Do South Africans Exist? by Ivor Chipkin - 9781868144457

Do South Africans Exist?Nationalism, Democracy and the Identity of 'the People'\nAuthor(s): Ivor Chipkin\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Wits University Press, South Africa\nImprint: Wits University Press\nISBN-13: 9781868144457, 978-1868144457\nSynopsis\nDo South Africans Exist? Addresses a gap in contemporary studies of nationalism and the nation, providing a critical study of South African nationalism against a broader context of African nationalism in general. Narratives of resistance, telling of African peoples oppressed and exploited, presume that 'the people' preceded the period of nationalist struggle. This book explores how an African 'people' came into being in the first place, particularly in the South African context, as a collectivity organised in pursuit of a political and not simply cultural end. The author argues that the nation is a political community whose form is given in relation to the pursuit of democracy and freedom, and that if democratic authority is lodged.