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http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/120
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| Title: | Arabic-Afrikaans: A Vehicle for Identity Formation rather than Integration |
| Authors: | Haron, M |
| Issue Date: | 25-Apr-2007 |
| Abstract: | South Africa’s Muslims, though numerically small in number in relation to the total population, have made a lasting contribution in different sectors of society. Their footprints have been noted not only in the building arena as carpenters and bricklayers, the clothing industry as tailors and dressmakers, and the cuisine sector as great cooks and bakers, but also in the construction of a creolized Dutch, namely the Afrikaans language; a language that was claimed to have been the sole invention of the White Afrikaner ‘Boers’ at the Cape. Even though some mid 20th century Afrikaner scholars such as Adrianus van Selms and Pieter Muller had already observed and acknowledged the Cape Muslims’ linguistic contribution by the 1950s, most of the Whites preferred to ignore this. In the opinion these Boers, they were the ones who socially engineered the creation and development of this language from Dutch. Overwhelming evidence produced by Achmat Davids and the mentioned Afrikaner scholars suggests that the slave community, of whom the Cape Muslims - whose origins have been traced to different parts of the Eastern world: Indonesian archipelago, Eastern part of the South Asian coast and the East African coast (Bradlow and Cairns 1978: 86-92) - formed an integral part during the 17th and 18th centuries, was equally responsible for bringing Afrikaans into life.
The Cape Muslims in particular creatively used their sacred script, namely Arabic, as a tool to mainly translate their religious texts into and occasionally write their grocery lists in Afrikaans; this was especially so after Melayu, the language of that was spoken and used by the early members of the slave community, slowly disappeared from the social scene and of which only remnants have been left behind. These translations came to form the bulk of the literature that came to form what Van Selms aptly described as ‘Arabic-Afrikaans;’ a term that could not find an appropriate replacement. The late 19th century Boers were totally oblivious of the fact that members of the Cape Muslims creatively applied themselves to preserve their identity by further reinforcing it through the use of this important script; a script that was largely employed in the home-based and mosque based madrasas (Muslim schools) as well as in the growing number of masjids (mosques) that emerged throughout the 19th century. They ploughed their energies in this direction because they desired to remain loyal to their faith and re-affirm their religious identity amidst a predominantly hostile Christian environment in which their faith in Islam was scorned and considered ‘evil.’ Instead of using the Afrikaans language to integrate and assimilate, they employed it to maintain their distance from the colonial authorities so as not to be integrated and absorbed into the dominant and imposing White, secular culture that was effectively separated religion from public life.
This article recollects the story of the ‘Arabic-Afrikaans’ manuscripts and reaffirms the arguments that have been made by Adrianus van Selms and others that the Arabic-Afrikaans effectively contributed towards the shaping and the development of the Afrikaans language. It, however, goes further by stressing the fact that it not only unified the Cape Muslims, despite the theological disagreements that took place occasionally among them, but it also bolstered their identity and assisted them to remain at a relative distance from their colonial masters and their predominantly white culture; this attitude generally secured them from any form of assimilation into colonial culture. In fact, what the Cape Muslims attracted individuals from the colony to Islam and this consequently led to a steady increase in the number of adherents of Islam. Nonetheless, the article revisits the formation of Arabic-Afrikaans literature to show how the Cape Muslims added substantially to South African literary history and the available literature. The article, which makes use of the extant evidence, argues that – in spite of the process of re-writing of South Africa’s literary history during the current period of democracy - no concerted effort has been made by South Africa’s (White or Black) literary historians to insert this important literary genre into South African literary history. In the process of demonstrating these issues, it en passant mentions the efforts that are being made to preserve the extant texts and energies that are being ploughed in to have it fully accepted and integrated into South Africa’s literary history. The article begins its journey by sketching the socio-historical and linguistic context within which the Cape Muslim community emerged and within which some of the members created and developed the Arabic-Afrikaans literature. But before embarking on this journey it should be stated that ‘identity’ as a theoretical concept that frames the arguments in this article will not be unpacked and explained but should be kept in mind throughout as the story of the formation of Arabic-Afrikaans is being unfolded. |
| Description: | These ideas were presented at the AfroArab Cultural Institute (Bamako) Symposium, held 28-30th November 2006, on the theme: National African Languages as space of Afro-Arab integration. The conference paper was
developed into this paper for publication by the Afro Arab Cultural Institute in 2007. See http://www.afroarab-ci.org/english_home_page.htm |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/120 |
| Appears in Collections: | Research articles (Theology & Religious Studies)
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| Haron_AfroArabConference2006.pdf | | 131Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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