The Sustainability of Koranna Cultural and Political Revival

By:

The Koranna, one of the original Khoekhoe inhabitants of southern Africa, already lived in the vicinity of Cape Town before the arrival of the first white settlers (1652). They had an own culture, language, identity and racial basis. It has been alleged in various academic sources that the Koranna had died out by 1932. Colonisation had threatened their nomadic existence of cattle-farming and hunting, while two destructive wars (1868-69 and 1878-79) against colonial oppressors had left them leaderless. Intermarriage, evangelisation, capitalisation (the discovery of diamonds in 1869-71 created a need for cheap labour at the diggings) and apartheid destroyed the tribal structures, cohesion and identity of the Koranna.

According to the Population Registration Act of 1950, all South Africans who were not Whites or Blacks were regarded as “Coloureds” – the umbrella concept for the “residue” – those who did not fit in anywhere else. The Koranna, like other Khoekhoe groups, were stigmatised as “Coloureds” and were politically, socially and economically constrained to renounce their origins.

Constitutional accommodation and recognition are accorded to the Khoekhoe by the current post-apartheid government. A revival of traditional leadership and identity is evident everywhere. National and regional organisations are campaigning for political recognition and for linguistic and cultural revival. After almost a century, there are virtually no more structures, knowledge, customs, or oral histories in existence, while political opportunism, nepotism and division are seriously hampering revival. In this contribution, the focus is on the Koranna in the Free State; on the regeneration of their structures, culture and identity; as well as on the factors that are having a negative effect on the sustainability of there revival.

Stream: Cultural Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

I am professor in Anthropology. In addition to my teaching and research obligations, I also serve as the Programme Director for Culture Studies and BA Studies; is responsible for the Faculty of Humanity’s Community Service; is the Interim Cluster Coordinator for the multidisciplinary research cluster “Transformation in Highly Diverse Societies” and is the head of the Unit for Khoekhoe and San Studies. Some of my key areas of interest are identity discourse, cultural and ethnic revitalisation, and land issues.