"The Coolies Here" exploring the construction of an Indian "race" in South Africa.

• Author: Pillay, Kathryn
• Position: Report

The aim of this article is to reveal how a category of people that did not exist before in South Africa was created when the first group of indentured Indians arrived on the shores of Natal. In so doing, it examines how significant social and political role players contributed to the shaping of an Indian identity and in turn the perceptions of Indians in South Africa. Through data obtained primarily from The Mercury from the period 1860-1910, this article exposes the role of the state and the media in shaping the identity of the initial Indian immigrants and thereafter their descendants. The forms of "othering" of these initial immigrants and their descendants within this period, as well as how notions of foreignness pervaded the discourse around "Indians" are also presented and discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Indians came to southern Africa to fulfill a labor shortage in the colony of Natal. Slavery had been abolished and planters were left with a labor challenge as African people in the colony refused to engage in the arduous physical labor that working in the plantations entailed, especially for the pay that was offered. (1) In describing indenture in the colony of Natal, Calpin states that "It was the cheapest labor, short of slavery, in the world." (2) The arrival of these indentured laborers signaled a new era of racialization in southern Africa, as until the beginning of the twentieth century in South Africa all people that were not considered to be "European" or "black" were regarded as "colored." (3)

The aim of this article is to reveal how a category of people that did not exist before in South Africa was created when the first group of indentured Indians arrived on the shores of Natal. In so doing, it examines how significant social and political role players contributed to the shaping of an Indian identity and in turn the perceptions of Indians in South Africa. Through data obtained primarily from the newspaper The Mercury for the period 1860-1910, this article exposes the role of the state and the media in shaping the identity of the initial Indian immigrants and thereafter their descendants. The forms of "othering" of these initial immigrants and their descendants within this period, as well as how notions of foreignness pervaded the discourse around "Indians," are also presented and discussed.

It is important to examine the creation of the racial category "Indian," as it has allowed South Africans of Indian descent in contemporary South African society to be viewed as foreign, and raises questions of "belonging," which can be viewed as being inextricably connected to notions of "us" and "them," of inclusivity and exclusivity, entitlement and ineligibility, and of the existence of "citizens" and "foreigners/outsiders," and the implications of this in a so-called nonracial South African society.

While extracts from The Mercury have been analysed, it should be noted that the newspaper itself is not recognized as a legitimate source to "retell" the history of the relationships between different groups of people, but it is used instead to reveal the role of discourse in shaping the perceptions held of South Africans of Indian descent, and to investigate the ideological construction of the category "Indian" through analyzing the discourse around the early Indian immigrants and their descendants in this newspaper. In this study, discourse is understood as:

a set of meanings, metaphors, representations, images, stories, statements and so on that in some way together produce a particular version of events. It refers to a particular picture that is painted of an event (or person or class of persons), a particular way of representing it or them in a certain light. (4) Similarly for Foucault, a "constructionist" concerned with how knowledge and meaning were produced, discourse meant, as Hall summarizes, "a group of statements which provide a language for talking about--a way of representing the knowledge about--a particular topic at a particular historical moment.... Discourse is about the production of knowledge through language." (5) Given the data collected in this research, discourse analysis then was deemed an appropriate method of analyzing excerpts from The Mercury, as social identities are constructed through discourse. As Burr notes, identity is formed out of the discourses that are available to individuals in society and which are then drawn upon in their interactions with others. (6) Discourses then are productive rather than descriptive in that they produce identities and subject positions while at the same time silencing others, for example apartheid discourses on "race" produced racial divisions. Discourses give rise to ways of understanding who individuals should be and what they should do. (7) For example, Durrheim et al. state that "The only way in which we get to know objects' in the world--such as Afrikaners and Africans--is by means of the discourses that render them meaningful." (8) They argue further that the words that people use are significant in that words are carriers of meaning and stereotypes, which is familiar and easily recognizable to all. Discourses, then, are inextricably linked to how social order is engineered and maintained. Social discourses are intertwined with the lived experiences of individuals and with the social and institutional power relations and, as such, have significant repercussions for individuals and for groups. (9)

Influenced by the interpretivist paradigm, discourse analysis was employed to ascertain how identity is shaped and reproduced. Discourse is not always overt and hence has to be highlighted to reveal intolerances such as xenophobia and related racial intolerances. Discourse analysis focuses on talk and texts as social practices or processes. These methods look at patterns of speech, such as how people talk about a particular subject, what metaphors they use and so on. Speech then is viewed as a performance; it performs an action rather than describes a specific state of affairs or specific state of mind. Much of this analysis is intuitive and reflective and does not focus on language at a micro-level, but rather studies rhetoric and particular patterns of communication that indicates how South Africans of Indian descent were perceived through this medium. (10)

The newspaper articles were interrogated in an attempt to provide an analysis of the nature of the changing perceptions of "Indians" in South Africa. In contemporary South African society, the term "xenophobia" is generally used to explain all manner of negative behavior toward foreigners. Historically, however, the term "xenophobia" was not employed. The newspaper articles were then analyzed to unearth evidence for what is commonly referred to as "xenophobia" today, and to determine what content was given to the "foreigner," or the "other." Dates, developments, and events relating to the movement of "Indians" and their relationships with different "groups" of people, or what is commonly referred to as the "us" and "them" perception, were chronicled and the newspaper articles were critically inspected to illuminate the perceptions of "Indians" that were not obvious or immediately apparent in the terms employed.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

In order to establish how the category "Indian" in South Africa was created as a racial classification, historically and in contemporary society, it was crucial for an investigation to be conducted into documentary sources such as the media. According to Blanche et al.,

Such materials are also particularly useful for constructionist analysis, as they have an obviously "constructed" nature and are means by which ideas and discourses are circulated in our society. (11) Individuals perceive through a frame of reference that is made up of a set of interlocking facts, ideas, beliefs, values, and attitudes. This frame of reference provides the basis for their understanding of people, events, and experiences because it filters their perceptions. As individuals receive new information, they assess it in terms of their existing frame of reference and either reject it because it does not align with their frame of reference, or they utilize it to provide support for or extend their existing frame of reference. (12) Media, therefore, and political speeches, legislation, and popular culture become the lens through which people make sense of others in society.

In theorizing xenophobia in contemporary South African society, authors such as Danso and McDonald and McDonald and Jacobs, argue that the media have contributed to increasing xenophobic and racist attitudes. (13) The research undertaken by McDonald and Jacobs reveals an ongoing perpetuation of negative stereotypes in the South African press. (14) Danso and McDonald support this argument and claim that problematic statistics and assumptions about foreigners are reproduced in the media without much critical interrogation. (15) The media, according to McDonald and Jacobs, not only reflects racism and xenophobia, but can also contribute to a misrepresentation of what is actually happening on the ground. (16) Henry and Tator argue that the media does not always

objectively record and describe reality, nor do they neutrally report facts and stories ... some media practitioners socially construct reality based on their professional and personal ideologies, corporate interests, and cultural norms and values. (17) Racial identities then are not simply described by talk and discourses, but are produced through talk and discourses. Searle adds that "facts" and social realities are constructed through language. (18) Hall, too, reminds us that the media methodically give credence to and affirm particular systems of knowledge, values, ideas, and beliefs that serve to add value and appeal to certain audiences and social and political agendas, while undermining or excluding others. (19) Individuals who produce media...