Transformation and reconstitution of Khoe-San identities : AAS le Fleur I, Griqua identities and post-apartheid Khoe-San revivalism (1894-2004)

Besten, M.P. (2006)

Doctoral Thesis

Focussing on AAS le fleur I (1867-1941), the Griqua, and post-apartheid Khoe-San revivalism, the dissertation examines changes in the articulation of Khoe-San identities in South-Africa. It shows the significance of shifting political, cultural and ideological power relations on the articulation of Khoe-San identities, and by extension on the subjectivities of ethno-‘racial’ underclasses. Whilst colonial somatic and cultural discrimination engendered distancing from Khoe-Sanness and the assumption of alternative (christian, bastaard and coloured) identities, the emergence of Griqua polities and identities in the early 1800s allowed the maintenance of a fluctuating awareness of a Khoekhoe indigenous heritage. Discrimination against ‘nativeness’ encouraged Griqua to affirm that they had partial non-indigenous origin, to locate the Griqua category within the coloured catgory suggesting distance from ‘Nativeness’ and proximity to whiteness. However, the official consolidation of the Griqua and coloured categories allowed Griqua nationalists to ambivalently disassociate the Griqua category from colouredness during apartheid (1948-1994) and to promote Griqua ethno-national specificity. With the ending of apartheid, the coloured category lost much of the psychological, socio-economic, ideological and political value it previously conferred, further inclining Griqua and some coloureds to distance themselves from a coloured identity; to (re)affirm an indigenous heritage; and to promote Khoe-San identities

• South Africa
• Griqua
• Identity

• All authors: Besten, M.P.
• Supervisor: Ross, R.J.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute for History, Faculty of Arts, Leiden University
• Date: 2006-01-18
• Court: LEI Universiteit Leiden