Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Ethnicity

latest news & developments
BOOK REVIEW

Author shares his life through an ethnic lens

One boy. Three matriarchs. Endless food, love, and drama. A memoir that’s as touching as it is tasty

  • Rodney Ghobril
5 min read
South Africans have formed a common state nationalism quite fast despite socio-economic differences and cleavages. (Photo by Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
CULTURE

Is South Africa a nation?

There is a need for deliberate, inclusive strategies to bridge ethnic and racial cleavages and foster a more equitable and unified national identity

  • Meketsi Tsotetsi
14 min read
What you see is what you get: It is important that television shows such as ‘Isono’ (above) reflect a range of people and socioeconomic backgrounds
BISEXUAL

OPINION| South African audiences want more authentic and accurate diversity in TV shows and movies

The media has the power to shape perceptions, so television shows and movies can help shape a positive view of people who feel stereotyped

  • Giuliana Dias
4 min read
It is true that in the African continent, ethnicity is a dreaded term because of the continent’s experience with ethnicity- or tribe-based inter-group animosities and conflicts that, in some countries, morphed into genocides. (Zinyange Auntony/AFP)
AFRICA

Ethnic consciousness should not threaten African nation-building

Ethnic identity can be harnessed to strengthen national identity — and this can foster a continental-based African identity

  • Amanuel Isak Tewolde
3 min read
Giuseppe Rava’s illustration of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in 1879 is a reminder of how
APARTHEID

Ethnic boxes perpetuate colonialism

The dangerous re-ethnicisation of SA politics must be stopped lest it lead to the same ethnonationalism that caused bloodshed in Rwanda and Yugoslavia

  • Angelo Fick
8 min read
The rich milieu of groups native to the Middle East has no place in codified constructions of US race and ethnicity.
COPTIC EGYPTIANS

Rami Malek’s Emmy victory is deeply important and marks a milestone moment for Arab or Egyptian Americans in Hollywood

The rich milieu of groups native to the Middle East has no place in codified constructions of US race and ethnicity.

  • Khaled A Beydoun
5 min read