TY - GEN T1 - Do South Africans exist? : nationalism, democracy, and the identity of the people A1 - Chipkin, Ivor LA - English PP - Johannesburg PB - Wits University Press YR - 2007 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/jstor_eba_ocn608113735 AB - Do South Africans exist? addresses a gap in contemporary studies of nationalism and the nation, providing a critical study of South African nationalisim against the broader context of African nationalism in general. Narratives of resistance, telling of African peoples oppressed and exploited, presume that 'the people' preceded the period of nationalist struggle. This book explores how an African 'people' came into being in the first place, particularly in the South African context, as a collectively organised in pursuit of a political--and not simply cultural--end. The author argues that the nation is a political community whose form is given in relation to the pursuit of democracy and freedom, and that if democratic authority is lodged in 'the people', what matters is the way that this 'people' is defined, delimited and produced. He argues that the nation precedes the state, not because it has always existed, but because it emerges in and through the nationalist struggle for state power. Ultimately, he encourages the reader to re-evaluate knee-jerk judgements about the failure of modernity in Africa.--Book flap. OP - 261 CN - DT1754 .C45 2007 SN - 1776143779 SN - 9781776143771 SN - 9781868144457 SN - 1868144453 KW - Nationalism : South Africa. KW - Group identity : South Africa. KW - Democracy : South Africa. KW - National characteristics, South African. KW - Black nationalism : South Africa. KW - South Africa : Politics and government : 1994- KW - South Africans. KW - Nationalisme : Afrique du Sud. KW - Identité collective : Afrique du Sud. KW - Sud-Africains. KW - Nationalisme noir : Afrique du Sud. KW - South Africans KW - Black nationalism KW - Democracy KW - Group identity KW - National characteristics, South African KW - Nationalism KW - Politics and government KW - South Africa KW - Nationalbewusstsein KW - Südafrika KW - Since 1994 ER -