With 50 million citizens spread over nearly 2000 miles, South Africa’s culture reflects its diversity and complex history. The nation’s long tribal history was significantly altered by European colonisation from the late 16th to the 19th centuries, with the Netherlands and Britain contesting rich natural resources of gold and diamonds.
The short history of South Africa
Establishing the major cities of Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria, the white settlers pushed for and received independence by 1931. During this time South Africa developed strict segregation, or apartheid, policies that enforced economic and social divisions between white and mixed-race citizens and a large black majority. Apartheid’s shadow over 20th century South Africa came to an end with the release from prison and election of Nelson Mandela in the early 1990s. While ending formal apartheid, today’s South African culture remains defined by a mixture of multiculturalism and splits between the rich and the poor.
Multicultural life
With eleven national languages, South Africa is highly multi-lingual, and blends different traditions across cities, townships and rural areas. Cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg are similar to their Western Europe and American counterparts in terms of their highly-developed economies, and feature world-class museums and transport systems alongside multicultural art, cuisine and sport. Tourism also focuses on a number of national safari parks and luxury resorts that make the most of the country’s temperate climate and vast sections of uninhabited land. By comparison, many provinces established during apartheid as settlements for South African tribes, including Gazankulu and Venda, continue to rely on local farming and trade alongside expanding cities and townships. The Zulus, the largest ethnic group within the nation, have particularly merged traditional ceremonies and religious beliefs with European Christianity. South Africa’s multicultural strengths also extend to shared musical styles across its various regions, with Kwaito particularly combining European and African traditions. Moves towards sporting integration have similarly made South Africa a world-leader in cricket and rugby, and in 2010 the nation successfully hosted the football World Cup.
Cultural Tensions
Ongoing struggles over poverty, urban crime, and healthcare however remain at the heart of South Africa’s difficult transition towards cultural and economic integration. While having made significant strides towards integration to create a national identity rich in ethnic and social diversity, it is still important to view South Africa as caught in a struggle between its segregated past and multicultural present.
This picture: engel.ac – Fotolia
