INTRODUCTION


What if you are not what you’ve always assumed yourself to be? Interestingly, that is the case with many!  In this project ‘Diaspora’ I have explored the superficiality of identity with regard to one's citizenship. Citizenship is one of several attributes that constitutes our identity in civilized societal life. While cardinal and at the heart of our very essence as individuals, communities and even entire nations, citizenship is somewhat superficial.

This is an aspect of identity that primarily categorizes people according to their geographical locality by the use of borders. Especially in the case of Africa, as author Peter Muller puts it (Muller: 2003, 304)[a], these national boundaries were merely ‘superimposed’ on Bantu (i) communities by rival political and economical colonizing powers. The undoing of the Berlin Conference of 1884 was to “overlook underlying fundamental elements” [b] of communal living such as language, heritage, values, culture and so on.

As if innate of mankind, borders have done little to restrict human movement. Be it in a quest for better opportunities or an escape from some instability – voluntarily or forced displacement, humans migrate. From the Bantu migration of the last two millennia to modern man, people continue to traverse back and forth across the continents. Now given our modern ease of transportation the phenomenal levels and new patterns of migration have given resurgence to the term ‘Diaspora’ (ii).

As was the case during the Bantu Migration (iii) or just any other migration, according to sociologist Craig Calhoun, whenever migrant communities mix, they “give up their distinct language, beliefs, values, customs” (Calhoun: 1995, 62) [c] shifts which ultimately resulting in tainted or loss of identity. It may follow that while most of us today claim to be rightful inhabitants or citizens of a particular country, we could have lineages that trace us to far flung regions and influences, ultimately questioning the authenticity of our very own identities.