Abstract
The toponymic landscape of South Africa, as colourful as its flag, a kaleidoscope of colour, reflects the diversity of South African citizens. This chapter aims to point out that the geographical names, in this case referring to urban entities, collectively also reflect the hearts and minds of those who gave the names, ultimately expressing what it means to be a South African in the face of shared historical and cultural experiences that motivated the bestowal of the name. The effect of the policy of transformation will be discussed focusing on how transformation differs from mere change and how these two concepts apply to the geographical names of South Africa and its peoples. Using the onomastic framework of the etymological and associative meanings of place names, it will be pointed out that being South African involves both shared and differentiating experiences leading to the conclusion that there is no definition for a South African identity and that a national identity is subject to a consciousness and tolerance of social diversity and need.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Another version of this contribution was originally published under the same title in Acta Academica, 44, 3 (2012), pp. 24–51. This version was rewritten by permission on behalf of The University of the Free State, South Africa.
- 2.
Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (London: Vintage Books, 1994), p. 380.
- 3.
Antjie Krog, A Change of Tongue (Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2003).
- 4.
Krog, A Change of Tongue, p. 5.
- 5.
Peter Raper, New Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2004).
- 6.
Heidegger in Andrea Hurst, ‘Humanising Research: The Cares that Drive Researchers’, Acta Academica, 40, 3 (2008), pp. 1–34 (p. 7).
- 7.
W. P. Esterhuyse, Apartheid Must Die (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1981), p. 60.
- 8.
Heidegger in Hurst, ‘Humanising Research’, p. 7.
- 9.
Somadoda Fikeni, ‘What’s in a Name? Naming, National Identity and Social Cohesion in South Africa’ (Pretoria: Department of Arts and Culture, 2011), p. 10.
- 10.
Said, Culture and Imperialism, p. 378.
- 11.
Fikeni, ‘What’s in a Name?’, p. 10.
- 12.
See Peter Raper, ‘Khoisan Influence on Zulu Place-Names’, Nomina Africana, 22, 1–2 (2008), pp. 127–168. The words on the country’s coat of arms are also !Xam meaning ‘unity in diversity.’
- 13.
Peter Raper, ‘Khoisan Influence Discernible in the Transformation of Place Names in South Africa’, Acta Academica, 1, supplementation (2007), pp. 110–138 (pp. 118–121).
- 14.
Barbara Meiring, ‘The Stormy Seas around the Fairest Cape’, Nomina Africana, 19, 1 (2005), pp. 1–30.
- 15.
Barbara Meiring, ‘Aspects of Violence in South African Place Names’, Werkwinkel: Journal of Low Countries and South African Studies, 5, 2 (2010), pp. 95–112.
- 16.
Somadoda Fikeni, ‘Translate the Rich Heritage of EC’, Eastern Cape Today, 7–13 October 2011.
- 17.
South African Geographical Names Council, Handbook on Geographical Names (Pretoria: Department of Arts and Culture, 2002), p. 5.
- 18.
Meiring, ‘Aspects of Violence.’
- 19.
Raper, New Dictionary.
- 20.
Noni Jabavu, Drawn in Colour: African Contrasts (London : John Murray, 1960), p. 14;
Martiens van Bart, ‘Dié rebel ook vereer by ABO-Monument op Laborie’, Nuusbrief: SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, September 2005.
- 21.
For other explanations see Raper, New Dictionary, pp. 9, 76. The latter name is presently under scrutiny due to possible confusion with similar names for features in KwaZulu-Natal.
- 22.
Cited from http://www.peaceparks.org/(visited 4 April 2014).
- 23.
Barbara Meiring, ‘Discourse Patterns at Social Cohesion Campaigns’, Language Matters, 41, 1 (2010), pp. 41–57 (p. 47).
- 24.
Raper, New Dictionary; Meiring, ‘Aspects of Violence’, pp. 100–110.
- 25.
Pierre de Villiers, ‘Captain Courageous’, Indwe, June 2010.
- 26.
Raper, New Dictionary, p. 27.
- 27.
Raper, New Dictionary.
- 28.
Gerald L’Ange, The White Africans: From Colonisation to Liberation (Johannesburg : Jonathan Ball, 2005), p. 173.
- 29.
Naftali Kadmon, ‘Research in Toponymy: Biblical and other Hebrew Place Names in Southern Africa’, in P.S. Hattingh, Naftali Kadmon, Peter E. Raper and I. Booysen (eds), United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names Training Course in Toponymy for Southern Africa (Pretoria: Department of Geography, University of Pretoria, 1993), n.p.
- 30.
Raper, New Dictionary, p. 253.
- 31.
Fanon was quoted in Said, Culture and Imperialism, pp. 323–325.
- 32.
Elwyn Jenkins, Falling into Place (Cape Town: David Philip, 2007); Attie Coetser, ‘Africa’s Onomastic Reaction to Colonialism: From Countries to Municipalities’, Nomina Africana, 20, 1–2 (2006), pp. 16–41; Barbara Meiring, ‘New Names for a New South Africa’, in W. F. H. Nicolaisen (ed.), Proceedings of the XIX th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences (Aberdeen: the University of Aberdeen, August 4–11, 1996), pp. 241–247.
- 33.
Kwasi Wiredu, Philosophy and an African Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meiring, B. (2016). South African Identity as Reflected by its Toponymic Tapestry. In: Bigon, L. (eds) Place Names in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32485-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32485-2_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32484-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32485-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)