Understanding Informal Segregation: Racial and Spatial Identities among the Indian Minority of Mokopane

by Sahba Besharati (University of Cape Town and King’s College London) and Don Foster (University of Cape Town)

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Abstract

Although South Africa’s history has brought a great deal of research attention to racial dynamics in the post-apartheid period, much of this research has been on the largest demographic groups in urban centers. This study focuses on the spatial arrangement of minority identities, through continued informal segregation, among the Indian minority of Mokopane. Drawing on 28 open-ended interviews, segregation is explored in everyday interactions and spaces. Working within a spatial-discursive framework, observational, critical discourse and rhetorical analysis is employed. Participants’ discursive constructions overwhelmingly demonstrate patterns of informal segregation among the Indian minority community, within the micro-ecology of contact. It is argued that informal segregation acts as a regulator of hostile and hidden racism. In mapping the dialogue of the Indian minority, a story of the evolution of segregation emerges, which replicates internal divisions between the established ‘South African Indians’ and recent ‘immigrant Indians’. This study ultimately demonstrates the need for a spatial-discursive orientation and a more “embodied” turn in our understanding of segregation.

Suggested bibliographic reference for this article:
Besharati, Sahba; Understanding Informal Segregation: Racial and Spatial Identities among the Indian Minority of Mokopane. Diversities. 2013, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 37-52, UNESCO. ISSN 2079-6595
www.unesco.org/shs/diversities/vol15/issue2/art4

About the authors

Sahba Besharati is trained in clinical neuropsychology in South Africa, and is currently in the third year of her PhD undergoing a split-site collaboration between the University of Cape Town and the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. Sahba’s research draws on a social-cognitive neuro-scientific approach in understanding questions of identity, self-contentiousness and the bodily self. Her PhD investigates the neurocognitive, social and emotional components of unawareness of illness in brain damaged patients.

Don Foster is Professor of Psychology and Deputy Dean of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. He has published widely on the topic of social identities in South Africa.