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South Africans View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository Discourse on identity: conversations with ‘white’ South Africans Charles Hugh Puttergill Dissertation presented for the degree Doctor of Philosophy at Stellenbosch University Promoter: Professor Simon B Bekker Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology March 2008 DECLARATION By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. 27 February 2008 Copyright © 2008 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii ABSTRACT The uncertainty and insecurity generated by social transformation within local and global contexts foregrounds concerns with identity. South African society has a legacy of an entrenched racial order which previously privileged those classified ‘white’. The assumed normality in past practices of such an institutionalised system of racial privileging was challenged by a changing social, economic and political context. This dissertation examines the discourse of white middle-class South Africans on this changing context. The study draws on the discourse of Afrikaans- speaking and English-speaking interviewees living in urban and rural communities. Their discourse reveals the extent to which these changes have affected the ways they talk about themselves and others. There is a literature suggesting the significance of race in shaping people’s identity has diminished within the post-apartheid context. This study considers the extent to which the evasion of race suggested in a literature on whiteness is apparent in the discourse on the transformation of the society. By considering this discourse a number of questions are raised on how interviewees conceive their communities and what implication this holds for future racial integration. What is meant by being South African is a related matter that receives attention. The study draws the conclusion that in spite of heightened racial sensitivity, race remains a key factor in the identities of interviewees. iii OPSOMMING Die onsekerheid en gebrek aan sekuriteit wat deur sosiale transformasie in plaaslike en globale kontekste gegenereer word, stel gemoeidhede met identiteit op die voorgrond. Die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing het ’n nalatenskap van ’n verskansde rasse-orde wat voorheen dié wat ‘wit’ geklassifiseer is bevoorreg het. Die aanname van die normaliteit van praktyke van so ’n geïnstitusionaliseerde stelsel van rasse- bevoordeling voorheen, is met die veranderende sosiale, ekonomiese en politieke konteks bevraagteken. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die diskoers van wit middelklas Suid-Afrikaners oor die veranderende konteks. Die studie verken die diskoers in onderhoude van Afrikaans-sprekendes en Engels-sprekendes wat in stedelike en landelike gemeenskappe woon. Hulle diskoers openbaar die mate waartoe hierdie verandering die wyse waarop hul gesprekvoering oor hulself en ander voer, beïnvloed het. Daar is ’n literatuur wat voorstel dat die betekenisvolheid van ras in die vorming van persone se identiteit in die postapartheid konteks afgeneem het. Hierdie studie oorweeg die mate waartoe die vermyding van ras wat in die literatuur oor witheid voorgestel word, ooglopend is in die diskoers oor die transformasie van die samelewing. Deur die diskoers in oënskou te neem word ’n aantal vrae oor hoe gesprekvoerders hul gemeenskappe bedink en wat die implikasie hiervan vir toekomstige rasse-integrasie is, geopper. Wat bedoel word met Suid-Afrikanerskap is ’n verbandhoudende saak wat aandag verg. Die studie kom tot die slotsom dat ras, ten spyte van ’n verhoogde sensitiwiteit oor ras, ’n kernfaktor in die identiteit van gesprekvoerders bly. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the following persons and institutions for assisting in my research: Professor Simon Bekker, my promoter who treated me as a mature student, allowing me time to read and explore the topic. He created a number of opportunities where I could present and discuss my research. He maintained an open-door policy and was always available responding promptly to my queries. His incisive and constructive advice and guidance was beneficial. I appreciated his willingness to meet me in Gauteng when he travelled to the province. Janis Grobbelaar, who challenged my thinking on discourse, recommended key readings on the South African society and created a supportive environment at work that was conducive to research (including some necessary pressure for completion, eventually). My colleagues in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pretoria for the interest they displayed in my work. I would like to thank Kammila Naidoo and Khumisho Moguerane who at different stages shouldered a heavier burden of our shared teaching responsibilities. Jan Pretorius for his willingness to read drafts of completed chapters and his encouraging and supportive feedback. Tina Uys for suggesting readings for my research when I started with the study and for resolving some queries around using the word processing program I had. Louwrens Pretorius and Gretchen du Plessis for the discussions on aspects of the research we had. I am also grateful for access to the Unisa library. The panel of examiners for asking thought-provoking questions during the oral defence of this dissertation as well as for giving constructive feedback on the research. Charmaine Raftesath, my sister, for reading parts of the dissertation, for assisting me with the graphics and answering any language queries I had. Marguerite Yates, my sister, for her encouragement and support. Annekie Jansen, Louise Burton-Durham and Annette Griessel who assisted with transcription. Anneke Nieuwoudt, my cousin, for fetching me at the airport and accommodating me during my consultations at Stellenbosch. The key contact persons in the four communities I conducted fieldwork in who aided me in approaching potential interviewees. The interviewees themselves who voluntarily agreed to participate and freely gave of their time. Our conversation was frank and insightful. Since we agreed on maintaining anonymity I do not mention their names but remain indebted to their generosity. My friends and family for their support, encouragement and interest in my progress. My mother and father for their continued support and assistance with checking corrections to transcripts, cross references to interviewees in chapters and the list of sources. Unfortunately my father passed away during my research. I dedicate this dissertation to them both. The fieldwork for this study was funded from my own resources. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION ii ABSTRACT iii OPSOMMING iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF MAPS x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 The context of the study 1 1.2 Describing the study 2 1.3 Outline of chapters 5 1.4 Conventions followed in this study 7 Chapter 2: Theorising identity – an introduction 8 2.1 Introduction 8 2.2 Locating an interest in identity 10 2.2.1 Theorising and the social context 11 2.2.2 Describing society and identity 16 2.2.3 Politics and identity 18 2.2.4 Disciplinary boundaries and identity 20 2.2.5 Concluding remarks 25 2.3 Proving a theoretical framework 26 2.3.1 Introducing social constructionism 26 2.3.1.1 Constructionism 27 2.3.1.2 Language and interpretation 29 2.3.1.3 Anti-foundationalism 31 2.3.2 Assessing social constructionism 33 2.3.3 Concluding remarks 37 2.4 Conceptualising identity 38 2.4.1 Similarity and difference 38 2.4.2 Conscious and unconscious 41 2.4.3 Coherence and fragmentation, stability and fluidity singularity and multiplicity 42 2.4.4 Individual and social, subjective and objective 45 2.4.5 Contextually determined and situationally emergent 47 vi 2.4.6 Concluding remarks 48 2.5 Conclusion 48 Chapter 3: Considering race – conceptual debates 50 3.1 Introduction 50 3.2 Race 52 3.2.1 Studying race within the social sciences and humanities 53 3.2.2 The shifting meaning of race 54 3.2.3 The legacy of a pseudo-science – notions of race in commonsense 56 3.2.4 Contemporary scientific debates on race 57 3.2.5 Race and associated concepts 60 3.2.6 Race, racism and the cultural turn 63 3.2.7 Concluding remarks 66 3.3 Whiteness 67 3.3.1 Describing whiteness 68 3.3.2 The operation of whiteness 71 3.3.3 The plurality of whiteness 72 3.3.4 Unsettling whiteness 74 3.3.5 Challenging whiteness 79 3.3.6 Concluding remarks 80 3.4 Discourse and race 80 3.5 Conclusion 83 Chapter 4: The South African socio-historical context 85 4.1 Introduction 85 4.2 Settler-colonialism 86 4.2.1 Initial white settlement 87 4.2.2 British authority and control 88 4.2.3 Burgher response 91 4.2.4 The impact of the discovery of minerals 93 4.2.5 Imperial designs 93 4.2.6 Concluding remarks 95 4.3 Establishing a white dominion 95 4.3.1 The compromise and context of Union 95 4.3.2 The debate on conciliation 97 4.3.3 Collective imagining – writing Afrikaner history 98 4.3.4 Extra-parliamentary organisation of Afrikaners 101 4.3.5 Race policies 105 4.3.6 Concluding remarks 110 4.4 Afrikaner nationalist hegemony 111 4.4.1 The 1948 election 111 4.4.2 Consolidation of power 113 4.4.3 Attending to the racial order 116 4.4.4 Challenges and realignments 118 4.4.5 Reforming apartheid 122 4.4.6 Contemplating alternatives 126 4.4.7
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