Goolam Vahed is a Professor in the Department of History, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He completed his undergraduate research at the University of Durban-Westville, and his Masters and Doctoral degrees at Indiana University, Bloomington. His research interests include identity formation, citizenship, ethnicity, Islam, and transnationalism among Indian South Africans, as well as sport and transformation in South African society.
Following a hiatus in the 1960s, the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971. This study ... more Following a hiatus in the 1960s, the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971. This study brings the inner workings of the NIC to life against the canvas of major political developments in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, and up to the first democratic elections in 1994. The NIC was relaunched during the rise of the Black Consciousness Movement, which attracted a following among Indian university students, and whose invocation of Indians as Black led to a major debate about ethnic organisations such as the NIC. This debate persisted in the 1980s with the rise of the United Democratic Front and its commitment to non-racialism. Despite threats of banning and incarceration, the NIC kept attracting new recruits. This included students radicalised by the 1980s education boycotts and civic protests, who encouraged the development of community organisations. Drawing on varied sources, including oral interviews, newspaper reports, and minutes of organisational meetings, this engaging history challenges existing narratives around Indian ‘cabalism’, and brings the African and Indian political story into present debates about race, class and nation.
In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and ... more In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and influence extend far beyond India and are nowhere more significant than in South Africa. "India gave us a Mohandas, we gave them a Mahatma," goes a popular South African refrain. Contemporary South African leaders, including Mandela, have consistently lauded him as being part of the epic battle to defeat the racist white regime.
The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi's first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolem Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi's racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history.
The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals
The history of Muslim education in the east coast region of South Africa is the story of ongoing ... more The history of Muslim education in the east coast region of South Africa is the story of ongoing struggles by an immigrant religious minority under successive, exclusionary forms of state. Schooling Muslims in Natal traces the labours and fortunes of a set of progressive idealists who, mobilizing merchant capital, transoceanic networks and informal political influence, established the Orient Islamic Educational Institute in 1943 to found schools and promote a curriculum inclusive of secular subjects and Islamic teaching. Through the story of their Durban flagship project – the Orient Islamic School – this book recounts the changing politics of religious identity, education and citizenship in South Africa.
From the late nineteenth century, Gujarati Muslim traders settling in the colony of Natal built mosques and madressas; their progeny carried on the strong traditions of community patronage and leadership. Aligned to Gandhi’s Congress initiatives for Indian civic recognition, they worked across differences of political strategy, economic class, ethnicity and religion to champion modern education for a ghettoised Indian diaspora. In common was the threat of a state that, long before the legal formation of apartheid, managed diversity in deference to white racial hysteria over ‘Indian penetration’ and an ‘Asiatic menace’.
This is the story of confrontation, cooperation and compromise by an officially marginalized but still powerful set of ‘founding fathers’ who shaped local education and urban space as they integrated this region of Africa into the Indian Ocean world.
Following a hiatus in the 1960s, the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971. This study ... more Following a hiatus in the 1960s, the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971. This study brings the inner workings of the NIC to life against the canvas of major political developments in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, and up to the first democratic elections in 1994. The NIC was relaunched during the rise of the Black Consciousness Movement, which attracted a following among Indian university students, and whose invocation of Indians as Black led to a major debate about ethnic organisations such as the NIC. This debate persisted in the 1980s with the rise of the United Democratic Front and its commitment to non-racialism. Despite threats of banning and incarceration, the NIC kept attracting new recruits. This included students radicalised by the 1980s education boycotts and civic protests, who encouraged the development of community organisations. Drawing on varied sources, including oral interviews, newspaper reports, and minutes of organisational meetings, this engaging history challenges existing narratives around Indian ‘cabalism’, and brings the African and Indian political story into present debates about race, class and nation.
In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and ... more In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and influence extend far beyond India and are nowhere more significant than in South Africa. "India gave us a Mohandas, we gave them a Mahatma," goes a popular South African refrain. Contemporary South African leaders, including Mandela, have consistently lauded him as being part of the epic battle to defeat the racist white regime.
The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi's first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolem Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi's racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history.
The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals
The history of Muslim education in the east coast region of South Africa is the story of ongoing ... more The history of Muslim education in the east coast region of South Africa is the story of ongoing struggles by an immigrant religious minority under successive, exclusionary forms of state. Schooling Muslims in Natal traces the labours and fortunes of a set of progressive idealists who, mobilizing merchant capital, transoceanic networks and informal political influence, established the Orient Islamic Educational Institute in 1943 to found schools and promote a curriculum inclusive of secular subjects and Islamic teaching. Through the story of their Durban flagship project – the Orient Islamic School – this book recounts the changing politics of religious identity, education and citizenship in South Africa.
From the late nineteenth century, Gujarati Muslim traders settling in the colony of Natal built mosques and madressas; their progeny carried on the strong traditions of community patronage and leadership. Aligned to Gandhi’s Congress initiatives for Indian civic recognition, they worked across differences of political strategy, economic class, ethnicity and religion to champion modern education for a ghettoised Indian diaspora. In common was the threat of a state that, long before the legal formation of apartheid, managed diversity in deference to white racial hysteria over ‘Indian penetration’ and an ‘Asiatic menace’.
This is the story of confrontation, cooperation and compromise by an officially marginalized but still powerful set of ‘founding fathers’ who shaped local education and urban space as they integrated this region of Africa into the Indian Ocean world.
Drawing on my experience of writing an account of Chota Motala, a Pietermaritzburg-based medical ... more Drawing on my experience of writing an account of Chota Motala, a Pietermaritzburg-based medical doctor and anti-apartheid activist, this article considers some of the historiographical and methodological challenges of writing biography in general, and South African political biographies in particular. On a general level, this includes whether biography is ‘inferior’ history, an ‘illusion’, and whether it can be written in a linear manner. Specific to my study, this article considers the theoretical and contextual issues relating to South African political biography; the role of the sources in shaping the narrative; the subjective process of writing a biography; and the variance in interpreting the character of Motala and his contribution in the political sphere.
Between 1860 and 1911, 152,184 Indian indentured workers went
to the then British colony of Natal... more Between 1860 and 1911, 152,184 Indian indentured workers went to the then British colony of Natal to work primarily on the sugar plantations. They were followed by free Indian migrants. White settlers felt threatened by a settled Indian population and passed legislation to curb their immigration, trading, employment and residence rights. The struggle of Indians against this racist legislation was spearheaded by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The most contentious issues surrounding Gandhi’s South African stay between 1893 and 1914 are his allegedly racist attitudes towards Africans and his neglect of indentured migrants and their descendants. This article examines Gandhi’s attitude to, and relationship with, the indentured. While most academic studies have argued that Gandhi was oblivious to them until 1913, this article presents a nuanced picture, drawing on aspects of historical archives that have not yet been fully drawn upon, or re-reading those that have been consulted previously. It shows that Gandhi’s views underwent an observable transformation during the time that he was in South Africa, to the point that he came to describe the system of indenture as ‘an evil thing’. However, his reasons for wanting an end to the system were multiple and complex, relating not just to the plight of the indentured, but also the utility of ending indenture for non-indentured Indians.
Between 1860 and 1911, a total of 152,641 Indian indentured workers arrived in the then British C... more Between 1860 and 1911, a total of 152,641 Indian indentured workers arrived in the then British Colony of Natal. The first group of workers who returned home in 1871 complained of ill-treatment and abuse by employers and the Indian government refused to sanction further allotments of labourers until the Natal government investigated their complaints. The ensuing Coolie Commission of 1872 called for the appointment of a Protector of Indian Immigrants, as one of several recommendations. The Natal Government duly complied as the Colony was desperate for labour. Such officials were also appointed in other colonial contexts around this time. Instances of worker abuse, however, continued throughout the period of indenture in Natal, notwithstanding some observers’ claim that the appointment of a Protector was a watershed moment for bonded labour. It appears that the vastness of the area under the Protector’s jurisdiction and the enormous power of planters made it difficult for Protectors to balance the needs of workers and employers. But workers found creative ways to use the office of the Protector to resist the system; and, on occasion, the abuse was so great that the Protector was forced to intervene publicly to safeguard the rights of workers and the integrity of his office. In focusing on the Protector, this article makes a contribution to the emerging literature on empire that focuses on connections and networks across colonies and the agency and actions of ordinary people.
Sporting contacts between the India and diasporic Indian community in South Africa were part of a... more Sporting contacts between the India and diasporic Indian community in South Africa were part of a broader range of links between the two countries. In this article, we consider association football tours between both countries from 1914 to 1955 against the backdrop of increased racism and segregation in South Africa and the anti-colonial movement in India. We draw from a range of sources, including archives, unpublished reports and newspaper articles. The sports tours helped to solidify relations between Indians in South Africa and India underpinning political, cultural, spiritual and emotional ties; they show how Indianness was forged among diasporans and that this was highly contested and constantly transformed in relation to external conditions; and they expose the racism on the part of white sporting organisations in particular and white politicians in general in South Africa.
The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2016
The year 1990 is pivotal in South African history. The liberation movements were unbanned, and Ne... more The year 1990 is pivotal in South African history. The liberation movements were unbanned, and Nelson Mandela was freed in the midst of a tour by Mike Gatting’s English rebel cricket team. The newly constituted National Sports Congress, which had the support of the African National Congress, was at the forefront of protests against the tour. For once, Ali Bacher and apartheid cricket were on the back foot. However, the NSC did a sudden volte-face by calling off protests and negotiating the end of the tour. One reason for this decision was that the NSC was made aware of Mandela’s imminent release and that sport would play a key role in creating a ‘stable’ environment. These moves and countermoves accelerated cricket “unity” and saw South African return to international cricket before the formal end of apartheid. This paper interrogates the consequences of cricket returning to the international fold in such haste. It is entitled ‘Nelson’ because in some cricket countries, the score of 111 is called Nelson, and there is a superstitious belief that a wicket would fall. With Mandela’s release, 1990 was the year in which apartheid’s wicket fell, though victory celebrations appear to have been premature.
Moosa Hajee Cassim of Porbandar on the west coast of India arrived in Natal on the south-eastern ... more Moosa Hajee Cassim of Porbandar on the west coast of India arrived in Natal on the south-eastern shore of Africa in 1881 as part of the ‘passenger’ migrant stream that followed in the wake of the recruitment of indentured labourers to the colony. Moosa was deeply involved in the political, economic, social and religious life of Indians in Natal. While there is a growing body of work on indentured migrants, the historiography of passenger Indians (those who came of their own volition) is in its embryonic stage. One reason is the dearth of obvious sources. This article proposes to overcome this limitation through biographical research that draws on archival sources such as estates’ records, immigration department records, court cases, and, where possible, oral history. This partial reconstruction of Moosa Hajee Cassim’s story underscores mobility between Indian Ocean port cities facilitated by new forms of transportation and communication, the strong connection between migrants and their places of origin, and how family and gender migration shaped and reshaped one another. The creative use of multiple archival sources and oral history to construct biographical research on other passenger migrants has the potential to provide a more comprehensive picture of the passenger migrant experience.
The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of
what has become known as th... more The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of what has become known as the ‘Durban moment’. This period also witnessed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement and an independent trade union movement inspired by the 1973 Durban strikes. Despite a government crackdown and opposition from anti-apartheid groups that asserted that ethnic identities were a relic of the past, the NIC attracted younger activists through the 1970s and by the early 1980s, had survived the banning and detention of its leadership to become involved in civic struggles over housing and education, and in mobilizing against government-created political structures. It also played a pivotal role in the United Democratic Front formed in 1983. This did not mean that the NIC was monolithic. The 1980s spawned vibrant and often vicious debates within the NIC over participation in government-created structures, allegations of cabals and, as democracy dawned, differing opinions of the future of an organization that first came into being in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In critically interrogating this crucial period between 1980 and 1994, when mass-based struggle was renewed, two states of emergency were imposed and apartheid eventually ended, this article adds to the growing historiography of the anti-apartheid struggle by focusing on an important but neglected aspect of that story. It focuses on the internal workings of the NIC and the relationship between the NIC, the emergent Mass Democratic Movement and the African National Congress (ANC) in the context of broader political and economic changes.
(elink offprints still available)
This article examines the attempts in the 1940s of A.I. Kajee a... more (elink offprints still available) This article examines the attempts in the 1940s of A.I. Kajee and the Orient Islamic Educational Institute to secure a site for a world-class, modern boarding school for Muslim children in Durban. While the Institute would eventually build a school in 1959 that fell far short of its original vision, their struggles highlight several key issues related to Indian minority politics and the racialised South African state in the 1940s. In a context where anti-apartheid historiography is dominated by those aligned to Congress traditions, this article explores the motivations and actions of ‘accommodationists’, who sought concessions from the state through conciliation at a time when their relationship with the central state conceded ground to rising populist politics around white fears of ‘Indian penetration’. Kajee's increasingly frustrated efforts to employ a once-successful cooperative strategy reveal the uneven course of change in the ideologies of racial rule in South Africa, from an incorporationist imperial paternalism to an expulsory race nationalism. The case also exposes competing interests between the different levels of government in the quest for a unified white nation-state, with pressure for segregation more virulent at local level than articulated by the Smutsian cabinet. It offers insight into the experiences of leaders whose basis of authority in politics, rooted in a tradition of patronage, was waning. Struggles for civic recognition were moving towards an emergent new leadership of professionals and trade unionists, who increasingly garnered support from a nascent urban working class.
The historiography of the national liberation struggle in South Africa is dominated by the feats ... more The historiography of the national liberation struggle in South Africa is dominated by the feats of heroic male activists, in which women’s activism and the impact of the antiapartheid struggle on women and families are largely occluded. The past decade has witnessed the growth of a more inclusive ‘struggle’ historiography due to the mushrooming of women’s biographies and autobiographies. This article is based on interviews with five women whose partners were involved in anti-apartheid activism and who were either banned, forced into exile or incarcerated on Robben Island. Focusing on ‘ordinary’ women who had to see to the subsistence of family and household for extended periods contributes to a more inclusive narrative of anti-apartheid struggles. These gendered biographies highlight the multiple forms of oppression to which women were subjected and their multiple roles in the anti-apartheid struggle, and stress that gender should be a key part of one’s analytical toolbox. Keywords: apartheid; Robben Island; South Africa; oral history; gender; Natal Indian Congress
In every British colony that received indentured workers from India, officials recorded personal ... more In every British colony that received indentured workers from India, officials recorded personal and social details for identifying the arriving migrants. In Natal, 152,184 migrants were inscribed into such lists between 1860 and 1911. This article traces the history of this set of documents from their mid-nineteenth-century origins as registers of imperial labour control to their twenty-first century digitisation by an amateur historian in a relational database, available online. Against the backdrop of transforming informational technologies, the story of the shipping lists is the story of their changing social and political meanings in relation to the circumstances of the Indian diaspora in South Africa over one hundred and fifty years. Now held at the Durban Archives Repository, these records are regularly drawn upon by South Africans of indentured ancestry to establish family origins for the purposes of applying for the status of ‘Person of Indian Origin’ or ‘Overseas Citizen ...
This article focuses on the revival of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1971 in the context of ... more This article focuses on the revival of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1971 in the context of what is retrospectively known as the ‘Durban moment’. The early 1970s witnessed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) as well as a resurgence of working class collective action that was to form the embryo of the independent
labour movement later in the decade. This article examines the debates surrounding
the revival of the NIC, in particular whether this reinforced an exclusive ethnic identity
while dampening broader non-racial responses, and whether and how the NIC’s revival
impacted on debates about participation in government-created structures such as the
South African Indian Council (SAIC).
Bearing Witness. Essays in Honour of Brij V. Lal., 2017
Brij V. Lal is a singular scholar. His work has spanned disciplines— from history to politics—and... more Brij V. Lal is a singular scholar. His work has spanned disciplines— from history to politics—and genres—from conventional monograph history, to participant history, political commentary, encyclopedia, biography, and faction. Brij is without doubt the most eminent scholar Fiji has ever produced. He also remains the most significant public intellectual of his country, despite having been banned from entering it in 2009. He is also one of the leading Pacific historians of his generation and an internationally recognised authority on the Indian diaspora. This Festschrift volume celebrates, reflects upon and extends the life and work of this colourful scholar. The essays, whose contributors are drawn from across the globe, do more than review Brij's work; they also probe his contribution to both scholarly and political life. This book will therefore serve as an invaluable guide for readers from all walks of life seeking to better situate and understand the impact of Brij's scholarly activism on Fiji and beyond. — Clive Moore, University of Queensland
In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the D... more In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the Diaspora. Identity and Belonging of Minority Groups in Plural Societies. New Delhi: Manohar (ISBN 9789350981313), 2016, pp. 19-58.
In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the D... more In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the Diaspora. Identity and Belonging of Minority Groups in Plural Societies. New Delhi: Manohar (ISBN 9789350981313), 2016, pp. 81-106.
In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the D... more In Maurits S. Hassankhan, Goolam Vahed and Lomarsh Roopnaraine (Eds). Indentured Muslims in the Diaspora. Identity and Belonging of Minority Groups in Plural Societies. New Delhi: Manohar (ISBN 9789350981313), 2016, pp. 301-324.
In P. Kumar (Ed). Indian Diaspora. Social Cultural and Religious Worlds. Leiden: Brill, 2014. pp.... more In P. Kumar (Ed). Indian Diaspora. Social Cultural and Religious Worlds. Leiden: Brill, 2014. pp. 316-344.
The awarding of World Cup 2010 to South Africa was hailed as a great ‘victory’ for the African co... more The awarding of World Cup 2010 to South Africa was hailed as a great ‘victory’ for the African continent and the cause of much celebration. It heightened expectations not only about the spectacle itself but about the benefits that would accrue to South Africa and the rest of Africa. This essay examines the notion of the successful bid as an ‘African victory’ in the context of global power relations in football, South Africa’s alleged function as a sub-imperialist power on the continent, and xenophobic attacks on African immigrants in South Africa. After tracing the politics around South Africa’s involvement in FIFA, this essay critically interrogates the benefits touted for South Africa and Africa: development for the SADC region, economic opportunities for ordinary South Africans, increased tourism in South Africa, and football development and peace and nation-building across the continent. Will the World Cup, as Thabo Mbeki would like, be the moment ‘when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict?’
used as a lens through which to attempt to understand the relationship between the South African ... more used as a lens through which to attempt to understand the relationship between the South African Indian Congresses and the Indian National Congress (INC), and the local issues that Dadoo was grappling with - Indo-African relations (race), national liberation (nationalism), and place of the Communist Party (class) in the struggle against white minority rule. Background The two Edinburgh trained medical
... NIC arranged a conference of Indian merchants, professionals and workers in December 1928.91 ... more ... NIC arranged a conference of Indian merchants, professionals and workers in December 1928.91 A Natal Workers Congress (NWC) was formed with middle class politicians prominent in the organisation: Albert Christopher was president, and AI Kajee and PR Pather were vice ...
The book opens new debates relevant to post-apartheid South Africa, in particular the relationshi... more The book opens new debates relevant to post-apartheid South Africa, in particular the relationship of Indians and Africans. Contemporary discussion of this sensitive issue is always framed with reference to Gandhi, and many South Africans of Indian origin may be tempted to ask: are we not all Gandhi's Prisoners?
The object of this study is to examine the making of Indian identities in Durban between 1914 and... more The object of this study is to examine the making of Indian identities in Durban between 1914 and 1949, a period that was witness to many significant developments. These included rapid industrial growth, urbanization, increased worker militancy, the imposition of discriminatory legislation by the state as well as passive resistance and race riots. On an individual and subjective level, these developments had important consequences for identity and consciousness. This study has present-day relevance because of the widespread publicity given to the anxiety with which Indians viewed South Africa’s transition to a non-racial democracy in April 1994.
Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 2015
The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of what has become known as th... more The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of what has become known as the ‘Durban moment’. This period also witnessed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement and an independent trade union movement inspired by the 1973 Durban strikes. Despite a government crackdown and opposition from anti-apartheid groups that asserted that ethnic identities were a relic of the past, the NIC attracted younger activists through the 1970s and by the early 1980s, had survived the banning and detention of its leadership to become involved in civic struggles over housing and education, and in mobilizing against government-created political structures. It also played a pivotal role in the United Democratic Front formed in 1983. This did not mean that the NIC was monolithic. The 1980s spawned vibrant and often vicious debates within the NIC over participation in government-created structures, allegations of cabals and, as democracy dawned, differing opinions of the future of an organization that first came into being in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In critically interrogating this crucial period between 1980 and 1994, when mass-based struggle was renewed, two states of emergency were imposed and apartheid eventually ended, this article adds to the growing historiography of the anti-apartheid struggle by focusing on an important but neglected aspect of that story. It focuses on the internal workings of the NIC and the relationship between the NIC, the emergent Mass Democratic Movement and the African National Congress (ANC) in the context of broader political and economic changes.
The awarding of World Cup 2010 to South Africa was hailed as a great ‘victory’ for the African co... more The awarding of World Cup 2010 to South Africa was hailed as a great ‘victory’ for the African continent and the cause of much celebration. It heightened expectations not only about the spectacle itself but about the benefits that would accrue to South Africa and the rest of Africa. This essay examines the notion of the successful bid as an ‘African victory’ in the context of global power relations in football, South Africa’s alleged function as a sub‐imperialist power on the continent, and xenophobic attacks on African immigrants in South Africa. After tracing the politics around South Africa’s involvement in FIFA, this essay critically interrogates the benefits touted for South Africa and Africa: development for the SADC region, economic opportunities for ordinary South Africans, increased tourism in South Africa, and football development and peace and nation‐building across the continent. Will the World Cup, as Thabo Mbeki would like, be the moment ‘when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict?’
Founded by Gandhi in 1894, the NIC was the predominant political organisation among Indians throu... more Founded by Gandhi in 1894, the NIC was the predominant political organisation among Indians through the twentieth century. Its history is a fascinating one as the NIC got into an alliance with the ANC in the 1950s, breaking the mould of racially exclusive mobilizations. This chapter pays particular attention to the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 and the decision by the NIC not to constitute itself as a political party but to throw its support behind the ANC. The consequences of this decision for the ‘Indian vote’ and present debates about minority representation are explored in this chapter.
B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution, and M.K. Gandhi, the Indian nationalist... more B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution, and M.K. Gandhi, the Indian nationalist, two figures whose thought and legacies have most strongly shaped the contours of Indian democracy, are typically considered antagonists who held irreconcilable views on empire, politics, and society. As such, they are rarely studied together. This book reassesses their complex relationship, focusing on their shared commitment to equality and justice, which for them was inseparable from anticolonial struggles for sovereignty. Both men inherited the concept of equality from Western humanism, but their ideas mark a radical turn in humanist conceptions of politics. This study recovers the philosophical foundations of their thought in Indian and Western traditions, religious and secular alike. Attending to moments of difficulty in their conceptions of justice and their language of nonviolence, it probes the nature of risk that radical democracy's desire for inclusion opens within modern political thought. In excavating Ambedkar and Gandhi's intellectual kinship, Radical Equality allows them to shed light on each other, even as it places them within a global constellation of moral and political visions. The story of their struggle against inequality, violence, and empire thus transcends national boundaries and unfolds within a universal history of citizenship and dissent.
Indians have suffered multiple forms of loss. During the apartheid period, tens of thousands were... more Indians have suffered multiple forms of loss. During the apartheid period, tens of thousands were forcibly removed and located to townships on the outer edge of cities. In recent times these ‘lost’ places are being remembered through the writing of community histories and get-togethers and resurrection of old networks through the use of the internet. This chapter attempts to understand this phenomenon in the context of the emerging literature on nostalgia and remembering.
In this chapter, we delve into the lives of working class women, many of whom obtained jobs in th... more In this chapter, we delve into the lives of working class women, many of whom obtained jobs in the clothing and textile industry from the 1960s, and whose incomes were crucial for upward mobility. It reveals how they negotiate life in an environment of extended families and patriarchal relations and how paid work offered them freedoms from the strictures of home life. Of particular relevance is showing how post 1990 the opening of the economy to cheap imports affected the lives of working class women and in turn, what consequences this had for Indian family life.
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 2015
Isabel Hofmeyr’s Gandhi’s Printing Press underlines the significance of Indian Opinion in Gandhi’... more Isabel Hofmeyr’s Gandhi’s Printing Press underlines the significance of Indian Opinion in Gandhi’s South African project of fostering Indianness, draws parallels with print cultures elsewhere, and highlights the role of the Phoenix Settlement in sustaining Satyagraha. Among the striking themes of this study are slow reading, which Hofmeyr works out at length, and Gandhi’s racial prejudices toward Africans at a time when Africans’ own political activism was developing in parallel with those of Gandhi, within a context of the militarized consolidation of white power. Slow reading is particularly relevant in our age when the audit culture at higher education institutions means that there is little market value in critical writing and limited opportunities to produce informed and active citizens. Gandhi’s Printing Press underscores the need for a sustained examination of Gandhi’s thinking on race and an interrogation of whether his choices were a result of innate biases or larger historical forces that defined the possibilities of political action. Afro-Indian relations remain problematic in the postapartheid era despite the commemoration of Gandhi as an anticolonial hero. A critical examination of the formative period of Indian settlement in South Africa may be more useful than the dominant color-blind account of solidarities between Indians and Africans.
I have come to the conclusion after a lifetime of reading and writing that accessible prose is va... more I have come to the conclusion after a lifetime of reading and writing that accessible prose is valued by the lay reader. Stories draw people in. Storytelling, as Hannah Arendt once wrote, ‘reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it’. The sharing of experience creates the possibilities for individual acts of imagination ... Imaginative works have that special power to connect (Lal 2011: 5; see also Arendt 1968: 105).
This article charts the contours of Sunni-Shia relations in South Africa, with a particular focus... more This article charts the contours of Sunni-Shia relations in South Africa, with a particular focus on the period since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which was received positively by many Muslims in a context of American hegemony globally and heightened anti-apartheid political activism locally. The growth of Saudi Arabian funded religious organisations within the Sunni majority community, and similar investment by Iran in emerging and existing Shia communities have fuelled relations between Sunni and Shia globally. This article considers the increasing tensions between Shias and mainstream Sunni Ulema in South Africa. The period has been witness to growing anti-Shia discourse, a physical attack against worshippers in a Shia mosque and a failed attempt at a truce. The growth in broadcast and social media and religious transnationalism have exacerbated historic fissures and antagonism, and these tensions seem destined to deepen and spread in the period ahead.
The overwhelming majority of Indians who arrived in South Africa were Hindus. There was also a fa... more The overwhelming majority of Indians who arrived in South Africa were Hindus. There was also a fair smattering of Muslims, especially with the arrival of merchants from the 1870s. This chapter dissects the continuities and changes wrought on these religions especially by global developments and how local religious figures have sought to mediate these developments.
Through the story of the life histories of Indian waiters who dominated the trade historically, w... more Through the story of the life histories of Indian waiters who dominated the trade historically, we show how, historically, working class waiters used their closeness to whites to solicit jobs for their children, develop sporting interests, and even secure state housing. This chapter, through developing oral histories, provides fascinating insights into how waiters made a life both inside and outside the industry and how the de-racializing of the trade by the hiring of cheaper black labour meant that they could not hand down jobs to their children and broader family. Today, Indian waiters are a rare phenomenon but some keep old networks going, supporting each other in times of need.
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The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi's first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolem Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi's racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history.
The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals
From the late nineteenth century, Gujarati Muslim traders settling in the colony of Natal built mosques and madressas; their progeny carried on the strong traditions of community patronage and leadership. Aligned to Gandhi’s Congress initiatives for Indian civic recognition, they worked across differences of political strategy, economic class, ethnicity and religion to champion modern education for a ghettoised Indian diaspora. In common was the threat of a state that, long before the legal formation of apartheid, managed diversity in deference to white racial hysteria over ‘Indian penetration’ and an ‘Asiatic menace’.
This is the story of confrontation, cooperation and compromise by an officially marginalized but still powerful set of ‘founding fathers’ who shaped local education and urban space as they integrated this region of Africa into the Indian Ocean world.
The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi's first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolem Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi's racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history.
The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals
From the late nineteenth century, Gujarati Muslim traders settling in the colony of Natal built mosques and madressas; their progeny carried on the strong traditions of community patronage and leadership. Aligned to Gandhi’s Congress initiatives for Indian civic recognition, they worked across differences of political strategy, economic class, ethnicity and religion to champion modern education for a ghettoised Indian diaspora. In common was the threat of a state that, long before the legal formation of apartheid, managed diversity in deference to white racial hysteria over ‘Indian penetration’ and an ‘Asiatic menace’.
This is the story of confrontation, cooperation and compromise by an officially marginalized but still powerful set of ‘founding fathers’ who shaped local education and urban space as they integrated this region of Africa into the Indian Ocean world.
to the then British colony of Natal to work primarily on the sugar
plantations. They were followed by free Indian migrants. White
settlers felt threatened by a settled Indian population and passed
legislation to curb their immigration, trading, employment and
residence rights. The struggle of Indians against this racist legislation
was spearheaded by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The
most contentious issues surrounding Gandhi’s South African stay
between 1893 and 1914 are his allegedly racist attitudes towards
Africans and his neglect of indentured migrants and their
descendants. This article examines Gandhi’s attitude to, and relationship
with, the indentured. While most academic studies have
argued that Gandhi was oblivious to them until 1913, this article
presents a nuanced picture, drawing on aspects of historical
archives that have not yet been fully drawn upon, or re-reading
those that have been consulted previously. It shows that Gandhi’s
views underwent an observable transformation during the time
that he was in South Africa, to the point that he came to describe
the system of indenture as ‘an evil thing’. However, his reasons
for wanting an end to the system were multiple and complex,
relating not just to the plight of the indentured, but also the utility
of ending indenture for non-indentured Indians.
what has become known as the ‘Durban moment’. This period also witnessed the
emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement and an independent trade union
movement inspired by the 1973 Durban strikes. Despite a government crackdown
and opposition from anti-apartheid groups that asserted that ethnic identities
were a relic of the past, the NIC attracted younger activists through the 1970s
and by the early 1980s, had survived the banning and detention of its
leadership to become involved in civic struggles over housing and education,
and in mobilizing against government-created political structures. It also
played a pivotal role in the United Democratic Front formed in 1983. This did
not mean that the NIC was monolithic. The 1980s spawned vibrant and often
vicious debates within the NIC over participation in government-created
structures, allegations of cabals and, as democracy dawned, differing opinions
of the future of an organization that first came into being in the last decade of
the nineteenth century. In critically interrogating this crucial period between
1980 and 1994, when mass-based struggle was renewed, two states of
emergency were imposed and apartheid eventually ended, this article adds to
the growing historiography of the anti-apartheid struggle by focusing on an
important but neglected aspect of that story. It focuses on the internal workings
of the NIC and the relationship between the NIC, the emergent Mass
Democratic Movement and the African National Congress (ANC) in the context
of broader political and economic changes.
This article examines the attempts in the 1940s of A.I. Kajee and the Orient Islamic Educational Institute to secure a site for a world-class, modern boarding school for Muslim children in Durban. While the Institute would eventually build a school in 1959 that fell far short of its original vision, their struggles highlight several key issues related to Indian minority politics and the racialised South African state in the 1940s. In a context where anti-apartheid historiography is dominated by those aligned to Congress traditions, this article explores the motivations and actions of ‘accommodationists’, who sought concessions from the state through conciliation at a time when their relationship with the central state conceded ground to rising populist politics around white fears of ‘Indian penetration’. Kajee's increasingly frustrated efforts to employ a once-successful cooperative strategy reveal the uneven course of change in the ideologies of racial rule in South Africa, from an incorporationist imperial paternalism to an expulsory race nationalism. The case also exposes competing interests between the different levels of government in the quest for a unified white nation-state, with pressure for segregation more virulent at local level than articulated by the Smutsian cabinet. It offers insight into the experiences of leaders whose basis of authority in politics, rooted in a tradition of patronage, was waning. Struggles for civic recognition were moving towards an emergent new leadership of professionals and trade unionists, who increasingly garnered support from a nascent urban working class.
labour movement later in the decade. This article examines the debates surrounding
the revival of the NIC, in particular whether this reinforced an exclusive ethnic identity
while dampening broader non-racial responses, and whether and how the NIC’s revival
impacted on debates about participation in government-created structures such as the
South African Indian Council (SAIC).