A critical examination of anti-Indian racism in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This dissertation is a critical examination of anti-Indian racism in post-apartheid South Africa. While racism presents an intractable problem for all racial groups in South Africa, this dissertation will show that Indian South Africans are especially framed by a specific racist discourse related to broad perceptions of economic exploitation within the context of redistributive and resource-allocation conflicts, political corruption, insularity and general lack of a socio-cultural ‘fit’ with the rest of South African society. This is not unique to present day South Africa and is (albeit in evolving ways) a long standing phenomenon. Key concerns addressed by the dissertation are: the lack of critical attention to the matter of anti-Indian racism, the historical origins of anti-Indian racism, the characteristics and dynamics of anti-Indian racism and its persistence in post-apartheid South Africa despite an avowed commitment of South Africa’s new post-apartheid dispensation to a non-racial society.