The textures of culture in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Social cohesion is a widely used phrase in the government's goals for the country's future. According to the National Development Plan, by 2030, South Africans will be more conscious of the things they have in common than the things that make them different. Are we looking then to a future where seemingly ubiquitous racial differences will hold less and less meaning, asks Safiyya Goga. Studies on post-apartheid identities in South Africa seem to suggest that rather than the absence of racial differences, we are simply reproducing these differences in new ways. We do not talk about race as the basis for our differences; instead we speak of cultural differences. What is it about culture that makes it so crucial to claim, define and defend in post-apartheid South Africa? Histories of colonisation and apartheid devalued African cultures and traditions.