Central Data Catalog
Citation Information
Type | Journal Article - Race and society |
Title | Racial classification and the modern census in South Africa, 1911-1996 |
Author(s) | |
Volume | 4 |
Issue | 2 |
Publication (Day/Month/Year) | 2001 |
Page numbers | 161-176 |
URL | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109095240300007X |
Abstract | The South African government has previously used racial classification as a tool in its official state policies to control its population. In this essay, we examine the role racial classification and stratification has played in South Africa’s modern censuses. We define the modern period as between 1911 and 1996. We show how racial identity is part of the collective identity in South Africa. Racial identity is part of the government’s sense of what it means to be a South African, and, the population transfigured and imagined in this racialised context is what appears as race. The modern South African census illustrates how important race can be in a political context. |
Related studies
» | South Africa - South African Census 1991, Central Statistical Service (now Statistics South Africa) - Government of South Africa |
» | South Africa - South African Census 1996, 10% Sample, Statistics South Africa - Government of South Africa |
Khalfani, Akil, and Tukufu Zuberi. "Racial classification and the modern census in South Africa, 1911-1996." Race and society 4, no. 2 (2001): 161-176.