Khoisan identity: A contribution towards reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa
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Date
2018
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
UNISA Press
Abstract
This article seeks to explore the identity of the Khoisan as symbolic for reconciliation
in South Africa. What contributions can the narrative of a marginalised people such as
the Khoisan make to reconciling a divided nation such as South Africa? The Khoisan
have been victims of continuous dispossession since the arrival of Bartholomew Diaz
at the Cape in 1488. However, it was the taking of land in 1657 from the Khoisan for
the free burgers that marked a significant period for the current discourse on land and
for identity and reconciliation within post-apartheid South Africa. Notwithstanding
the attempts by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to use narratives for
healing, restoration, and continuing engagement with the meta-narratives of the past,
my own use of narrative is open-ended with space for dialogue through interaction.
The past or history does not have fixed boundaries, but rather blurred boundaries that
function as spaces of transcendence. The narrative approach has four interactionist
variables which are personhood, communication, power as reflected experience, and
fluid community. I point out weaknesses of the use of narrative by the TRC as well as
the interaction between experience and theory by practical theologians to construct an
open-ended narrative of the Khoisan for reconciliation in South Africa.
Description
Keywords
Khoisan, Reconciliation, Identity, Narrative, Communication
Citation
Klaasen, J.S. (2018). Khoisan identity: A contribution towards reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 44(2): #4143