Cultural identity and the transnation in Mokae and Ndlela's stories

Abstract

Following the emergence of migrant communities and diasporic cultures, it has become increasingly difficult to think about culture and cultural identity as limited to the boundaries of the nation state. In fact some cultural theorists have long predicted the death of the nation state. This paper seeks to deconstruct the concept of the nation state as a signifier of cultural identity- a concept which was constructed during and in the aftermath of political decolonisation in the postcolonial world in general and post-apartheid South Africa in particular. It thus advocates freedom from national borders and the formation of transnations and transcultures. The study uses insights from Phil Ndlela and Gomolemo Mokae’s stories published in the anthology At the rendezvous of victory and other stories (1999);  stories that capture the “immigrant problem” and the politics of cultural identity in post apartheid South Africa.

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