Categories of counting: Constructions of South African national identity in South Africa's
Date
1999-05-08
Authors
Peberdy, Sally
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Abstract
The boundaries of modern nation-states delimit the territory controlled by the state. The
designation of places or ports of entry on the borders of modern nation-states allows the
counting of movement in and out. Immigration and migration statistics, however flawed,
reflect the state's desire to know who is entering and leaving its territorial jurisdiction. They
are, therefore, part of the process whereby a state constructs knowledge about the people that
inhabit its territory. Immigration statistics also indicate who the state is prepared to receive
as new members of the nation, and on what terms. Accordingly, the collection and
presentation of immigration statistics, and the categories used to classify and count, are
deeply embedded in the national project and the construction of national identity.
When collecting information on those who enter, the state chooses what it wants to
know. Who and what it decides to count reflects what it sees as important information as
well as its concerns and anxieties about itself and the nation. The way that the information is
categorized, ordered and displayed provides further insights into the priorities and
preferences of the state. Methods and categories of counting in South Africa, as well as the
way these categories were ordered in immigration returns, changed over time. Change was
particularly apparent at moments when the state was consolidating or seeking to reinvent its
notions of national identity. Immigration statistics, therefore, also tell a story of changing
constructions of national identity and the priorities and anxieties of the South African state.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 8 May [1999].
Keywords
Nationalism. South Africa, South Africa. Emigration and immigration. Government policy