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National and Ethnic Identities: Dual and Extreme Identities amongst the Coloured Population of P ort E lizabeth, S outh A frica
Author(s) -
IsaacsMartin Wendy
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
studies in ethnicity and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1754-9469
pISSN - 1473-8481
DOI - 10.1111/sena.12069
Subject(s) - ethnic group , population , identity (music) , collective identity , dual (grammatical number) , national identity , politics , sociology , social psychology , gender studies , psychology , demography , political science , linguistics , anthropology , law , art , aesthetics , philosophy
A popular maxim in S outh A frica, a legacy of apartheid thinking, is that the Coloured population does not possess an ethnic identity and that, secondly, in post‐apartheid popular thought, that the group does not embrace the collective national identity. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the Coloured population is not a homogenous group in terms of political thought and primary language, and yet the group reflects ethnic consciousness. The study focused on a population sample (n = 215) in the port city of P ort E lizabeth, where the majority of Coloured people in the E astern C ape P rovince are located. The findings revealed that the majority of the Coloured population support collective national identity. Another finding is that a significant proportion of the Coloured population regard their ethnic identity as salient. The conclusions drawn were, firstly, that the group showed ‘extreme’ identity preferences rather than dual identities; secondly, that language played a role in determining the primary collective identity amongst the group.