Abstract
December 2017 saw the break of a new dawn as KhoiSan people from the Eastern Cape went on a hunger strike and marched 120 kilometres to the Union Building in Pretoria. They felt that the South African Government had failed to deliver on their grievances and organised a peaceful protest in demonstration of these grievances. In the memorandum that, they submitted to the then Deputy President, they demanded that they be recognised as the first citizens who originated South Africa, including recognition for their language. This sparked my interest, as I had recently learned that I am KhoiSan. This discovery led me to question my own Identity and led to questioning how (their) resistance shaped (my) Identity, which is the basis of this thesis. This dissertation seeks to examine the interplay between resistance and Identity formation in the KhoiSan people of Kimberley. This was done by means of a qualitative approach using interviews and Participatory Action Research (PAR), which included in-depth interviews and observational methods. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of KhoiSan Identity and speaks to the First Nation debate. I contend that the racial category of coloured was invented as a violent erasure of the KhoiSan people and was used to rob them of their land. In this dissertation, I have found that my participants are insisting on being called KhoiSan (and not coloured) and are calling for the government to recognise them in their struggle for land and to abolish the coloured label. I also found the importance of Land in the formation and maintenance of an identity. Here, I argue that, because KhoiSan people have lost their land, they have lost their identity. In sum, this dissertation looks at how Identity shapes resistance and how resistance in turn shapes Identity.
M.A. (Sociology)