Ethnicity as identity and ethnicity politically mobilised : symbols of mobilisation in Inkatha.
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Date
1995
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Abstract
This thesis. entitled 'ETHNICITY AS IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY POLITICALLY
MOBILISED: SYMBOLS OF MOBILISATION IN INKATHA'. presents two major
contributions. The first is a discussion of ethnicity that not only draws the distinction
between the phenomenon in its mobilised political form. on the one hand. and on the
other ethnicity as social identity presenting life stories through which individuals live
part of their social existences. but also follows through the theoretical and policy
implications. The implications of this distinction suggest ways in which the issue of
-ethnicity can be approached within attempts to avoid the conflictual dimension. The
second is a study of the manner in which political mobilisation of Zulu ethnicity has
occurred. especially during the 19708 and 1980s. through the Inkatha movement. The
case study effectively illustrates the manner in which politicised ethnicity functions. in
defining a rigid interpretation that allows little flux and movement within. and from
and into the ethnic camp.
The author integrates the theoretical discussion of the issue of ethnicity and ethnic
social identities with comparative and empilrical material drawn nationally and
internationally as well as from the extensive cue study of the mobilisation practices of
the Inkatha movement and its leadership. In the theoretical approach the complex
nature of all identities. and of ethnicity specifically, is stressed, arguing for the
multiple experiences of what is presented as homogeneous within ethnic mobilisation.
Ethnic identities are gendered, and subject to the effects of class, age, and 'race'
distinctions. Ethnicity is, furthermore, much more flexible than would appear to be
the case from such mobilisation. It is in this flexibility that an approach to resolving
'ethnic conflict' lies.
Within ethnic mobilisation the stress in the interpellations addressed at ethnic
subjects is on rigidity, lnflexibility, and single and centralised interpretations. These
elements are illustrated through the case study of Inkatha operating from within the
previous KwaZulu bantustan. Themes and approaches within the discourse of
mobilisation employed to mobilise a regional population into Inkatha are examined.
and set against the background and effects of social, political and economic factors.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.
Keywords
Theses--Sociology., Blacks--KwaZulu-Natal--Race identity., Ethnicity--KwaZulu-Natal., Nationalism--KwaZulu-Natal., Zulu (African people)--Politics and government.