The Search for a Cultural Identity: A Personal View of South African "Indian" Theatre

As one of the smallest ethnic groups in South Africa, the so-called Indian community is the least known inside as well as outside the country. While individuals from this community who contributed to the anti-apartheid struggle are well-known, at least in some quarters, the rich and diverse cultural life of Indians in South Africa has not received much discussion. ¹

Because it is a tiny community, it is often seen from without to be a homogenous group. Outsiders are often unaware of the differences between religions, languages, customs, class, and political affiliations that exacerbate internal tensions within the community. Very conscious of their minority position in the country, Indians in South Africa have also been subject to a great deal of external pressure. In the apartheid era, they were required to live in segregated areas and attend segregated schools and were also subjected to threats of repatriation to India (although these threats never materialized). At the same time, the relative affluence of some of their members and their social position caught between the haves (mostly white) and the have-nots (mostly black) made them targets of African resentment. ² As a result, there are two main modes of interaction within and beyond the community; on the one hand, the consolidation and assertion of an Indian identity and culture, and, on the other, the desire to cut across ethnic boundaries and form alliances with other population groups.

The first effort—the consolidation of an Indian identity and culture—is fraught with problems because of the diversity within the community itself. Each separate group seeks to preserve customs and traditions which it perceives to be unique to its own grouping. There are three main religious groupings—Hindus, Muslims, and Christians—and within each of these, there are splits along language, custom, and class lines. There are several language groups: Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Gujerati, and Urdu among others. ³ Different religious and language groups tend to develop along separate communal lines. In addition, class and political groupings cut across these boundaries and create further divisions.

The second effort—the desire to extend oneself beyond the “Indian” community—creates bonds across language and religion within the community and further alliances are made outside the community, with whites or blacks on a social level, and with progressives or conservatives on a political level. Many “Indians” have tried to find identities which reach beyond the “Indian” community. Because Western culture has historically dominated education and leisure in South African cities, where most of the community lives, “Indians” have sought to emulate white norms, values, and customs at the expense of their inherited culture. Others have acknowledged the strong influence of the West on their socialization but do not deny their origins. Still others have asserted their right to be called African, while acknowledging their South Asian inheritance.

Though inherited cultural and religious affiliations have influenced the perception of “Indians,” material conditions in South Africa have been the major factor in influencing cultural patterns. From their earliest arrival in the country, “Indians” were like all other groups incorporated into segregated social and economic structures and the culture of apartheid. Disenfranchised by virtue of race, “Indians” were effectively black, even though apartheid law and racist consciousness did not include Indians among black people. ⁴ As blacks, we have been subjected to a dominant ideology of white supremacy and Western cultural superiority, and like other groups have had to adopt customs and behaviors of the dominant culture and have developed an ambivalence toward our origins. What some of us have preserved of our original traditions are those elements that are acceptable to the dominant group. These elements are generally superficial and are regarded as exotic and therefore non-threatening.

Apartheid culture gave us a sense of inferiority, disempowerment, and a concern for self-preservation at the expense of human rights. In other words, many “Indians,” even after the official demise of apartheid, are still struggling with the status of victim. Those who repudiated the role of victim developed a fighting spirit which took...