Youth and identity politics in South Africa, 1990-1994 / Sibusisiwe Nombuso Dlamini.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Youth and Identity Politics in South Africa shows how the youth identify variously as fans of jazz or hip-hop who espouse a none-racial national character, as athletes who feel a strong connection to traditional Zulu patriarchy, or in many other social and political subcultures.

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CHOICE Review

Dlamini (education, Univ. of Windsor) examines the many-layered strategies used by South African youth in constructing positive identities of themselves from 1990 to 1994. Four chapters contextualize the study, giving a historical overview of KwaZulu/Natal within the two research townships and explaining the manner in which Zulu language and cultural practices such as respect and bravery were associated with the formal politics of Inkatha and the African National Congress (ANC). Chapters 6-9 analyze three cultures existing in the townships and how the youth used symbolic resources from Zulu history and language as they navigated township life: the tsatsatsa cultural groups, whose members were devoted to schooling and the ANC vision of a democratic South Africa, while appeasing Inkatha with their Zulu language preference; the soccer culture, which provided a stable space away from political violence; and the church culture, which repudiated political participation. Dlamini's qualitative methodology includes ethnographic detail that goes so far as citing the Zulu text of interview segments with translation and analysis in light of current theoretical approaches. Although the book has an epilogue, the lag in publication makes it less interesting for anthropologists than for South Africa historians and those studying the politics of language, identity, and historical ideology. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. V. J. Baker Eckerd College