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A Brief History of the South African Indian Community

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A Brief History of the South African Indian Community The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University On the Fringes of a Diaspora: An appraisal of the literature on languageTown diaspora and globalization in relation to a family of Tamil-speaking, Sri Lankan migrants toCape South Africa of Shanali Candice Govender Supervisor Prof. Rajend Mesthrie University A minor dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics Faculty of the Humanities, University of Cape Town 2012 Acknowledgements I have been supported in the writing of this thesis by numerous staff, friends and colleagues, whose support has been invaluable but not all of whom can be individually thanked here. However, I would like to extend my particular thanks to those named below. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Professor Rajend Mesthrie, for his patience, constructive criticism and guidance at all stages of this project. I truly appreciate and value his willingness to take on a student new to his field of study, and to allow me the time and freedom to find a niche within this field. In addition, I am grateful for the financial support provided by the NRF and Professor Mesthrie in his capacity as holder of a SARChI Chair in Migration, Language and Social Change. Allowing an outsider, even a friendly one, access to one’s ideas and families is, I imagine, a fairly stressful process. With this in mind, I would also like to express my gratitude to the participants in this study, who allowed to me access to their lives and histories, humouredTown my ignorant questions and shared their stories and enthusiasms. There are three people whose support during the research and writing of this thesis I would particularly like to acknowledge: Sepideh Azari, for the generousCape sharing of resources and the endless late nights writing; Gillian de Kock, for her toleranceof even when I was ridiculously ill-tempered; and Menelisi Potwana, for journeying with me through my partly-conceived ideas and his unshakeable determination on my behalf. Finally, I would like to thank my family: my parents, Tessa and Sathaseevan Govender, and my brothers, Reuben Govender and Rowan Govender – your support has been financial, emotional, spiritual and practical, inUniversity all instances constant and precious, and I cannot thank you enough for your faith in my capacity to finish this project. i Compulsory Declaration This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: Date: Town Cape of University ii Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... i Compulsory Declaration ............................................................................................................ ii Figures and Tables .................................................................................................................... vi Abstract .................................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to a Mobile World ......................................... 1 1.1 Globalization and Super-diversity: Framing mobility in the new millennium ............................. 2 1.1.1 Classifications of mobility ............................................................................................ 4 1.1.2 Diasporas ....................................................................................................................... 6 1.1.3 Transnationalism ........................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Language in the Global Context ................................................................................................. 16 1.2.1 Language Contact Situations and language outcomes ................................................ 16 1.2.2 Mother-tongue, Ethnic, Heritage…?: Labelling languageTown .......................................... 19 1.3 Reviewing the framework ........................................................................................................... 20 1.4 Topic ........................................................................................................................................... 21 1.5 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 22 1.6 Outline of Thesis ........................................................................................................................Cape 22 of CHAPTER 2: In search of a methodology for language attitude research . 24 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 24 2.2. Theory of Language Attitude Studies ......................................................................................... 24 2.3 History of Language Attitude and Behaviour Studies ................................................................ 27 2.3.1 Direct Approaches: Questionnaire and Interview techniques ..................................... 27 2.3.2 IndirectUniversity Approaches: Matched Guise and Verbal Guise Studies ................................ 28 2.3.3 Limitations of Direct and Indirect Approaches ........................................................... 29 2.3.4 Case Study Theory ...................................................................................................... 29 2.3.5 An Ethnographic Comment on Language Research ................................................... 31 2.4 Description of this study and the participants ............................................................................. 32 2.5 Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 33 2.6 Ethics .......................................................................................................................................... 34 iii CHAPTER 3: “Moving up”, “Fitting in” and “Standing out”: a migrant family’s reported attitudes and language practices ....................................... 36 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 36 3.2 Language Places ......................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1 Sri Lanka ..................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.2 The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora .................................................................................. 37 3.2.3 South Africa in the mid-1990s .................................................................................... 38 3.3 Family Language Repertoire ...................................................................................................... 40 3.3.1 Tamil ........................................................................................................................... 40 3.3.2 Sanskrit ........................................................................................................................ 41 3.3.3 Englishes ..................................................................................................................... 41 3.4 Language attitudes and practices: A performance of identities .................................................. 43 3.5 “Moving up”: Attitudes to, and use of English ........................................................................... 45 3.5.1 Education ..................................................................................................................... 45 3.5.2 Technology .................................................................................................................. 47 3.6 “Fitting in”: Attitudes to, and use of Tamil and English ............................................................Town 49 3.6.1 Ethnicity ...................................................................................................................... 49 3.6.2 Social affiliation .......................................................................................................... 53 3.6.3 Public Spaces .............................................................................................................. 54 3.7 “Standing out”: Attitudes to and use of Sanskrit ........................................................................Cape 54 3.7.1 The Intersection of language and Religion:of An under-researched field ...................... 55 3.7.2 Religious Languages ................................................................................................... 56 3.7.3 A Hindu Migrant View of Sanskrit in a South African context .................................
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