Abstract
In this article we provide a discussion of present-day Khoisan activism in Cape Town, South Africa. The main actors in this movement are people whose heritage is complex: their history can be traced back to the early days of the colonial settlement, reflecting the interactions and cohabitation of the indigenous Khoisan, slaves and the European settlers. Currently, their main languages are English and Afrikaans; yet, efforts are also made by activists to learn Khoekhoegwab. In discussing the Khoisan resurgence we draw on a wide range of sources. The data include: in-depth interviews with language activists; video and audio recordings of ceremonies and other cultural events; discussions and performance of language and identity on blogs and tweets; newspapers; linguistic landscapes; and, finally, artistic performances (with particular focus on the hiphop opera Afrikaaps). We argue that Khoisan activism expresses a deep-seated desire for an identity – linguistic, political and cultural – that is both historically rooted and meaningfully created in the present. Khoisan activism is not only a political program but also an aesthetic-artistic as well as heteroglossic performance, and as such allows for new ways of conceptualizing language revitalization.
References
Adhikari, Mohamed. 2003. From Manenberg to Soweto: Race and coloured identity in the black consciousness poetry of James Matthews. African studies 62(2). 171–186.10.1080/0002018032000148740Suche in Google Scholar
Adhikari, Mohamed. 2004. ‘Not Black Enough’: Changing expressions of coloured identity in post-apartheid South Africa. South African Historical Journal 51. 167–178.10.1080/02582470409464835Suche in Google Scholar
Adhikari, Mohamed. 2006. ‘God Made the White Man, God Made the Black Man…’: Popular racial stereotyping of coloured people in apartheid South Africa. South African Historical Journal 55. 142–164.10.1080/02582470609464935Suche in Google Scholar
Adhikari, Mohamed (ed). 2009. Burdened by race. Coloured identities in South Africa. Cape Town: UCT Press.10.26530/OAPEN_628130Suche in Google Scholar
Aston Philander, Lisa E., Nokwanda P. Makunga & Karen J. Esler. 2014. The informal trade of medicinal plants by Rastafari Bush doctors in the Western Cape of South Africa. Economic Botany 68. 303–315.10.1007/s12231-014-9282-7Suche in Google Scholar
Bam, June. 2014. Contemporary Khoisan Heritage issues in South Africa: A brief historical overview. In Lungisile Ntsebeza & Chris Saunders (eds.), Papers from The pre-colonial catalytic project, Volume I, 123–135. Cape Town: Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town.Suche in Google Scholar
Barnard, Alan. 2004. Coat of arms and the body politic: Khoisan imagery and South African national identity. Journal of Anthropology 65. 5–22.10.1080/0014184042000191807Suche in Google Scholar
Bauman, Richard. 2000. Language, identity, performance. Pragmatics 10. 1–5.10.1075/prag.10.1.01bauSuche in Google Scholar
Becker, Heike & Chanell Oliphant. 2014. A hip-hopera in Cape Town: The aesthetics, and politics of performing ‘Afrikaaps’. Unpublished manuscrpipt.Suche in Google Scholar
Besten, Michael P. 2006. Transformation and reconstitution of Khoe-San identities AAS Le Fleur I, Griqua identities and post-apartheid Khoe-San revivalism (1894–2004). Leiden University doctoral dissertation.Suche in Google Scholar
Besten, Michael P. 2011. Envisioning ancestors: Staging of Khoe-San authenticity in South Africa. Critical Arts 25. 175–191.10.1080/02560046.2011.569059Suche in Google Scholar
Biko, Steve. 1987 [1978]. I write what I like. Oxford: Heineman.10.7208/chicago/9780226368535.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. 2010. Language and globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Brenzinger, Matthias. 2014. Classifying non-bantu click languages. In Lungisile Ntsebeza & Chris Saunders (eds.), Papers from the pre-colonial catalytic project, Volume I, 123–135. Cape Town: Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town.Suche in Google Scholar
Briggs, Charles. 1988. Competence in performance: The creativity of tradition in mexicano verbal art. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Cruywagen, Dennis. 2015. SA’s first people demand their place in the sun. Mail and Guardian, January 2015. http://mg.co.za/article/2015-01-09-sas-first-people-demand-their-place-in-the-sun (accessed 28 January 2017).Suche in Google Scholar
Dâusab, Pedro. 2010. Leer Jouself Nama. Teach yourself Nama. Aitsama Namagowaba ||Khā ||Khāsen. Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport. https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2010/2/nama.pdf (accessed 28 January 2017).Suche in Google Scholar
De Wet, Priscilla & Nigel Crawhall. 2008. South Africa. In Kathrin Wessendorf (ed.). The indigenous world, 516–523. Copenhagen: IWGIA.Suche in Google Scholar
Deleuze, Gilles & Félix Guattari. 2004 [1972]. Anti-Oedipus. London: Bloomsbury.Suche in Google Scholar
Deumert, Ana & Nkululeko Mabandla. 2015. Language as desire, stigma and struggle – multilingual complexities. Paper presented at the African Multilingualism Conference, London, British Academy, 8–9 September.Suche in Google Scholar
Ellis, William F. 2015. Ons is Boesmans: Commentary on the naming of Bushmen in the southern Kalahari. Anthropology Southern Africa 38. 120–133.10.1080/23323256.2015.1056314Suche in Google Scholar
Erasmus, Zimitri. 2001. Re-imagining coloured identities in post-apartheid South Africa. In Zimitri Erasmus (ed.), Coloured by history, shaped by place: New perspectives on coloured identities in Cape Town, 13–28. Cape Town: Kwela Books.Suche in Google Scholar
Erasmus, Zimitri. 2011. Creolization, colonial citizenship (s) and degeneracy: A critique of selected histories of Sierra Leone and South Africa. Current Sociology 59. 635–654.10.1177/0011392111408678Suche in Google Scholar
Fisher, Ryland. 2007. Race. Auckland Park: Jacana.Suche in Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A. 1991. Reversing language shift: Theory and practice of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Suche in Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A. (ed.). 2001. Can threatened languages be saved? Reversing language shift, revisited: A 21st century perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781853597060Suche in Google Scholar
García, Ofelia. 2009. Bilingual education in the 21st century. A global perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. New York: Anchor/Doubleday.Suche in Google Scholar
Graeber, David. 2011. Consumption. Current Anthropology 52. 489–511.10.1086/660166Suche in Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Languages of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Gűldemann, Tom. 2014. ‘Khoisan’ linguistic classification today. In Tom Gűldemann & Anne-Maria Fehn (eds.), Beyond ‘Khoisan’: Historical relations in the kalahari basin, 1–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/cilt.330.01gulSuche in Google Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra. 2015a. Defining the new speaker: Theoretical perspectives and learner trajectories. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 231. 21–44.10.1515/ijsl-2014-0030Suche in Google Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra. 2015b. Staging language on corsica: Stance, improvisation, play, and heteroglossia. Language in Society 44. 161–186.10.1017/S0047404515000032Suche in Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1960. Linguistics and poetics. In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.), Style in language, 350–377. New York: Technology Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Khan, Atiyyah. 2012. Sheer hard work brings its rewards. Mail and Guardian, March 2012. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-30-sheer-hard-work-brings-its-rewards (accessed 28 January 2017).Suche in Google Scholar
Kulick, Don. 2003. Language and desire. In Janet Holmes & Miriam Meyerhoff (eds.), The handbook of language and gender. Oxford: Blackwell.Suche in Google Scholar
Lacan, Jacques. 1977. E´crits: A selection. Alan Sheridan, trans. New York: Norton.Suche in Google Scholar
Lee, Richard B. 2006. Twenty-first century indigenism. Anthropological Theory 6. 455–479.10.1177/1463499606071597Suche in Google Scholar
Lewis, Paul M., Gary F. Simons & Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2015. Ethnologue: Languages of the world. 18th edn. Dallas, TX: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com.Suche in Google Scholar
Lyotard, Jean-François. 1993 [1974]. Libidinal economy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.10.5040/9781474241151Suche in Google Scholar
Malcolm X, with the assistance of A. Haley. (1992) [1965]. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: One World.Suche in Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 2001. Beyond settler and native as political identities: Overcoming the political legacy of colonialism. Comparative Studies in Society and History 43. 651–664.Suche in Google Scholar
Meek, Barbra. 2012. We are our language: An ethnography of language revitalization in a Northern Athabaskan community. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Moore, Robert. 2012. “Taking up speech” in an endangered language: Bilingual discourse in a heritage language classroom. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 27. 57–78.10.21832/9781783096800-006Suche in Google Scholar
Nkrumah, Kwame. 1957. Ghana: The autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons.Suche in Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor. 2012. Experiencing language. Anthropological Theory 12. 142–160.10.1177/1463499612454088Suche in Google Scholar
Olivier, Lennox. 2010. Greeting rituals as everyday management of differences among RasTafari groups in stellenbosch. Anthropology Southern Africa 33. 126–131.10.1080/23323256.2010.11500001Suche in Google Scholar
Øvernes, Siv. 2008. Surviving the cold. Khoe-San identity management among street-people in Cape Town. Norway: University of Tromsø doctoral dissertation.Suche in Google Scholar
Phakathi, Bekezela. 2015. Khoisan reclaim roots and rights. Business Day, October 2015. http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2015/10/05/khoisan-reclaim-roots-and-rights (accessed 28 January 2017).Suche in Google Scholar
Robins, Steven. 1997. Anthropology and the problems of alterity and location. Social Dynamics 22. 15–22.10.1080/02533959608458608Suche in Google Scholar
Ross, Robert J. 1997. Conference report: Khoisan identities and cultural heritage. Kronos 24. 154–155.Suche in Google Scholar
Schoeman, Monishia. 2010. Khoisan History X. http://www.mahala.co.za/culture/khoisan-history-x/Suche in Google Scholar
Shah, Sheena & Matthias Brenzinger. forthcoming. Writing for speaking: The N|Uu orthography. In Mari Jones & Damien Mooney (eds.), Creating orthographies for endangered languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Taylor, Diana. 2003. The archive and the repertoire. Performing cultural memory in the Americas. Durham: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822385318Suche in Google Scholar
Traill, Anthony T. 2002. The Khoisan languages. In Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), Language in South Africa, 27–49. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486692.003Suche in Google Scholar
Verbuyst, Rafael. 2015. Claiming Cape Town. Ethnographic interpretations of Khoisan activism and land claims. Leiden University MA thesis.10.1080/23323256.2016.1171159Suche in Google Scholar
Vossen, Rainer (ed.). 2013. The Khoesan languages. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203084465Suche in Google Scholar
Walcott, Rinaldo. 1997. Black Like Who? Writing black Canada. Toronto: Insomniac Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1991. The construction of peoplehood. Racism, nationalism, ethnicity. In Etienne Balibar & Immanuel Wallerstein (eds.), Race, nation, class. Ambiguous identities, 71–85. London: Verso.Suche in Google Scholar
Williams, Quentin & Christopher Stroud. 2014. Battling the race: Stylizing language and coproducing whiteness and colouredness in a freestyle rap performance. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 4. 277–293.10.1111/jola.12064Suche in Google Scholar
Wilson, Monica & Archie Mafeje. 1963. A study of social groups in an African township. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction: Regional and international perspectives on language activism
- Great-grandfather, please teach me my language!
- Developing a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism
- ‘My tribe is the Hessequa. I’m Khoisan. I’m African’: Language, desire and performance among Cape Town’s Khoisan language activists
- Linguistic landscapes and the sociolinguistics of language vitality in multilingual contexts of Zambia
- Assessing forty years of language planning on the vitality of the Francophone and Anglophone communities of Quebec
- Activism: Loving your languages and fighting for them
- Book Review
- Ingrid Piller: Linguistic diversity and social justice: An introduction to applied sociolinguistics
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Introduction: Regional and international perspectives on language activism
- Great-grandfather, please teach me my language!
- Developing a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism
- ‘My tribe is the Hessequa. I’m Khoisan. I’m African’: Language, desire and performance among Cape Town’s Khoisan language activists
- Linguistic landscapes and the sociolinguistics of language vitality in multilingual contexts of Zambia
- Assessing forty years of language planning on the vitality of the Francophone and Anglophone communities of Quebec
- Activism: Loving your languages and fighting for them
- Book Review
- Ingrid Piller: Linguistic diversity and social justice: An introduction to applied sociolinguistics