Racial And Ethnic Identity In South Africa Essay

1738 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of apartheid

1 Introduction
National identity declares that a nation must have a common language, mentality, symbols, traditions, history, culture and political development, including a constitution or an ideology that will enforce governance so that there should be a division of power. South Africa seems to possess almost all of these traits, but a country with a complex history will often have a complex national identity. Identity has been a very fragile topic since apartheid and it still continues to be a problem even after South Africa has been declared as a democratic country. With the history of South Africa, a non-racial society is something that would not happen overnight because for 300 years blacks have suffered from colonialism and other forms
The negative impact that the apartheid policies has had and continue to affect the black population is through economic discrimination. National identity within the country has not been able to be translated into domestic tolerance and peace.
South Africa is considered to be a very multiracial and multiethnic society that is joined by a lot of foreign nationals ever since it was declared a democratic country. During the apartheid regime the government would only put in place policy documents that would strive to ensure the separation on racial development which also used their homelands policy in order to divide and conquer the many ethnic and tribal groups that live in the country. The homelands (also known as Bantustans) were legally closed down during 1994, when they still existed many citizens were never identified with nor visit their undesirable homelands. Black South African more especially those that are from rural area still remain in many ways tribal when coming to social relations and political behavior, where ethnic and tribe group carry on to be their main source of primary
Individuals in such are unable to avoid carrying several layers of mental programming and categorizing themselves through similar purposes with different groups which they belong to that is at a cultural or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish from others within the same culture or society. For instance, an individual can be pursued by a national culture which is either of one country or several countries for those people who move to different countries during their lifetime. Furthermore, the influence can be encouraged by the regional, ethnic, religious or linguistic association, because most nations are made up of culturally different divisions of groups; generation characteristics; social class, which is in relation with education, profession; an organizational or corporate culture, for those who are employed, and personal

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Apartheid And Jim Crow Laws

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just like the Jim Crow laws, Apartheid in South Africa, another political and social system created to divide whites from blacks. This system was created by an all-white government. South Africa had become segregated, just like the United States. Anyone who was not white and living in South Africa was forced to live in separate neighborhoods and forced to use separate public facilities. This segregated system lasted from 1948 to 1994 (50

    Read More

  • Effects Of Imperialism In South Africa

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    South Africa was positively affected in the way that before the Dutch and British, South Africa had been split up into many different tribes, who though they were free were not united. Through the centuries of hardship South Africa came out of apartheid very strong and the ANC has maintained a popularity of 60% popularity for all the elections since 1994. Economically South Africa has blossomed and is the 2nd largest economy in all of Africa and has managed to triple its GDP even though it has been less than 30 years since it has left apartheid, established democracy and freed itself from many international sanctions. South Africa’s economy still has many issues though for it is still an underdeveloped country which suffers from lack of education, employment, and crime. Socially South Africa remains strong as it is united under one goal of making its nation once again great, and it has maintained its heritage and culture. In fact, a quick look at a South African site will show many articles and memorials, of days in the past remembering the struggle for freedom. Politically, South Africa has remained strong and united with the ANC still carrying the vast majority of the votes and uses a governmental system quite similar to ours with a separation of powers and a thriving democratic system. Luckily, political diversity has also started to appear with many other groups appearing making the most out of South Africa’s democracy and all of which pledge freedom and are led by native

    Read More

  • Apartheid DBQ Essay

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are people in the world who see the actions of Apartheid, the results within the actions of the people while apartheid’s control, and overall their existence as a rare point in history. This idea is not only false but there are also several other governments and actions of the people that have had respectively similar actions. By having a social class system in South Africa where whites are on top and Blacks on the bottom shouldn’t sound unfamiliar; America had a similar racial discrimination from the 50’s all the way to the 80’s, with some arguing that the situation in Africa was worse off for their people than in America. In south Africa the African people that were deemed “lower class citizens” just as Germany’s treatment of Jews during

    Read More

  • Apartheid In South Africa

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    For nearly forty-six years whites ruled South Africa with licit supremacy under Apartheid laws. With roots in its history, the segregation of races reigned from its colonization by the Dutch to the late 1900's when it was weakened by social unrest and financial burden, and finally abolished by Nelson Mandela. The impact of apartheid stood after apartheid's abolition, as non-whites still had unresolved feelings towards those who supported apartheid, but with Mandela's election and the renouncement of apartheid laws, the country could move forward toward creating a "rainbow nation."

    Read More

  • The Darkness Of The Heart Essay

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racism is never bound by culture, language, or even continents. It is an evil that spans the globe. The history of South Africa is of a culturally divided and fragmented society. The architects of apartheid took advantage of this splintered social order to create an institutionalized separation, dehumanization and enslavement of a people through laws and customs. However, freedom can be achieved when one voice has the courage to stand up against thousands, and inspires others to stand up for what is right and just. The ending of apartheid in South Africa allows people everywhere to never again accept a different definition of freedom depending on a classification imposed by another. South Africa has forged a bright future from the chains of the darkness of the heart – the darkness known as apartheid.

    Read More

  • Essay On Racial Identity

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a time rife with class, gender, and racial tensions, it can be easy to lose sight of just how much progress has been made in these relations in recent years. Only ninety-four years ago, women were granted the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. It was only fifty-two years ago that the 1964 Civil Rights Act guaranteed equal rights, such as the right to vote, to black Americans. In particular, perceptions of racial identity have evolved drastically. Throughout time, people’s perception of racial identity has changed as racism developed due to the economic potential of a morally corrupt system, then evolved as the moral implications of slavery were viewed to outweigh the economic benefits, and finally has shifted to a new type of racial identity and racism based on national identity.

    Read More

  • John Locke's Belief That People Are Born with Rights

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...f South African language and culture, acknowledgement of the racial oppression in South Africa, past and present, that it was wrong and positive action is required to make it right, and finally that all South Africans are legitimate and enjoy full moral equality (“About – DA”). In order for all this to be possible, the state must ensure it does not compromise the freedom of the individual (“About – DA”).

    Read More

  • The Establishment of Apartheid

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Apartheid was a system of separation of the races both politically and socially in South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century. This system was said to be one of the last examples of institutionalized racism, and has been almost universally criticized. These Apartheid rules and restrictions were put in place by the National Party which had power over South Africa during this time period. The purpose of Apartheid legislation was to bring the Afrikaner ethnic group to a higher power in South Africa, and accomplished just that. The Afrikaner group was made up of descendants from Dutch colonists who settled in South Africa in order to make a refreshment station, a sort of rest stop, for the Dutch East India Company. The longer people stayed in Africa, the more they started to associate with it as their home. With the enslavement of many Africans, it is easy to see how these Afrikaners would associate themselves as above them and would feel entitled to power over them. This entitlement it how Apartheid rules were born.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Sport and Identity

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    National identity can be explained as a group of people belonging to the same nation no matter what their culture or religion is. They share a common national anthem, language, history, laws and government. Segregation and discrimination have been problems rooted in South African history for a long period. There is a diversity of cultures and languages and therefore tension is high among the various groups. In 1994, the African National Congress was elected. Along with this National Congress came the notion to achieve a uni...

    Read More

  • An Essay About Nelson Mandela

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    Human history has been marked with long and painful struggles that fought for human rights and freedoms. Discrimination and racial oppression has always been one of the most controversial struggles for mankind. For South Africa, it was a country where black people were oppressed by the white minority. The colonization of South Africa began in the 18th century by the Dutch empire after Dutch trading companies started using its cape as a center for trading between Asia and Europe (sahistory.org.za). Soon after, the British took over the country and declared it part of the British Empire (sahistory.org.za). Decades after, Afrikaners, who descended from the original Dutch settlers that occupied South Africa, started working on creating a state that separates between black people and whites. Their plans were to create a separation between black people and whites that involved excluding blacks from all types of social, economic, and political activities within the country. All South African natives knew the bad conditions that their people were forced to live in but only a few of them took the responsibility of sacrificing their lives and freedom for the rights of their people. One South African citizen, Nelson Mandela, can be considered the main hero for the South African freedom revolution and the hero for millions of people fighting for their freedoms worldwide. Mandela’s long walk for freedom defined South African history and entered world history as one of the most influential fights for freedom and human rights in the world.

    Read More

  • National and European Identity

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    Salazar, J.M., 1998, ‘Social identity and national identity’, in Worchel, S., Morales, J.F., Páez, D., Deschamps, J.-C. (Eds.), Social Identity, International Perspectives. Sage, London.

    Read More

  • South African Apartheid

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    South Africa really began to suffer when apartheid was written into the law. Apartheid was first introduced in the 1948 election that the Afrikaner National Party won. The plan was to take the already existing segregation and expand it (Wright, 60). Apartheid was a system that segregated South Africa’s population racially and considered non-whites inferior (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid was designed to make it legal for Europeans to dominate economics and politics (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”).

    Read More

  • A Soldier’s Embrace by Nadine Gordimer

    424 Words  | 1 Pages

    South Africa’s racial problems began when the white people came and discovered South Africa with its black population. The white people wanted power because there were many fewer whites than blacks. The only way to achieve that was to change the government around so that only white people had political power. The three terms that were used to describe racial groups under the system of apartheid were European, Native and Coloured.

    Read More

  • Apartheid Essay

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Apartheid in South Africa became a huge issue due to the loss of human rights. Apartheid segregated and created problems between the whites and blacks of South Africa. Many of the blacks of South Africa had their rights violated due to the National Party making the white minority more powerful. Which automatically made the white richer and the black poorer. This was all changed when Nelson Mandela and F.W. De Klerk joined the African National Congress (ANC) and stood up against the National Party which created a more equalized South Africa.

    Read More

  • The South African Educational System

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    The apartheid was a very traumatic time for blacks in South Africa. Apartheid is the act of literally separating the races, whites and non-whites, and in 1948 the apartheid was now legal, and government enforced. The South African police began forcing relocations for black South Africans into tribal lines, which decreased their political influence and created white supremacy. After relocating the black South Africans, this gave whites around eighty percent of the land within South Africa. Jonathan Jansen, and Nick Taylor state “The population is roughly 78 percent black, 10 percent white, 9 percent colored, and l...

    Read More

More about Racial And Ethnic Identity In South Africa Essay

Open Document