This article was downloaded by: [Akdeniz Universitesi]On: 15 October 2014, At: 20:10Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKJournal of Southern African StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjss20Ethnic euphemisms and racial echoesSaul Dubow aa School of African and Asian Studies , University of SussexPublished online: 24 Feb 2007.To cite this article: Saul Dubow (1994) Ethnic euphemisms and racial echoes, Journal ofSouthern African Studies, 20:3, 355-370, DOI: 10.1080/03057079408708407To link to this article:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057079408708407PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLETaylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (theContent) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms& Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditionsJournalofSouthernAfricanStudies,Volume20,Number3,September1994355Ethnic Euphemismsand Racial Echoes1SAULDUBOW(School ofAfricanand AsianStudies, UniversityofSussex)Thewayin whichthe word'race'hasacquiredthe obsceneconnotationswhichsurroundedtheword'sex'duringthelastthreedecadesofthe19thcenturydeservestheattentionofsocialpsychologistsbutwearestuckwiththefactthatis howthingsare.Theeuphemism'ethnicity'isaharmless,decontaminated,wordwhichissonewthatitdoesnotevenappearinthedic-tionarysoIdaresaywecangetalongwithit.Butyouallneedtorememberthatyourowninnerprejudiceswillnotdisappearjustbecauseyougivethemnewnames-EdmundLeach,1983.2This is a landwhereeuphemismhas long been,like war,an extensionof policyby othermeans-ChristopherHope,1993.3IntroductionThereare manyreasonswhythe questionofethnicityand identityhas forceditselfonto thepoliticalandintellectualagendaoflate.Inthefirstplace,thecollapseofcommunism,theensuingupsurgeofnationalistconflictinEasternEurope,andtheincreasingvisibilityofracism in the West, has given a new and urgent focusto problems of race, nation and identity.Within the academicworld,these developmentshave helpedto precipitatea bewilderingstateof'paradigmslost.'Mostnotably,thestrengthsofmaterialistanalysis-bothasananalyticalanda practical programme-havebeenseverelyfractured.Ethnicity,which,likenationalism,hasoftenbeenseenbymarxistsasaformofirrationalfalseconsciousness,cannotanylongerbeexplainedawayorignoredinthisway.Itiswithusinoneformoranotherandwethereforehave to attempttounderstanditsworkings.Thenewworlddisorderhasalsohelpedto removesomeofthestigmasassociatedwithethnicityor'tribalism'intheAfricancontext.EventsintheformerYugoslaviahave,para-doxically, helpedto naturalisethe idea ofethnicconflict;the horrorofethniccleansing is asalutaryreminderthatethnicortribalparticularismisnotespeciallyanAfricanproblem.Secondly,thefashionable(andproblematic)riseofvariantsofpost-modernthoughthasalsohelpedtofreeuptheintellectualandpoliticallogjaminpotentiallycreativeways.Familiarcategoriesofanalysisbasedonnotionsofrationalismandprogressarein-creasinglytreatedwithscepticismordisdain.Thereisalsoagreaterresistancetotake1IamgratefultomycolleaguesRichardBrown,RalphGrillo,HilarySapire,andJockStirratwhomadeanumberofusefulsuggestionsduringthepreparationofthispaper.FurthervaluablecommentsweremadebyAndrdu Toitata seminarintheUCTpoliticalsciencedepartmentin June1993.2EdmundLeachopening conferenceon'Biosocial Aspectsof EthnicMinorities',in Journalof 'BiosocialScienceSupplement8 (1983),p.1.3ChristopherHope,'MovingTargets',TheGuardian(12 February1993).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 356JournalofSouthernAfricanStudiesforgrantedestablishedsocialcategories,includingthoseofraceandclass. Moreandmoreweseeanemphasisintheacademicliteratureontheambiguous,contingent,andmultiplenatureofhumanidentity.Thirdly, and more specificto our present concerns, the dissolutionof apartheid'spoliticaland intellectualstranglehold permits us to approach the study of ethnicity in a somewhat lesschargedatmosphere. The conveningof a conferencein South Africaon ethnicityand nation-alism, as well as the broad range and background of its participants, is itself testimonyto thiswelcomedevelopment.It would be a mistake, however, to forget justwhy ethnicityhas beensuch a loadedwordinSouthAfrica.Unlikeothersocietieswhereethnicidentitieshavebeeneasilyassertedbygroupsfightingagainsttheoppressionofacentralstateorpowerfulmajority,ethnicparticularisminSouthAfricahasbeenoverwhelminglyrejectedbythemainstreamlibera-tionmovement.ThemostobviousreasonforthisistheundeniablefactthatethnicityhasbeenusedinSouthAfricainitiallyasatoolofcolonisationand,mostforcefullybytheapartheidstate, as a meansofsecuring politicaldivisionand exploitation.On accountofthecrude impositionof ethnic, national,and culturalidentities by the Nationalistgovernment,ithas been extremelydifficultforoppositionalgroups(withthe possible exceptionofInkatha)toacceptorevenappropriatethevocabularyofethnicity.4The ANC,withitspowerfullyuniversalistoppositionalideologyanditscommitmenttocommoncitizenship,hasfounditdifficultto adjustto present circumstances in which multiple ethnic identities orsubjectivitiesareincreasinglyasserted.Whetheritisnowpossibletoexerciseclaimstoethnicidentitywithouttendingtochauvinismor exclusivity,isstillverymuchanopenquestion.'Ethnicity'and'Race'Onaccountofitscapacitytoredefine,absorb,anddissolveproblematicconceptslikeraceandclass,ethnicityhasbeenreferredtobyonewriterasasortofintellectual'lightningrod'.5Like many portmanteauwords'ethnic'or'ethnicity'canserve as a euphemisticsub-stitute forotherappellations. The word'ethnic' functionslike a wild-cardwhichcanreadilybe inserted into a string of related concepts. For instance, ethnic serves as a mediating link inthe evolutionistsequence by which'tribes'supposedlybecome'nations'. It also functionsasasurrogate term for'race'in the cluster of concepts whichconnects'race'with'nation'and'culture'.InSouthAfrica,thetermethnichasacquiredparticularsortsofmeaningsandassociationsthatareheavilycontext-dependent.Ethnicis,forexample,variouslysynony-mouswithwordslikepopulationgroup, tribe, nation,volk,andrace.Unlikeatermsuchassocialclasswhichhasarelativelywell-definedanalyticalmean-ing, the conceptof ethnicityis farmore diffuseand unclear. For thesake of convenience, itspercolationinto South Africanintellectualand politicaldiscoursecan bestudiedbytreatingitsdevelopmentintermsofaseriesofdistincthistoricalmoments.'Ethnic'firstmadeitsappearanceinSouthAfricaasanalternativetobiologicalnotionsofraceduringthelate-1930s and1940s. A second phase may be identifiedfromthe late-1960sand1970s, when theethnic idea was introduced in conjunctionwith theories of political pluralismlargelyderivedfromscholars based in the United States. Thisstrandofthoughtgainedadherentsamongstanumberofkeyliberalandconservativepoliticalscientistswhoseadvocacyof4See,forexample,LionelForman'sATrumpet fromtheHousetops(LondonandCapeTown,1992)whichdiscussesthecontroversyoverthe'nationalquestion' withinthe ANC-SACPalliance duringthe1950s.5BracketteF. Williams,'AClassAct:AnthropologyandtheRacetoNationacrossEthnicTerrain',AnnualReviewof Anthropology18 (1989), pp. 401-2.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes357consociationalismorfederalismhassincemadeitswayontothepresentSouthAfricanpo-litical agenda. The most recentstrain of interestin ethnicityhas its immediate provenance inthe1980s with the insistence (especiallyby historiansand anthropologists)that ethnicity,farfrombeingaprimordialphenomenon,isinsteadanhistoricallycreatedideologicalcon-struct. It is with the competing claims of the ethnic idea in its second and third phase that wearenowconfronted-bothpoliticallyandintellectually.ThefirstdeliberateuseofthewordinitsmodernsensethatIamawareofoccursinabook co-authoredin1935 by the Cambridge anthropologist, A. C. Haddon, and the biologist,JulianHuxley, entitledWe Europeans: AStudy of'Racial' Problems. Thiswork representsasignificantlandmarkinthecritiqueofthedominantinter-warracialparadigm.Itwascon-ceived in the context of the rise of European fascismas an explicit rejectionof the biologicalmeaningofrace. Inattackingthe'lamentableconfusionbetweentheideasofrace, culture,andnation'thenprevalentinbiologicalandanthropologicalthought,HuxleyandHaddonthereforeproposedtoavoidtheword'race'andtouseinsteadtheterm'ethnicgroup'or'people'.6What Huxley and Haddon referredto as the'pseudo science'of race was, until the1930s,an orthodoxyin social, scientific,and popular thought. The history of this racial paradigmisenormouslycomplexandthereisnospacetoelaborateuponitscentraltenetshere.How-ever,a numberofcorefeaturesshouldbeidentified:1) thebeliefthatculture,language,ornationcouldbeexplainedintermsofbiologicalrace;2)anobsessivedesiretoclassifyhumansalongtypologicallines; and3) theeffortto rankdifferenthuman'types' onascaleofrisingbiological,moral,andaestheticworth.Fromthemid-1930sthevalidityofraceasascientificconceptwasincreasinglychal-lengedbyliberalSouthAfricanacademics.In1936thepsychologist,I.D.MacCrone,at-tackedthedogmasofinnatementalorracialcapacityasunscientific.CitingtheworkofanthropologistslikeBronislawMalinowskiandMargaretMead,MacCronesuggestedthattheideaof'groupdifferences'shouldbesubstitutedforthe'problemofracedifferences'.Suchdifferences,heargued,oughttobeanalysedinculturalorpsycho-socialtermsbylookingatattitudesandbehaviour.7Some yearslater, MacCroneextendedthis critiqueand,echoingthesuggestionofHuxleyandHaddoninWe Europeans,advocatedbanishingtheword'race'infavourof'somesuchphraseas"ethniccultural"todescribethosegroupsinwhichbiologicalandculturalgroupdifferencescoincidewithoneanother'.8In1943, thesocialanthropologist,HildaKuper,deliveredatellingattackoncommon'racialmyths'.Referringtosomeofthelatestoverseasanti-racistliterature(suchasRuthBenedict's Race and Racism,Jacques Barzun's Race,and Huxleyand Haddon'sWe Europe-ans)Kuperarguedthatwhites, blacks,andcolouredswereallpartofthesamespeciesandthattherewasnoscientificevidencethatphysicaldifferenceshadanybearingonculturewhatsoever. In her effortto divorce the notion of culture fromrace, Kuper slipped in the term'ethnic'asanalternative -thoughwithoutexplanationordefinition.9TheWitwatersrand6J.S. Huxleyand A. C. Haddon,We Europeans: A Surveyof'Racial'Problems (London,1935), pp.107, 108,164-5.7I. D. MacCrone,'TheProblem ofRace Differences',South AfricanJournalof Science23 (1936), pp.104-5.8I.D.MacCrone,'RaceAttitudes:AnAnalysisandInterpretation,'inE.Hellman(ed),HandbookonRaceRelations(Oxford,1949), p. 680.9H.Kuper,'TheUniformofColourinSwaziland',AfricanStudies2(1943), p.107. Kupercameclosertoadefinitionof ethnic in her article'Social Anthropologyas a Studyof Culture Contacts', South AfricanJournalof Science 41 (1944/5), p. 90: 'It is necessary to emphasise that contact takes place between peoples of similar,as wellas ofdifferent,ethnic origin. BeforeEuropeansarrivedin Africaor America, the tribes of thosecoun-tries were borrowingfromand influencingeach other. Similar ethnic origindid not engendersimilarciviliza-tionorculture,anditisinterestingtonoticethatethnicsimilarityordifferenceisbutoneofmanyfactorsaffectingthe receptivityofpeople toinnovations'.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 358Journal of Southern African StudiesUniversitysociologist,JohnGray,likewiseintroducedtheterm'ethnic'asasubstitutefor'race'atthistime.Ina chapterhecontributedtoE.H.Cluver'stextbookonpublichealth,Graysupportedthe idea ofsocialisedmedicineand criticisedeugenicistsforminimisingthecontributionthatsocialimprovementscouldmaketo'organicwell-being'.10These early examples of the usage ofethnic were indicativeofaconscious -iftheoreti-callyundeveloped-efforttochallengethemeaningofbiologicalraceanditsrelatedas-sumptions. It was the intentionofwriterslikeKuper, MacCrone, and Grayin usingthe termethnic to downplaythe importance of heredityas a constitutive elementof humanbehaviourandtostressinsteadtheagencyofcultureandtheenvironment.Kuper'sworkinparticularreflectswidereffortsbysocialanthropologistsinthe1930sto freetheideaofculturefromthedeterministicassociationsofrace.IfthebrilliantlywittyandtellingspeechofthecommunistMP,SamKahn,ontheso-calledimmoralitybillisanythingtogoby,thisobjectivewasdulyreflectedinthewiderpoliticalarena.Speakingon the occasionofthe bill'ssecond readingin1949, Kahnreferredtotheproposedlegislationas'anillicitunionbetweenracialsuperstitionandbiologicalignorance'. He condemned'pseudo-biological phantasies about racial purity' and pronouncedhimselfwhollyunwillingto'subscribetotheethnicarrogancewhichappearstodominatetheGovernmentbenchestoday'.11Theuseofethnicasanalternativetoracewasdouble-edged.Incertaincontextsitim-pliedadeliberaterejectionofthesalienceofrace.However,asabridgebetweenraceandculture it could also be employedas a means of straddlingthese concepts, thereby helpingtopreserveessentialistconceptions-albeit indisguisedform.Beforegoingon to developthisargument more closely, it may be usefulto draw an analogy with the differentways in whichthe ideaofculturewasemployedininterwarSouthAfrica.Ethnicity andCulturalRelativismI have arguedelsewherethatthe relativistconceptionofculturein its modernanthropologi-calsensehadanimportantinfluenceontheframingofsegregationistdiscourseinSouthAfricaduringthe1920sand1930s.12Viewedasadynamicprocess, the conceptofcultureofferedanescapefromthenineteenthcenturyevolutionistassumptionswhichunderwroteracialdeterminismas wellas liberaluniversalism. Assuch, theideaof'culturaladaptation'provedamenabletoappropriationbytheintellectualtheoristsofpoliticalsegregation:itappearedtoofferareadycompromisebetweenadvocatesofracialrepressionontheonehand, and proponentsofold-style liberalassimilationismon the other. In the terms ofsegre-gationistdiscourse,culturerepresenteda meansofinsistingondifference -crucially,with-out the needto definepreciselyonwhatgroundsthat differencewaspredicated,orwhethersuchdifferencewaslikelyto betemporaryorpermanent.Intheapartheiderauseofthetermethnicbecameincreasinglypopularasasynonym,variously, forwords like culture, population group, volk, nation, and so on. It is not preciselyclearwhenthewordethnicwasfirstimportedintothevocabularyofChristian-nationalismorhowitbecamefullyembeddedinapartheiddiscourse.MartinWestpointsoutthatthe10J. Gray,'MedicalSociologyandSociologicalMedicine',in E. H. Cluver(ed), PublicHealthin SouthAfrica,4thedn.(Johannesburg,1944), pp. 322, 324, 329.11Houseof AssemblyDebates,vol. 68 (1949), cols. 6414, 6416.12S. Dubow,'Race, Civilisationand Culture: The elaborationof segregationistdiscourse in the inter-war years',inS.MarksandS.Trapido(eds),ThePoliticsofRace,Class,andNationalisminTwentiethCenturySouthAfrica(Harlow,1987).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes359termmadeasignificantappearanceinSection5ofthe1950PopulationRegistrationActwhichempoweredthe Governor-Generalto'prescribeanddefinetheethnicor othergroupsinto which coloured persons and nativesshall be classified.'13J. D.(Koot) Vorster, one of theconservativehighpriestsofChristian-nationalism,usedthetermetnieseinthetitleofanimportantarticlein1961.14Itseemslikelythatitwasthroughthe1960s -especiallyintheprocessofallocatingnationalgroupstotheirappropriatebantustans-thatthetermenteredintowhathassince becomecurrentusage.JohnSharphasexploredthecentralityoftheconceptof'ethnos'inthePretoria-basedschool ofvolkekundiges led by P. J. Coertze. Within this conception, each ethnos is regardedasadistinctiveentityconstitutedbytherelationshipwhichexistsbetweenapeople(volk)andtheirculture.15Eachethnos is investedwithstronglyprimordialqualitiesand, ina tele-ological fashion, becomes imbued with its own distinctive mission or calling. Emile BoonzaierpointsoutthatalthoughCoertzetakescaretodistinguishbetweenraceasa biologicalandvolk as a socio-culturalphenomenon,physical featuresenter into his understandingofvolk.Thisambiguityisa centralfeatureofChristian-nationalthoughtanditisalsocharacteristicofthewaysinwhich ethnicis oftendefined.16BoththeKuperianlanguageofdiversityandtheorganic-romanticnotionofvolkderiv-ingfromJ.G.Herderprovedconducivetotheaffirmationofadistinctivekindofculturalrelativism.Idealistnotionsofnation,volk,andculturewerecastinaquasi-mysticalidiomwhichallowedthetheoristsofChristian-nationalismtodispensewith-forthemostpart-full-blownracist explanationsof human difference.Biologicalnotionsof race were not nec-essarily repudiated; rather theywere incorporatedwithina formofculturalessentialismthatencouraged the articulation of human differencewithout explicit recourse to arguments basedonbiologicaldeterminism.Inthiscontext,theideaofethnicity,combiningasenseofpri-mordialaffiliation,biologicaldescent, and cultural identity, was easily understoodandinter-nalised.17Itisstrikinghowreadilythetermethnichasbeenusedasawayoutofimprisoningconceptssuchasvolk.ForliberalAfrikanerdissidentsinthe1970sthenotionofethnicitywas embraced as a means of dispensingwith the oppressive connotationsof volk -similarly,perhaps, to the way ethnic wasadopted by an earliergenerationofliberalacademicsinsteadofrace.Thishelpsto explainwhy,in1978, theStellenboschphilosopherJohanDegenaarcalledforthedmystificationoftheconceptofvolkandtheintroductioninitsplaceofethnicityasamoremeaningfulscientificconcept.1813M.West,'ConfusingCategories:PopulationGroups,NationalStates,andCitizenship',inJ.SharpandE.Boonzaier(eds), South AfricanKeywords:TheUses and Abusesof PoliticalConcepts(Cape Town,1988), p.102; E. H. Brookes, Apartheid:A DocumentaryStudyof ModernSouth Africa(London,1968), p.19.14J. D. Vorster,'Etniese Verskeidenheid,Kerklike Pluriformiteiten die Ekumene', Grense (Stellenbosch,1961).15J.Sharp,'CanWeStudyEthnicity?:A CritiqueofFieldsofStudyinSouthAfricanAnthropology',SocialDynamics6,1 (1980), p. 3.16E.Boonzaier,'"Race" andtheRaceParadigm',inE. BoonzaierandJ.Sharp(eds),South AfricanKeywords(Cape Town,1988), p. 64.17Theideasglossedinthisparagraphhavebeenarguedindetailinmyrecentarticle'AfrikanerNationalism,Apartheid,and the Conceptualizationof"Race"', in Journalof AfricanHistory33, (1992). There arefascinat-ing parallels between Afrikanernationalistand Soviet ethnos theory, in particular the tension between biologi-cal and culturalist/mysticaldefinitionsof ethnicity. See Irina Filatova,'Soviet Concepts of Ethnicity: Interpre-tationofthe dogma',Southern AfricaResearchProgramseminar,Yale University,23 January1991.18Citedin H. Adamand H. Giliomee, Ethnic Power Mobilized:Can South AfricaChange ? (New Haven,1979),p. 66. Degenaarargued:'To arriveat a new approach the Afrikanerwill have to relativisethe concept ofvolk.Theshiftfrom Afrikanernationalismto enlightenedpluralismwouldthen become possible' . And:'A demys-tificationof theconceptofvolkand the introductionof themorescientificconceptofethnicitywhichshouldbeassessedrealisticallyinsteadofeitherbeingignoredordeified,isnecessary'.J.Degenaar, AfrikanerNa-tionalism,OccasionalPaper no.1, CentreforIntergroupStudies, UCT (1978), pp. 31, 39.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 360JournalofSouthernAfricanStudiesThe notion of ethnicityhas also beenseized upon withalacrity by the government.In theconfuseddiscourse of the late-apartheidera the concept has served as a convenientsurrogatetermforvolkor race, ofteninan attemptto persuadeinternationalaudiencesofthevalidityofreform.DuringF. W.deKlerk'svisittoBritaininNovember1992 hedeniedinaBBCinterviewthat issues of race had anythingto do with the constitutionalimpasse:'No, we arenottalkingaboutracialminorities;wearetalkingaboutvaluesandculture'.19In onesensethis response reflectsa diplomaticsensitivityto the post-war internationalrejectionof racistterminology. But it was also calculatedto strikea reassuringnote withde Klerk'sfragment-ing constituencyat home, which mightstill relate to the old romanticconceptionof the volkas transcendent'essence,'thoughnowrecastintheidiomof'ethnicgroups'.It seems plausible to argue, therefore,that the ideological labour performedbyChristian-nationalist theorists fromthe1930s and1940s onwards, prepared the way for the later under-standingofethnicity.StandardChristian-nationaldefinitionsofvolkandnationmakefre-quent -ifoblique -referencesto ancestry, blood,or physicaltype, thoughwithoutstressingthesalienceofsuchcriteria.Physicalcharacteristicsareneverthelesspresentedasvisible,commonsense,and undeniable indicatorsof culturalspecificity-in much thesame waythatendogamyor commondescentis routinelycitedas keymarkersofethnicidentity.20Ethnic PluralismLeavingasidetheworkofthevolkekundesandtheplaceofethnicityinChristian-nationalthought, the firstconcerted effortsto introduce ethnicityas an appropriate analyticalconceptforthe understandingof South Africanconditionsdate fromthe late1960s. This usage of theconceptofethnicitywaslargelyassociatedwiththeideaofpluralismdevelopedbyLeoKuper,M.G.Smith,andPierrevandenBerghe.TheconceptofpluralismwasderivedoriginallyfromJ. S.Furnivall'sColonial Policy andPractice(1948). Thispioneeringcom-parativestudy of Burma and Indonesiasought to provide a frameworkfortheunderstandingof(tropical)colonialsocietiesinwhichdifferentcommunities,dividedalonglinesoflan-guage, culture, and religion, were saidto coexistin an uneasystate ofseparation,experienc-ingintegrationonlyintheartificiallyimposedcontextofasharedeconomicandpoliticalsystem.AsformulatedbytheanthropologistM.G.Smithinthe1960s,pluralismwasameansofunderstandingconflictin' asocialstructurecharacterizedbyfundamentaldiscontinuitiesandcleavages,andaculturalcomplexbasedonsystematicinstitutionaldi-versity'.21Theideaofethnicgroupsfittedineasilywithintheconceptofpluralism,asisapparentfromLeoKuper'sfacileusageofthetermethnicinseveralofhisdiscussions.Forinstance,inKuper's1969paper'EthnicandRacialPluralism',thewordisauto-maticallycoupledwith race, thoughwithoutbeing meaningfullydistinguishedfromit. Con-versely, in his1977 studyofgenocidalconflictbetweenHutuand Tutsi inRwanda/Burundi,ethnicissimplyusedasasubstitutefortribe.22A similartendencyto runtogetherconcepts19JeremyPaxmaninterviewingPresidentdeKlerkon Newsnight(16 November1992).20Consider,forexample,thedefinitionarrivedatbyNicRhoodieinhis1985surveyofthemodernethnicparadigm. On the one hand he insisted that race and ethnicity should not be confused,even if both were treatedas subjectivesocial constructs. But he nonetheless insisted that physical characteristics were importantfactorsin the creation of ethnic identities. N. J. Rhoodie, Die ModerneEtniese Problematiek,HSRC OccasionalPaperno. 24, Pretoria(1985), pp. 26-34.21L.Kuperand M. G. Smith, Pluralismin Africa(Berkeleyand Los Angeles,1969), p. 27; J. S. Furnivall, Colo-nial PolicyandPractice: AComparativeStudyof Burmaand Netherlandsindia(Cambridge,1948), chap. 8.22Ibid., chap.14; L. Kuper,The Pity of it All:Polarisationof Racialand EthnicRelations(London,1977).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes361ofrace,culture,andethnicitywithoutfullexplanationisalsoevidentinSimonBekker's1974 doctoraldissertationonthetheoryofpluralism.23Otherswritingin the pluralisttraditionattemptedto be more rigorousin theirusage. M.G.Smith'sdefinition,thoughnotquitethesameasrace,neverthelessgaveconsiderableweighttothenotionofbiologicalinheritance.Forhim,ethnicitydenoted'commonprovenienceanddistinctnessasa unitofsocialandbiologicalreproduction;itaccordinglyconnotesinternaluniformitiesandexternaldistinctnessofbiologicalstock,perhapsoflan-guage, kinship,culture,cult,andotherinstitutions'.24PierrevandenBerghe,anotherprominenttheoristofpluralism,alsoattemptedtogivethetermethnicgreateranalyticalprecision.Inhisoftencited(andfrequentlycriticised)1965workSouthAfrica:AStudyinConflict,thetermethnicisbarelyused.Nordoesitappearintheindex. Bycontrast,inRaceandRacism(1967)vandenBergheaddressestherelationshipofracetoethnicityinexplicittheoreticalterms. HerevandenBerghesetsoutfourhistoricallydifferentconnotationsofthe term race and identifieshimselfwith themod-erndefinitionwherebyraceisseentoreferto'agroupthatissociallydefinedbutonthebasisofphysicalcriteria'.However,vandenBerghenotes,too,thatthetermraceisoftenappliedin popular usage to describe a human group which'sharedcertain culturalcharacter-istics such as language or religion'. Van den Berghe considers that this sense of the word racewouldbemoreappropriatelycoveredby'ethnicgroup'or'ethnicity'.Inotherwords,al-though ethnic groups and races are both sociallydefined,the formerare definedon the basisofculturalcriteria,whereasthe latteraredefinedonthe basisof physicalcriteria.(Van denBerghe acknowledges, however, that in practice race and ethnicity continue to be confused).25Thisdefinition,whichseesethnicityasasocialconstructratherthanapreexistingorobjectivecategory,wasreinforcedbycontemporaneousdevelopmentsinsocialanthropol-ogy. ThewordethnicdidnotenterthevocabularyofBritishsocialanthropologyuntilthelate1960sbecauseofitsassociationwiththeproblematicnotionoftribe.26Thisbegantochange, however, following the publication of Fredrik Barth's edited collection Ethnic Groupsand Boundaries(1969). Barth was anxious to explain the formationand persistence of ethnicgroups.Hearguedthatethnicdistinctionswerecreatedandmaintainedasaresult,ratherthanintheabsence,ofsocialinteraction.Mostimportantly,hedefinedethnicgroups'ascategoriesofascriptionandidentificationbytheactorsthemselves'.Ethnicitythereforehadtobeseenasaformofsocialorganisationinwhichtheparticipantsthemselvesplayedaprimaryroleindeterminingandmaintainingtheiridentity.2723S. Bekker,'The Plural Society and the Problem of Order', Ph.D thesis, University of Cape Town,1974. Bekker'sefforttodefineraceandethnicscarcelyclarifieshisusage:'A raceisunderstoodtorefertoanethnicgroupwhichis, in part, distinguishedandidentifiedin termsof(purported)physicaldifferencesof its members', p.49.24Kuperand Smith, Pluralismin Africa,pp.103-4.25P. vandenBerghe, RaceandRacism:AComparativePerspective,1st edn.(NewYork,1967), pp. 9-10.Seealso P. van denBerghe, RaceandEthnicity(New York,1970), p.10.26I owe this point to my colleague, RalphGrillo. See also P. H.Gulliver,'Introduction',in P. H. Gulliver, Tradi-tion andTransition in East Africa(London,1969), fn.1, p. 37, which cites Peter Lloyd's1967 observationthat'ethnicity'wasnotincolloquialusageinEnglish-speakingWestAfrica.PeterEkehhasrecentlynotedthat'while tribalismseems now abandonedin academicscholarshipin Africanstudies- with some proposingandindeed using'ethnicity' as its replacement- paradoxically, the use of the term tribalism is enjoyingan unprec-edentedboomnotonlyineverdayinteractionsamongordinaryAfricansbutmoreespeciallyamonghigh-rankingAfricansingovernmentanduniversityadministrations'.P. P. Ekeh,'SocialAnthropologyandTwoContrastingUsesof Tribalismin Africa',ComparativeStudiesin SocietyandHistory32, 4(1990), p. 661.27F. Barth,'Introduction'toEthnicGroupsandBoundaries:TheSocialOrganizationofCultureDifference(Bergen-OsloandLondon,1969). My colleague, JockStirrat,pointsout thatEdmundLeachinPoliticalSys-tems of HighlandBurma(London,1954) analysedthe myth of the'unitsociety'and demonstratedthatethnicidentitieswereshiftingcategories.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 362JournalofSouthernAfricanStudiesTheconceptofethnicitywasfirmlyinstalledinthevocabularyofBritishsocialanthro-pologyfollowingthe1971meetingofitsprofessionalassociationwhichconvenedaroundthe theme of'urbanethnicity'. The proceedingsof this conferenceweresubsequentlyeditedbyAbnerCohenandpublishedin1974.28CohenwasevenmoreconcernedthanBarthtoasserttheplasticityofethnicaffiliationsandtodenydefinitionswhichvieweditas'anessentiallyinnate predisposition'.He was at pains to emphasise ethnicity as a dynamicinter-active process, reflectingsocial cleavagesand material competition. Ethnicitywasthereforelikelyto manifestitself-incontradistinctionto theexpectationsofmodernisationtheorists-especiallysharplyinthecontextofmodernurbanexistence.29InthisconnectionCohenwasstronglyinfluencedbyGlazerandMoynihan'sobservationinBeyondthe MeltingPot(1963)ofthe continuingsalienceofethnicconstituenciesin NewYork, a viewwhichchal-lengedthegeneralassumptionthatethnicitywouldbesubsumedwithina commonAmeri-canculture.30ThestressplacedbyBarthandCohenonethnicityasa subjectiveprocessratherthanastatic,primordialentity,openedupseveralimportantnewlinesofenquiry.Thisconceptualisationwas not without precedent. The work of J. Clyde Mitchelland Bill EpsteinontheZambiancopperbeltinthe1950s, forexample,haddemonstratedthat'tribalism'inthe urban context was not merely a primitive hangover from time immemorial. Rather,'tribal'affiliationswereactivatedtoasignificantextentasnewlyurbanisedpopulationscompetedfor resourcesand sought to createsupportivesocialstructuresto whichtheycouldbelong.31This circumstantialor situationalapproachto the understandingof urban identity did nothave animmediateimpactinSouth Africa-thoughthe workofPhilip Mayerstandsout asanexception.Inhis1974studyofthe perceptionsofSowetanresidents,Mayerarguedthatethnic and tribal formsof affiliationwere on the decline. Such formsof identity were rapidlygivingwaytotheemergenceofclassconsciousnessandarisingsenseofblacksolidarity.But,despitehisownevidence,Mayerdidnotdiscountthepossibilityofanethnicrevival.NotingtheworkofwriterslikeBarth,Cohen,Mitchell,andEpstein,heacknowledgedthatresidualfeelingsofethnicallegiancecouldbeexploited, justashadoccurredinpost-colo-nial Africa.Indeed, Mayer displayed considerable prescience in speculatingthat,'one day inthe future,inan independentSoweto, thenumericallypreponderantZuluspeakersmightbetemptedto useethnicityina bidforpower'.32Mayer's anthropologically-influencedunderstanding of ethnicity appears to have remainedoutsidethetrendofmainstreamdiscussionsduringthe1970s.Instead,thedominantfocuswas developing,throughthe ideaof pluralism,into the vexedissue ofwhetherSouthAfricashouldbestbeunderstoodintermsofclassorrace.Asearlyas1969BernardMagubanemountedastrongcritiqueofpluralism(and'tribalism')foritslackofhistoricaldimen-sionandforneglectingthesocialand economicbasisofsocialcleavageinsociety.This28A.Cohen,Urban Ethnicity(London,1974).Cohensetouthisviewsonethnicityafewyearsearlierinhismonograph Custom and Politicsin Urban Africa: A Study of Hausa Migrantsin Yoruba Towns (London,1969).There he set about to discuss'the processes by which, under certainstructural circumstances,an ethnicgroupmanipulatessomevalues,norms,beliefs,symbols,andceremonialsfromitstraditionalcultureinordertodevelopaninformalpoliticalorganizationwhichitusesasaweaponinitsstruggleforpowerwithothergroups,withinthe contemporarysituation'(preface,p.ix).29Ibid.,'Introduction',pp. xi,xii.30Cohen, Custom and Politicsin Urban Africa,pp.191-2; pp.209-10. Glazer and Moynihan, Beyondthe Melt-ing Pot(Cambridge, Mass.,1963).31J. C. Mitchell, The KalelaDance(Manchester,1956); A. L. Epstein, Politicsin anUrban AfricanCommunity(Manchester,1958). See also P. H. Gulliver,Tradition andTransitionin East Africa(London,1969).32P. Mayer,'Class, Status and Ethnicityas Perceivedby Johannesburg Africans',in L. Thompsonand J.Butler,Changein Contemporary Africa(Berkeley, Los Angeles,andLondon,1975), p.154.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 Ethnie Euphemisms and Racial Echoes363lineofattackwasdevelopedfurthera coupleofyearslater by MartinLegassick,oneoftheleadingexponentsofmarxist'revisionism'.Legassickquestionedthecapacityofpluralistexplanationsto explainthedynamicsofsocialdivision.He criticisedLeoKuperinparticu-larforassuming(followingCliffordGeertz)thatcategorieslikeraceandethnicityweremorelikelysourcesof'primordialsentiment'or'totalidentities',thaneconomicclasses.Theconceptofclass,Legassickargued,wasthecrucialmissingelementinthepluralistperspective.33AstheradicalormaterialistunderstandingofSouthAfricansocietygatheredforcedur-ing the1970s the question of ethnicitywas increasinglyallied with liberal pluralism. Ethnic-itywasnownotonlydiscreditedbecauseofitsassociationwith'tribalism'andapartheidtheory;itwasalsoconsideredsuspectonaccountoftheemphasisaccordeditbyliberalreformists-whowereseenasapologistsforthecontinuedexistenceofcapitalistformsofexploitation.Thissuspicioniseasytounderstand.ManypluralistspositionedthemselvesawkwardlybetweenwhattheysawastheexclusiveclaimsofAfrikanerand Africannationalistsontheonehand,andtheclaimsofmarxistsontheother.Tothediscomfortofliberals,forward-lookingelementswithintheNationalistgovernmentwerehappy,eveneager,toincorporatenotionsofethnicityandpluralismsoasto buttressthefast-erodinglegitimacyofapartheid.(A particularlyglaringexampleis providedby the absurdrenamingfora briefperiodoftheDepartmentofBantuAffairsasthe DepartmentofPluralRelations).Theappropriationofthelanguageofethnicpluralismbyreformistelementswithintheapartheidstate can be seen to have been prefiguredin the discussions of the Study Project onChristianityinApartheidSociety(SPRO-CAS)from1969-71.Thepoliticalreportwhichitproducedin1973-andwhichstandsasanotablestatementofradicalChristian-inspiredoppositiontoapartheid-madea fundamentaldistinctionbetweentwopossiblecoursesofactioninthetransitiontowardsamulti-racialSouthAfrica:ontheonehand,theliberalconceptionofthe CommonSociety, on the other,the'PluralStates'option. One ofthe mostassiduousadvocatesofthe latterapproachwas the conservativepoliticalscientist,DrDenisWorrall,whomaintainedthatpluralismwascompatiblewithliberaldemocraticvaluesandthatitrepresentedtheonlypragmaticmeansofinfluencingthegovernmentinapositivedirection.SPRO-CASgaveseriousconsiderationto pluralism but ultimatelydistanceditselffromthis option on account of the evasiveness and ambiguity in the pluralist notion of powersharing.'Inshort',itasked,'isthe'pluralstate(s)'systemintendedasanalternativetodomination,ordoesitseektocontinueandentrenchdominationinamoresophisticatedway'?ThisrhetoricalquestionwaseloquentlyansweredwhenWorralllefttheacademicworldin1974 to jointhe NationalParty. As chairmanof the constitutionalcommitteeofthePresident'sCounciland,later,astheSouthAfricanambassadortoLondon,hebecameaneffectiveandunashamedapologistforthereformistinitiativesoftheBothagovernment.34In the post-1976era when the seriousnessof the South Africancrisis becameapparent toall, liberal,andconservativepoliticalscientiststurnedincreasinglyto theliteratureoneth-nicityemanatingespeciallyfromtheUnitedStates.OfparticularinteresttoadvocatesofpowersharingwasNathanGlazer'sandDanielMoynihan'sdiscoveryofethnicityas33B. Magubane,'PluralismandConflictSituationsin Africa:A NewLook',AfricanSocialResearch7(1969);M. Legassick,'The Concept of Pluralism: A Critique', in C.W. Gutkindand P. Waterman, AfricanSocial Stud-ies: A Radical Reader(London,1977), p. 47. See also Kuper and Smith, Pluralismin Africa,p. 460. Legassickwouldhavebeenalertedtopluralismatarelativelyearlystageashehadattendedthe1966colloquiumatUCLA whichformedthe basisofPluralisminAfrica.34P. Randall, South Africa'sPolitical Alternatives,SPRO-CAS Publication No.10 (Johannesburg,1973), pp. 76,68 ff.;D. Worrall,'The Plural-StateSystem as a Direction of Change', Directionsof Change in SouthAfricanPolitics,SPRO-CASPublicationNo. 3 (Johannesburg,1971).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 364JournalofSouthernAfricanStudies'somethingnew afootin the world', as well as Arend Lijphart'sadvocacyof'consociational'solutionstodividedpluralsocieties.35Conversely, the1973 Durbanstrikes and the events of1976 had a radicalisingeffecton anumber of influentialsociologistsand historians for whom the analysis of social class was ofcentralimportance.Withinacademicdiscourse,theargumentbetweenliberalsandradicalsfocusedincreasinglyontherelativeimportanceofclassandrace(orethnicity).Althoughtherewereattemptstoreconcilethesedifferentapproaches,36bythelate-1970sthedebatehadbecomehighlyacrimonious.In hindsight, the publicationof Heribert Adam'sacclaimed ModernizingRacialDomina-tion in1971 canbeseento haveanticipatedthedevelopingcontroversy. Adam'schiefcon-cernwastoarguethattheapartheidsystem,farfrombeingan'outdatedrelicofadyingcolonialism',mightinfactbe'oneofthemostadvancedandeffectivepatternsofrational,oligarchicdomination'.37AlthoughthethesisofModernizingRacialDominationwasnotdefinedcentrallyin termsof either race, ethnicity, or class, all these categoriesweresignifi-cantlypresent.Adamwasconsciousofsomeoftheinadequaciesofthepluralistapproachassociatedwithwriters like Kuper, Smith, and van den Berghe -in particular,their failuretointegrate the analysis of cultural rivalries with the insights of politicaleconomy. He was alsoalive to the salience of class analysisin theSouth Africansituation,though evidentlyscepti-calofmonocausalmarxistexplanations.ManyofthethemessuggestedinthisbookweredevelopedmorefullyinAdamandGiliomee'sbookEthnic Power Mobilized:Can South AfricaChange?(1979). Herewe findone ofthe mostskilfuland consideredtreatmentsofethnicityin theSouth Africanliteratureofthis period.Adam,withhis broadlyWeberianapproach,rejectedclassanalysis forbeingoverlydogmaticand incapableof coming to terms with ethnicity. But he was also critical oftheconceptofpluralism.Thiswronglyassumedthatculturaldiversitywasthemainsourceofsocietalinstabilityandsuggestedthatdominationbyaminoritygroupwasinevitablewithinpluralistsocieties.Inshort,Adamarguedthatthepluralistperspectivemistakenlytended'toreifyculturaldifferencesasiftheywereimmutable'.Ethnicconflict,heargued,hadto beseenmore centrallyin the contextofmaterialinequality.38Notably, the conceptof'ethnicmobilisation'advancedby Adamand Giliomeeservedasoneofthefirstdemonstrationsoftheimportanceofthestudyofhistory.BuildingontheworkofAbnerCohen,amongstothers,AdamandGiliomeearguedthattheresonanceofethnicidentity(withitsassociatedsymbols,emotionalforceandsenseofpsychologicalsupport) could be deployed to secure group interests and to secure collective materialadvan-tages.TheclassicinstanceofsuccessfulethnicmobilisationwasAfrikanernationalism,anditis through an historical account of this phenomenonthat Giliomee provides Adam's theoreti-caldiscussionwithempiricalsubstance.Giliomee'sdiscussionof'thegrowthofAfrikaneridentity',takeninconjunctionwithhisotherwritingsonthistheme, representsasophisti-catedaccountofpoliticisedethnicity.Itisalsosensitivetoemergingmaterialistanaly-sesofSouthAfricanhistory.Thus,althoughGiliomeedepartsincertainrespectsfrom35Glazer and Moynihan, Ethnicity:Theory and Experience(Cambridge, Mass.,1975), p. 5; A. Lijphart,Democ-racy in PluralSocieties(New Haven,1977);'Power-Sharingin South Africa',Policy PapersinInternationalAffairs,No.24 (Berkeley,1985).36For a contemporary attempt to extend the notion of pluralism so as to make it compatible with class analysis, see P.Rich,'Ideology in a Plural Society: The Case of South AfricanSegregation', Social Dynamics 1, 2 (1975).37H. Adam, ModernizingRacialDomination:The Dynamicsof South AfricanPolitics(Berkeley,1971), p.16.38H. Adamand H. Giliomee, Ethnic Power Mobilized:Can South AfricaChange?(New Haven,1979), pp. x,1-12, 42-5, 46-50.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes365theapplicationofclassanalysistotheriseofAfrikanernationalism,heisevenmorecon-cernedto distancehimselffromthe commontendencyto placeAfrikanernationalisminanarchaictime-warp.Forexample,hesummarilydismissedthewidespreadassumptionthatAfrikanershavealwaysconceivedofthemselvesasanelectpeoplewithasacredhistory.GiliomeelikewiserejectedthenotionthattheprimerationaleofAfrikanernationalismwastogiveeffecttoapartheidideology.Instead,hestressedtheideathatthekeymotivatingforcebehindAfrikanerethnicidentitywasthepromotionofAfrikanergroupinterests.Andhe acceptedthat ifthose interests were to change or to becomesubjectto new pressures, thenatureofAfrikanerethnicnationalismwouldundergoredefinitionaccordingly.39GivenGiliomee'ssensitivityto thefluidityand contingencyof Afrikanerethnicidentity,hismorerecentinsistenceontheundeniablesalienceofethnicityinthecontextofdebatesabout the nature ofa post-apartheidconstitutionalframeworkis puzzling. There is a markeddisjuncturebetweenhisviewofAfrikanerethnicityasanhistoricallyconstructedphenom-enonwhich hasundergone constantredefinition,and his retreatintoa rather moreessential-ist view of ethnicitywhen discussing the problems of constructinga unitary state. For exam-ple,intheir1989contributiontotheconstitutionaldebateGiliomeeandSchlemmertakeissuewithliberaldemocraticprescriptionswhichseektodefinecitizenshiponthebasisofindividualratherthangrouprights.Theyarguethattheassumptionsofnon-racialismaremisguidedandnaive,fortheseignorethefundamentalrealityofethnicaffiliations.40Theclearimplicationoftheiranalysisis thata futureconstitutionwouldhavetoembracesomeformofdevolutionofpoweronanethnic/minority/groupbasis.Itisdifficult,however,toenvisagehowtheirnotionof'dualnationhood'wouldtranslateinpracticeintoanythingotherthancleavagesalongprepackagedracialortriballines.TheChallengeof' Class'Ihavearguedsofarthatthegrowingprevalenceofthelanguageofethnicityduringthe1970swascloselylinkedtotheconceptionofSouthAfricaasa pluralsociety.Initsmostbasicform,theinter-group/ethnic/racerelationsparadigmofthelate1970scanbeseeninthe volumeeditedby H. W. Van der MerweandRobertSchrire entitledRaceandEthnicity:South AfricanandInternationalPerspectives(CapeTown,1980).ThecreationoftheUni-versityofCapeTownCentreforIntergroupStudiesunderwhoseauspicesthisworkwasissued,also reflectsthe pluralistethosofthistime, withits emphasisonfacilitatingcontactandunderstandingbetweendifferentethnicgroups.A moresubtleapproach,attemptingtodefinea modelofpluralismincorporatingelementsofclassanalysis, wasoutlinedbyLaw-rence Schlemmerin1977.41Likewise, thoughin a more polemicalmode, Frederick Van ZylSlabbertandDavidWelshinsistedin1979 onthesalienceofethnicityasa politicalrealityandspoke ofthe need for'powersharing'in South Africa.42Theysought,somewhatheavy-handedly, to take account of class stratificationwhile at the same time firmlyrejectingmarxistformsofanalysis.However,atatimewhenconceptualeclecticismwasdeeplyunfashion-able,suchattemptsto incorporateclassandethnicperspectiveswithina multi-factorialper-spectivefailedtogainmanyadherents.Risingsocialtension,asregisteredbytheSowetorevoltof1976, haditscounterpartinanincreasinglypolarisedclimateofacademicdebate.Thesustainedcritiqueofeth-nicpluralismmountedbyradicalscholarsduringthe1970shadtheimmediateeffectof39H. Giliomee,'TheGrowthof AfrikanerIdentity',in Adamand Giliomee, EthnicPowerMobilized.40H. GiliomeeandL. Schlemmer, From Apartheidto Nation-Building(Cape Town,1989).41L. Schlemmer,'Theoriesofthe PluralSocietyand ChangeinSouth Africa',SocialDynamics3,1 (1977).42F. Van ZylSlabbertand D. Welsh, South Africa'sOptions:Strategies forSharingPower(New York,1979).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 366JournalofSouthernAfricanStudiesdrivingthetwoapproachesintomutuallyirreconcilablepositions.Oneconsequencewasamarked tendency to oversimplifyand to present either/or positions on the relativesalience ofclassorethnicity/race.Anemphaticandpowerfulexampleofthistraditionwasdevelopedby the activist-scholar Neville Alexander who argued that theories of ethnicity had, by sleightof hand, replacedandsubsumedolder theories of race in social science discourse. Alexanderalso identifiedthe advocacyof ethnic solutions to South Africa'sproblemsas part of a calcu-latedefforttoobscuretheachievementofasinglenationandtofragmenttheobjectiveinterestsoftheworkingclass.43Alexander'scritiqueofethnicitydrewbroadlyonwhathecalledthe'newschool'ofSouthAfricanmaterialisthistoriography,andspecificallyona paperwrittenbytheanthro-pologistJohnSharpin1980whichposedthestarkquestion:'CanWeStudyEthnicity'?Sharpwasconcernedtorejecttheprimordialistassumptionswhichunderwrotetheconceptofethnicityintheworkofvolkekundigesandfunctionalistanthropologistsalike. Ineffect,heleftopentheanswertohisownquestion.Butheimpliedthatanyanalysisthattreatedethnicityas onlyone possibleformofgroup mobilisation,and that rooteditselfin anunder-standingofpoliticaleconomy,wouldbean acceptablepointofdeparture.44EthnicityHistoricisedThe critiqueofethnicitydevelopedbySharpas well as its treatmentas an historicalprocessbyGiliomee,servesasa usefulbridgeintothe1980swhenitispossibletoidentifya thirdphaseinthedevelopmentoftheethnicideainSouthAfrica.Drawingparticularlyontheinsightsofhistorians,thenewapproachcoalescedata conferenceonEthnicityandTribal-isminSouthernAfricaheldin1983attheUniversityofVirginia.Theproceedingsofthisconference,editedbyLeroyVail,werepublishedin1989asTheCreationofTribalism inSouthern Africa.Underlyingmanyofthecontributionswasa recognitionthat,incontradis-tinctionto the expectationsof manyscholars(rangingfrommarxiststo modernisationtheo-rists), expressionsoftribalism or ethnicityin post-colonial Africawere not disappearing. Onthecontrary,inmanyAfricansocietiesformsofethnicparticularismwerebeingexpressedwithever-increasingintensity.Moreover,thesesentimentswerebeingarticulatednotjustfromthemouthsofself-interestedleaders, but'frombelow'aswell. In ordertounderstandsuchexpressions,aconceptualframeworkwhichtreatedideologyasrathermorethanepi-phenomenal'falseconsciousness'hadto bedeveloped.Duringtheearly1980sBritishhistoriansandsociologistswerearrivingatsimilarcon-clusions in their attemptto makesense of nationalism. Tom Nairn, who declaredin the mid-1970s that the theoryof nationalismrepresentedmarxism's'greatest historical failure',con-ceivedofnationalismasthe'ModernJanus';standingoverthegatewaytomodernity,itprojected itself both forwards and backwards in historical time.45The work of Eric Hobsbawmand ofErnestGellneremphasisedtoo the idea that nationalismwasa relativelyrecentcrea-tion, specificallya responseto the upheavalsof the industrialage and the evolutionof mod-ernbureaucraticstates.46Intheirbroad-rangingeditedcollectionofessaysentitledThe In-vention of Tradition (1983), Eric Hobsbawm and TerenceRangerpointedto waysinwhich43N. Alexander,'Nationand Ethnicity in South Africa,and Race, Ethnicity and Nationalismin Social Science inSouthernAfrica',inSowtheWind: ContemporarySpeeches(Johannesburg,1985).SeealsoNoSizwe:OneAzania,One Nation(London,1979), pp.137-9.44Sharp,'Can We StudyEthnicity?', p.14.45T. Nairn,'TheModern Janus', inThe Breakupof Britain(London,1977), pp. 329, 348-9.46E. Hobsbawm, Nationsand NationalismSince1780 (Cambridge,1990); E. Gellner, NationsandNationalism(Oxford,1983).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes367nationalistmythologieswerehistoricallycontingentcreations.ThepublicationinthesameyearofBenedictAnderson'sImaginedCommunitiesdrewespecialattentiontothevital role playedbylanguageand the printedwordin the constructionofnationalidentities.Takentogether,the effectofsuchworkwas to sweepaside manyoftheshibbolethsthathadcausedhistorianstoavoiddealingwiththeissueofnationalismandnationalidentity.Thestudyofnationalismcouldnowinvolvedmystificationofthea-historicalandprimor-dialassumptionsunderlyingnationalistmythology.Theseinsights,appliedtothestudyofethnicityor tribalism, hada similarly liberatingeffect.In the wordsof Leroy Vail:'Ifethnicconsciousness was a product of historical experience, then its creation and elaborationwouldbea propersubjectofenquiryforhistorians.'47Importantasthisshiftinhistoricalapproachwas,itwouldbemisleadingtoexaggeratetheextentoftheconceptualbreak.Onecandetect,forexample,similarconcernswiththearousal,mobilisation,andpersistenceofethnicidentitiesinthetheoreticalworkofanthro-pologistslikeBarthorCohen,aswellasinthefieldworkofEpstein,Mitchell,andMayer.However, what is distinctive in the new approachis the shiftfromanthropologicalto histori-calconcerns: theoriginsofethnicidentitiesandthe politicaluses to whichtheycouldsub-sequentlybeput,wereplacedcentrallyontheresearchagenda.Conversely, and partly in reaction to the work of historians like Hobsbawm and Anderson,therehasalsobeenaresurgenceofinterestintheideaofethnicityasanenduringandinsome respectsa trans-historicalcategory. The influentialwork of AnthonySmith is a case inpoint. In The EthnicOrigins of Nations(1986)Smithsets out to show that ethnicityis some-thing more thansituational, and that it is not merelya fleeting or illusorymatterof time andcontext. Adopting the long historical perspective and emphasisingcontinuities in ethnic sym-bolsandmyths, Smithurgesus to'endownationsandethniccommunitieswithmorestatic"solidity"thancloserinvestigationatanypointintimemightwarrant'.48Inshort,Smith'savowedintentionistoestablisha positionbetweenwhathereferstoas'primordialists'or'perrenialists' on the one hand, and'instrumentalists'or'modernists' on the other.49In prac-tice,heseemscloserto the formerpositionthanthelatter.Atadirectlypolicy-orientedlevel,theworkofAmerican-basedpoliticalscientistslikeLijphartand DanielHorowitzhavesought to devise ethnically-basednon-majoritariansolu-tionsina post-apartheidSouthAfrica.Horowitzhasbeenparticularlyscathingaboutwhathe refersto as'thestudiedneglectofethnicitythatcharacterizescurrentdiscourseinSouthAfrica'.50HeexpressesconfidencethatethnicitywillincreasinglydominateSouthAfricanpoliticsaswhite dominationcomesto an end. And hesuggests that failureto arriveatsomeformofconstitutionalarrangementtakingintoaccountethnicandracialdivergencewillhaveapocalypticconsequencesforall.Michael MacDonald has recently observed that the power-sharing prescriptions of Lijphartand Horowitz have had a significantimpact in providing the Nationalist governmentwith anintellectualrationalisationoftheirapproachtoconstitutionalnegotiations.For,althoughHorowitz makes theoretical concessions to the circumstantialand historical nature of ethnic-ity,inpracticehetakestheexistenceofapartheid-designatedethnicgroupsforgranted.51Lijphart'sprescriptiveethniccategorisationissimilartoHorowitz'sbutaltogethermore47L. Vail (ed),The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa(Berkeley,Los Angeles, and London,1989), p.xi.48A. D. Smith,The EthnicOrigins of Nations(Oxford,1986), pp. 2-3.49Ibid., pp.8-12.50D. L. Horowitz, ADemocraticSouth Africa?ConstitutionalEngineeringin a DividedSociety(Berkeley,LosAngeles, and London,1991), p. 28; Lijphart,'Power-SharinginSouthAfrica'.51M. MacDonald,'The Siren's Song: The Political Logic of Power-sharingin South Africa', Journalof SouthernAfricanStudies18, 4 (1992).Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 368Journal of Southern African Studiescrudeinthatittakesnoaccountwhatsoeverofethnicityasaprocess;Lijphartsimplyas-sumes, paceapartheidorthodoxy,that'theAfricanscan be dividedinto tenethnicsegmentsand thewhitesinto AfrikanersandEnglish-speakers'.52Theavowedintentionofmanywriterswhoadvocatepoliticalpower-sharinginSouthAfricaistoproclaimtherealityofethnicityindefianceofacademicsandpoliticianswhohavehithertobeeninclinedtodenyitsexistence.Thispointclearlyhadtobemade.How-ever,itisonethingtoproclaimthenecessityofrecognisingthesalienceofethnicityandquiteanotherthingtoassignethnicgroupsaprimeconstitutionalroleinthecreationofanewsociety. Theethniccategoriesusedbyadvocatesofpower-sharingremaindangerouslyclose to the clumsy constructionsof apartheid's planners -whether these are offeredin orderto distinguishbetweenEnglishandAfrikaner,orXhosa,Zulu,Sotho,andsoon. Insteadoflegitimatingtheemergenceoffluidformsofethnicidentification,manyofthosewho pro-claimtheirreducibleimportanceofethnicityendupbyrevivingthedead-weightlegacyofapartheidascriptions.ConclusionRunningthroughouttheliteratureonecandistinguishbroadlybetweentwofundamentallydifferentsensesinwhichethnicityhasbeentreatedinSouthAfrica.Itmaybeusefultocharacterisethisdifferencebyreferringto theactof'claiming'ontheonehand,and'nam-ing' on theother.Byclaiming,I referto thestrandofthoughtthatconceivesofethnicityinasituational,contextual,andsubjectivesense.Accordingtothisusage,ethnicityisunder-stoodasaformofsocialidentitythatacquirescontentandmeaningthroughaprocessofconscious assertionand imagining. By contrast, naming refersto the tendencyto conceive ofidentityinprimordial,static,oressentialistterms.Crucially,itisoftenemployedbyonerelativelypowerfulgroupas a meansofdefiningotherless powerfulcommunities. Thefactthatthosecommunitiesmighttakeonaspectsofthisidentityasapragmaticmeansofde-fenceorelseforopportunisticreasons,shouldnotobscurethepowerrelationswhichoverdeterminethisprocessofascription.Thedistinctionbetweenprimordialandsituationalapproachestotheunderstandingofethnicity is well established in the literature. In the South Africancontext, it has a particularlysharpsetofresonances.Ithasbeensuggestedthatthetermethnicwasfirstintroducedbyliberalintellectualsasa meansofdrawingattentionto theprimacyofcultureoverheredity.Inparticular,itreflectedgrowinguneaseovertheconnotationsassociatedwithnotionsof'biologicalrace'.However,theideaof'culture'wasitselfopentointerpretation.Indeed,itwas adoptedas a keywordin the justificationof interwarsegregation. When I. D. MacCroneproposedthe ideaofethnicor groupdifferencesas a substituteforrace, he might besaidtohaveanticipatedtheconstructionoftheessentialistcategoriesdescribedby'populationgroups'.53Like culture, the term'volk'embodieda fundamentalambiguity-inthiscasethe confusionbetween organic, transcendent notions of nationhood, and hereditarian concepts52Lijphart,'Power-Sharing',p.36.Headds:'ItismoredoubtfulthattheColouredsandAsianscaneachbeconsideredanethnicsegment,butImakethisassumptionhereforthesakeofbrevityandconvenience'.(!)Morerecently,Lijpharthasmodifiedhispositionsomewhatandnowadvocateswhathecallsan'agnosticapproachto ethnicity'.SeeLijphart,'Power-Sharing,EthnicAgnosticism,andPoliticalPragmatism',Trans-formation21(1993); thisarticleis a responseto R.Taylor,'SouthAfrica:A ConsociationalPathtoPeace?',Transformation17 (1992), whichattacksLijphartforhis primordialistunderstandingofethnicity.53I am of course not suggesting that MacCrone was in a position to foresee how the language of cultural or ethnicgroups would be deployed. It wouldbe interesting to find out whether the use of'populationgroups'in apart-heiddiscoursedrewdeliberatelyonMacCrone'swork.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 EthnieEuphemismsandRacialEchoes369of race. When the connotationsof volk took on unacceptableovertones ofsuperiority, ethnicwas readilyavailableforuseasa moreneutralsubstitute.TheproblemofprimordialisminSouthAfricahasa particularsalienceinvirtueofthesocialandpoliticalcategoriesimposedbyapartheid'splanners.Ithasbeenarguedthatthetraditionofpoliticalthoughtwhichis traceablethroughtheliteratureon pluralismto recentprescriptionsonpowersharingandconsociationalismalmostunavoidablyrestsontheas-sumptionofinnatedifferences.Thesemaynotnecessarilyconnoteracialdifferences,buttheynonethelessrely heavilyon anacceptanceoffixedsocial identitieswhichtendto coin-cidewithestablishedracialcategories.Paradoxically,itistheveryartificialityofmosteth-nicattributionsinSouthAfricathataccountsfortheessentialisttermsinwhichethnicityiscustomarilypresented: because ethnic categories have beenso obviouslymanipulatedby thestate, inorder to naturalisetheirstatusit hasbeennecessaryto investthemwiththeaura ofprimordialcertainty. Thisis notto discountthe possibilitythatnewformsofethnicidentitywillemergeina post-apartheidSouthAfrica-indeed,thereareclearindicationsthatsuchprocessesarealreadyunderway.It is unlikely, however, that the strategiesassociatedwithpluralistorconsociational-typeanalyseswillfacilitatetheemergenceofbenignformsofethnicassertion.Constitutionalsolutions such as these are foundedon the premise that ethnic groups formthe basis ofsocialorganisationandthattheir conflictinginterestsneedto be formallybalanced.Suchschemesare by theirnature inflexibleandimplya significantmeasureofmanaged,technocraticrulefromabove -i.e., by the veryagentswho stand to benefitmost by presentingthemselvesasthe representativesofethnic constituencies. A constitutionaldispensationwhichdependsonthemaintenanceofethnicboundariesispoorlyplacedtotakeaccountofethnicfluidityorthecomplex,multipleidentitiesinwhichindividualsoftenchoosetolocatethemselves.Moreover, as MarkSimpson points out elsewhere in this volume, by giving ethnicitya directandelevatedconstitutionalexpression,theriskofonegrouptryingtodestroyanotherissignificantlyincreasedshouldthefragilebasisofcohesioncomeunstuck.54The ANC'sap-parentsuccessinheadingofftheadoptionofconsociationalismorconfederalisminpost-apartheidSouthAfricais thereforeto bewelcomed.The question of who defineswhom, and the power relations involved in this process, is ofcrucialsignificanceintheprocessofethnicascription.Toelucidatethispoint,itmaybehelpfulto examine brieflythe origin of the word, ethnic. It has oftenbeen noted that the termderivesfromtheGreekword'ethnos',referringtoapeopleoranation.Yet,asthemostrecent edition ofthe OxfordEnglish Dictionarydemonstrates,'ethnikos'also refersto'hea-then'or'pagan'.(Indeed,it was oftensupposed -apparentlymistakenly-that'ethnos'wasthe source of the English word'heathen'). The OED's etymologysuggests that it is this senseofthewordethnic(i.e.'pertainingtonationsnotChristianorJewish;Gentile,heathen,pagan')which predominatedfrommedievaltimes until the mid-nineteenthcentury. Remem-beringtheequationofthederogatoryword'kaffir'with'heathen'or'infidel'inSouthernAfrica(and, incidentally, in Pakistan as well), it thereforeseems safe to assume that the wordethnicwasemployedasameansofestablishingdifferenceordefiningtheother. Thisten-dencywouldhavebeenreinforcedwhen,fromthemid-nineteenthcentury,ethnicin-creasinglycametodesignatea'racialorothergroupwithinalargersystem'.55Unfor-tunately,thewordethniccontinuestobeusedintheSouthAfricancontextasameansofestablishingdifferenceorexclusivity.MichaelBantonexplainsthisphenomenonas54SeeM.Simpson,'TheExperienceofNation-Building:SomelessonsforSouthAfrica',paperdeliveredatGrahamstownconference,p. 9.55Thisdiscussionis basedon the definitionof ethnicin1989 editionofthe OxfordEnglishDictionary.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014 370Journal of Southern African Studiesthe'minusone'definitionof ethnicity:'the dominantgroup insists upon its power todefine;members of that group perceive themselves not as ethnic but as setting the standard by whichothersareto be judged'.56Indefiningthe differencebetweenethnicand'racial' groups, EllisCashmorecommentsthat'whereas"race"standsfortheattributionsofonegroup,ethnicgroupstandsforthecreativeresponseofapeoplewhofeelsomehowmarginaltothemainstreamofsociety'.CashmoreoffersasimilardistinctiondrawnbyMichaelBanton:thetermethnicgroup're-flectsthe positive tendencies of identificationand inclusion', whereas race'reflectsthe nega-tive tendenciesof dissociationand exclusion'.57In the case of South Africa,whereethnicityhas overwhelminglybeen imposedas a means of dominationand division,and where ethnicgroupshavebeenstatutorilydefined,itisclearaccordingtotheabovedefinitionsthatthemeaningsofraceand'ethnicity'convergeclosely.There is surelyenoughtruth in this observationas regards South Africato make us waryofitsuse.GiventhehistoryofthewordanditsspecificSouthAfricanconnotations,weclearlyhave to be verycarefulabout the way inwhich we use the conceptof ethnicity. Thisis not toadvocatea doctrinalblindnessto thatwhichdoesnotfitourtheoriesortoexplainawayrealitybymeansofscholarlyniceties. Rather,itisto emphasisethenecessitytobearconstantlyinmindthatSouthAfricanrealitiesremainideologicallychargedandthattheimpetustolocateSouthAfricainacomparativeinternationalsense -welcomeasthisis-shouldnotobscuretheparticularitiesofits history.So longasweunderstandethnicityas amalleable,historicallyconditionedprocess, andrejectitsuseincategoricalor reifiedtermsthatapproximateto raceor populationgroups, wemaywellbeina positionto advanceourunderstandingofthatsociety'smanifestcomplexities.56M. Banton, Racial and EthnicCompetition(Cambridge,1983), p. 65. Arguably, this point is not strictly true inSouth Africawhere Afrikanernationalistsare still happyto referto themselvesas an ethnicgroup or volk. Toalargeextentthisisa consequenceofthemobilisationofAfrikanerethnicityinoppositiontotheforcesofBritishimperialism.However,itisnotablethatethnicityisnowusedlessandlesstorefertothedifferencebetween Afrikanerand English-speakers, and increasinglyto define blacks as minorities. This form of otheringiscompoundedbythegrowingtendencytoexplainintra-blackconflict-sooftenreferredtointhatuglyphrase'black-on-black'violence - as'ethnic conflict'.In this usage, ethnicity takes on many of the primordialresonancesof what usedto be called'tribal'or'faction'fights.57E. E. Cashmore, Dictionaryof Race andEthnicRelations,2nd edn. (London,1988), p. 98.Downloaded by [Akdeniz Universitesi] at 20:10 15 October 2014