of the connotations and stereotypes attached to the use of the former term. In the following extract, Nozipho explains her objection to the term "black":

" … it’s almost like we are still living in the past and because I don’t see you as a human being – I don’t see a person when I see you, I see a specific colour or skin or hair or whatever. Because I see those things and I fail to value the you, the thing that I should be looking at, the things that forms you, then I don’t see that because I’m only concentrating on what I have labelled you to be. So it’s almost like I become judgmental automatically when I see a coloured or a black person, you know" (Nozipho). The contextual situatedness of identity constructions was also made evident in the references to the Western Cape as a unique region.

The Western Cape as unique

The influence of apartheid strategies on relations between African and coloured people in the Western Cape was emphasised by many participants. Lerato, who was raised in the Eastern Cape, contrasted her experiences there to the way she perceived relations in the Western Cape as follows:

" .. where I come from, we have few coloured people, and because they are in the minority, we wouldn't even look at them as different, because they speak Xhosa, they speak Afrikaans. So it's like they are very much part of us." Busi, like Lerato, grew up outside the Western Cape and offered insight into her perceptions of the regional differences. "The differences were not stark between the African and the coloured people in KwaZulu-Natal. I think my experience is, in the Western Cape, you really do feel that you are African when you relate to the people of the other groups…

I think the gap is much wider in the Western Cape between these groups. I think there’s more the identity of being black in KwaZulu-Natal – we should include Africans, coloured and Indian – than there is in the Western Cape. I feel in the Western Cape, coloureds and African people see themselves as separate."

In articulating that in the Western Cape she really feels different, Busi is in this extract denoting the contextual situatedness of identity. She, and some of the other participants who had lived elsewhere, shared the view that racial identities in the Western Cape are influenced by the idiosyncrasy of the region.

Post-apartheid intergroup relations

Indicators of a divide between coloured and African people surfaced in the descriptions of intergroup relations. There were many uses of terms such as "us" and "them". Participants did not speak of their own attitudes or prejudices but rather of African or coloured people as a group.

The changing political and social position of Africans in the post-apartheid context was embodied in the stereotypes of African people. These stereotypes seemed to rely on the assumption that African people are exclusively advantaged by affirmative action. African people were described as entitled and overly demanding. The consequences of this perception for relations between coloureds and Africans were explicated in the interview with Michelle. An extract is reproduced below:

"When you meet people and you feel like oh! they think that they are better than you. … sometimes I've come across black professional people who don't treat me like I am inferior or anything, but it's just those kinds of under-currents from time to time. … it's very similar to the kind of thing that you used to get from white people. Oh! we are better, more intelligent, and I'm brighter, whatever, I'm wealthier, I'm more powerful. So some of these days I get that kind of thing from black people"(Michelle). This extract points to an interesting shift that may be contrasted to the apartheid racial hierarchy. Expressions of superiority and entitlement, which would have been previously displayed by white people, are now perceived as coming from African people.

In contrast, the perception of coloured people as marginal and "caught between black and white" appeared to persist in the post-apartheid period albeit with a change in the relative positionings of Africans and whites. The quotation from the interview with Sally is illustrative:

"… feeling that coloured is not black enough and you can’t, as a simple coloured person, you don’t know the burden the black person, an African person, has been exposed to… Because you are not black enough, you don’t understand what they have gone through… You are more white than black"(Sally). Here Sally seems to be grappling with perceptions of coloured people as marginal or "more white than black". Although she does not self-identify as a coloured woman, there is an acknowledgement of her membership of the group, coloured people, thus bringing to the fore the heterogeneity among blacks.

Overall, there was an acknowledgement that stereotypical attitudes by both coloured and African people are part of many people's daily experiences and that these serve to reinforce apartheid-constructed divisions between African and coloured people in the Western Cape. The impact of competition over material resources emerged as an important component of these relations. In this respect there was concurrence with the findings of Stevens' (1998) study, which noted that competition over economic, political and social resources as a basis of feelings "racial threat" in the Western Cape. Two axes of competition were mentioned by coloured participants - employment and educational resources. One of the participants described the rationalisation in coloured schools. She reported that teachers at a coloured school where taught, felt that they were being "short-changed". They acknowledged that coloured education had been more advantaged than African schools but they felt that the rationalisation process advantaged African schooling at the expense of coloured schools. Competition for employment opportunities was mentioned in relation to affirmative action, a policy that was contested by several coloured participants.

Only coloured participants mentioned the issue of affirmative action. Participants expressed agreement with the policy of affirmative action, but not with the manner in which it is implemented. Problems and debates concerning affirmative action were elucidated, in particular the perception that that unqualified people are appointed in token positions and that affirmative action exclusively favours African people. As Stevens (1998) argued, these perceptions are reinforced through the difficulties in the implementation of affirmative action, as well as through media and political discourse which has sensationalised issues of affirmative action.

INCIDENTS OF RACISM

Participants were asked to describe incidents where they felt they were being treated differently by a coloured or African person based on race. It was noteworthy, that during this section of the interview, participants found difficulty in naming and identifying racism. This was possibly due to the changing forms of racism in South Africa and, as will be illustrated, many of the experiences conform to definitions of subtle forms of racism.

The use of language emerged as a site of power and as a means of accentuating difference. Some examples are:

"… also the fact that most coloureds speak Afrikaans, and to us not everyone knew Afrikaans. Obviously it's a sense of domination to them …"(Nozipho).

"And the blacks use their language as even a further barrier. Usually you will find that some settings the blacks will start speaking in their language to exclude others"(Jane).

Many respondents identified language as a site of difference that may be used to exclude. Although in most cases the intention to exclude others was not explicit, Nozipho described an incident it seemed to her that where language was used explicitly to exclude her: "I was in a situation where I was the only black person there. They were speaking Afrikaans, but I was not really interested in the conversation and I was watching TV whilst they were talking but I was still listening at the same time. So the conversation would go like this, they would speak and if they wanted to find out something from me, they would speak in English, and then continue in Afrikaans sometimes and if they want to confirm with me or something – things like that. So, it’s little things but they make a difference in how one would view things. So it didn’t have to be swearing words or whatever, but just the fact that if we are sitting together, being aware that this person she does understand Afrikaans but not so good, you know" Nozipho's experience is illustrative of subtle racism. (Essed, 1991). Nozipho interpreted the situation as racist by comparing it to norms of acceptable behaviour. In this manner, she recognised that if someone did not understand a particular language, it would be unacceptable for others to speak in that language while the person was present. "Sometimes with the African people, Xhosa-speaking – because I’m not Xhosa-speaking and I mean in the Western Cape, then everyone assumes if I am not coloured, if I don’t speak Afrikaans, then I’m Xhosa, you know what I mean?". Ethnocentrism among black people is evident in this account. People make assumptions based on race as well as language and in the process differences are not respected.

In comparison to subtle racism, blatant racism is more evident and less difficult to define as can be seen in the following account:

"I have this coloured friend of mine, and I had to go to parliament to fetch a computer…and I asked him for help… So the two of us went and when we came to the exit point – obviously they had to check the computer and everything – so they went through that process and at the gate they wanted to see whether this was checked. They would talk to this chap all the time – and this guy would keep saying, excuse me – this is not my computer! And actually she’s not paying me for this, she’s asked me to help! So it’s like, if you have questions, talk to her and not me. And I want to tell you, she’s my boss! And they were like so upset, saying, she can’t be, I mean, how could this possibly be? And they kept talking to him in Afrikaans. So I must say my Afrikaans is not good, so it’s only when we left them when this chap told me what they were saying. I mean, who is she, where have you been, how dare you, I mean, tell me more about this organisation, how can you let a black person take a lead, I mean not only a black person, but a black woman. It was like... a total problem..."(Lerato). The above was clearly an incident of blatant racism and Lerato did not have any difficulty in defining the incident as racist. The gender implications are also made explicit in her recognition that she was perceived as "not only a black person, but a black woman".

Several times participants expressed difficulty in making attributions about whether an incident could be defined as racism or not. They used a number of strategies in order to decide whether they were experiencing prejudice or discrimination. These included the observation of the other people's behaviour, comparing the incident with others, relying on the opinion of others and comparing the incident to similar experiences. The racism experienced by many of the participants indicates that the post-apartheid context is not free of racist prejudice, instead there are new and emerging manifestations, not only between blacks and whites but also amongst the previously oppressed.

REFLECTION

Post-apartheid identities are contextual, dynamic, and sometimes contradictory. Expressions of identity as discussed in this chapter concur with the view that:

"Identity is not one thing for any individual, rather each individual is both located in and opts for a number of differing and at times conflictual identities, depending on the social, political, economic and ideological aspects of their situation"(Bhavnani & Phoenix, 1994: 9). Identity is context-dependant and located within specific social and historical conditions. Participants shifted between identification and non-identification with different racially named groups. There were multiple uses of terms that indicated the "othering" of individuals, yet, the uses of these terms shifted during the interviews as participants variously used terms such as "us" and "them" to describe the same group.

Tutu (1997) described how the history of oppression and privilege in the Western Cape has created differentiation and division amongst the oppressed. A reluctance to address the history of oppression and privilege is risky for the future of race relations. It is important to acknowledge and engage with multiple forms of difference. Further contributions to the South African literature on the differences amongst black people are greatly needed. The study discussed here illustrated that people are grappling with changes in constructions of self, along with social and political changes in the post apartheid period. There is clearly a need for more for more open dialogue and research on identity constructions within distinct regional contexts.

NOTES

1. The term 'coloured' is used to refer to the group so defined by the apartheid government. Use of these terms does not indicate acceptance.
2. The term 'African' is used to refer to people previously classified as "Bantu" and to participants who self-identify as such.
3. "Black" is used as a unifying term to include African, coloured and Indian people.

REFERENCES

Bhavnani, K-K. & Phoenix, A. (1994). Introduction - Shifting identities, shifting racisms. In K-K. Bhavnani & A. Phoenix (Eds.), Shifting identities, shifting racisms. A feminism and psychology reader, (pp. 5-18). London: Sage Publications.

Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

Mama, A. (1995). Beyond the masks. Race, gender and subjectivity. London & New York: Routledge.

Ntone, D. & Meth, N. (1997). In search of new paradigms. Agenda, 34, 71-76.

Stevens, G. (1998). 'Racialised' discourses: understanding perceptions of threat in post-apartheid South Africa. South African Journal of Psychology,28, 204-214.

Tutu, N. (1997). Facing our differences. Agenda, 34, 77-79.

Conference Home | Programme | Accommodation & Transport | Guidelines to Presenters | Papers

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws