Contending Approaches to Coloured Identity and the History of the Coloured People of South Africa

Abstract Ever since its emergence in the late nineteenth century Coloured identity, its nature and the implications it holds for southern African society, have been the subject of ideological and political contestation. Because contending and changing perceptions of Colouredness imply different interpretations of their past there have been a wide range of approaches to the history of the Coloured people in both popular thinking and the academy. Also, controversy around the nature of Coloured identity has tended to intensify in recent decades, especially after the popularization of Coloured rejectionism in the wake of the Soweto uprising of 1976. Disagreements have thus often become quite heated because political and ideological agendas, as well as matters of high principle, have increasingly been seen to be at stake. After sketching the main contours of Coloured history this article outlines the full range of competing interpretations of this history and of the nature of Coloured identity that have emerged and explores the main contestations that have arisen.