Sociolinguistics Symposium 19
Freie Universität Berlin | August 21-24, 2012
Programme: accepted abstracts
Abstract ID: 1075
Part of Session 165: Language, Place and Identity (Other abstracts in this session)
Boorlinge, Burgers and Inkommers: The Discursive Construction of Place Identity/ies in Pacaltsdorp, South Africa
Authors: Klein, Yolandi
Submitted by: Ribbens-Klein, Yolandi (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
In sociolinguistic studies, people are often grouped according to their physical location or place of origin. It is assumed ‘that identifying where someone is, where someone is from, and who else is from there is unproblematic because the relevant criteria are objective and categorical’ (Johnstone 2004:65-66). It is only recently that scholars started to incorporate notions of ‘place’ as subjectively experienced and constitutive of a group’s local, emic social categorisations. In this paper ‘place’ and ‘place identity’ are discussed in line with Modan’s (2007) work. Place identity can be defined as a social identity articulated by groups or individuals in terms of alignment with a specific geographical and socially meaningful place. Historical processes, existing social structures, spatial arrangements, power relations, and discursive contexts all contribute to people’s perceptions about what it means to be from and in a certain place (Pansters 2005).
The paper describes how the sense of belonging to a particular place is constructed in the personal narratives of residents from a peri-urban, Afrikaans-dominant area called Pacaltsdorp (located in South Africa’s South Cape region). Pacaltsdorp was founded in the early 19th century by the London Missionary Society, who transformed an existing indigenous Khoi settlement into a new, transnational Christian ‘place’. In South Africa, ‘place’ has been highly politicized due to its history of colonialism and Apartheid. During the 20th century, for example, people were forcibly removed from surrounding areas and resettled in Pacaltsdorp. In addition, a new low-cost housing neighbourhood was formed post-1994, which contributed to an increase in in-migration of South Africans to Pacaltsdorp during the last two decades.
Based on interviews with residents (N=75; aged 13-80) and ethnographic fieldwork (June 2010-July 2011), the articulation of three kinds of local identities in personal discourses is explored. Newcomers to the town are referred to as inkommers (lit. ‘incomers’) by the more established residents. Pacaltsdorpers referred to as boorlinge (‘natives’) lay claim to several generations of ancestral residency. Integrated residents are referred to as burgers (‘citizens’). The discourse analysis of these narratives shows, among other things, that knowing about the history of Pacaltsdorp is highly valued by boorlinge and linked to the moral geography of the town where religion plays an important role. Crime and substance abuse are linked to discourses about troubled neighbourhoods and the inkommers living there. The argument is made that community members position themselves and others as authentic or marginal Pacaltsdorpers through language, and in the process construct various moral spaces based on communal ideologies – where ‘moral’ refers to ‘the negative characterisations of other places to bolster the positive qualities’ of the places people align themselves to (Modan 2007: 298).
References
Johnstone, B. 2004. ‘Place, Globalization, and Linguistic Variation’ in C. Fought (ed.), Sociolinguistic Variation: Critical Reflections. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 65-83.
Modan, G.G. 2007. Turf Wars: Discourse, Diversity, and the Politics of Place. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell.
Pansters, W.G. 2005. ‘Authenticity, hybridity, and difference: debating national identity in twentieth-century Mexico’. European Journal of Anthropology 45. 71-93.