Changing identities in urban South Africa : an interpretation of narratives in Cape Town

[摘要] Identity reflects and aims to control one's experience. It is an act of consciousness which isneither essential nor immutable but a social construct open to change as circumstances,strategies and interactions fluctuate. It needs therefore to be situated historically andrelationally, as identity is a matter of social context. This thesis sets out to investigateprocesses of identity formation in post-apartheid South Africa, i.e. a context marked bydeep changes at both symbolic/material structural levels, in particular within the urban setup.On the basis of focus group discussions with residents of Cape Town, various, and attimes contradictory, strategies of identification are explored. Residents' discourses areanalysed on the basis of two entry points, that of the context or the 'scale' within whichdiscourse occurs (from the local, to the urban, the national and the continental) and that ofthe traditional categories of class, race and culture. The narratives that urban citizens drawupon to make sense of their lives and environment illuminate the emergence of new socialboundaries among citizens which, though volatile and situational, reveal a changing pictureof South Africa as a nation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University