How do language and identity manifest in a South African context?

             On our first day of class at the University of South Africa (UNISA), our professor prepared a Powerpoint presentation to accompany her lecture on language, identity, and community in South African society. As we took turns discussing what identity meant to us each individually, a single phrase stood out on the projection screen: "Speak so that I may see you." While I did not fully grasp what this phrase illustrated so early in the trip, the more I was exposed to South Africa and its people, the more I realized the significant role language plays not only in how we communicate with others, but in how we identify ourselves and our place in the global community.
            When talking about identity, there are three main categories that must be discussed: national, group, and personal identity. Language is an essential tool in the formation of all of these, especially in the context of South Africa. Since its transition into a constitutional democracy in 1994, South Africans have been working towards the creation of a "rainbow nation," where national identity serves not only to celebrate the cultural diversity of South African people but also to unify them. The government's handling of language politics is a perfect example of this attitude. South Africa today boasts 11 official languages. Pre-1994 there were only two: English and Afrikaans. The addition of the 9 Bantu languages was a major marker of the beginnings of post-apartheid South Africa: a country where the cultures of Black and coloured citizens are valued equally against those of their White counterparts.
            This system, however, is not without its critics. Neville Alexander makes the point that as important as it is for a person to retain the language of his or her respective culture, in order to be successful in a competitive workforce South Africans must speak English first and foremost. Despite the newly official status of many traditional African languages, when it comes to jobs or positions of middle-income or higher, English remains the lingua franca. Because of this, native speakers of Bantu languages are constantly at a disadvantage. "At levels of empowering proficiency, only middle-class people in South Africa can be said to speak English. Yet, there was no thought [by the government] of systematically encouraging and helping people to learn one another's languages on a significant scale" (Neville Alexander, "Language Politics in South Africa"). While Alexander is strongly critical of the politics behind this system, he admits that the most practical solution would be to recognize English as the unifying language of South Africa. Employing this tactic would hopefully do away with language barriers, granting South Africans more equal opportunities for advancement.
            While unilingualization is often poorly associated with colonialism (especially when the unifying language is English), diversity in language is difficult to maintain in an increasingly globalized world. This is not an issue unique to South Africa, but one currently faced everywhere. Because a person's native language is so intrinsically linked to his or her culture (and therefore identity), it is impossible to value one language over another in an anthropological context. Language defines us the same way we are defined by race, gender, class or religion. However, one must not get so caught up in the politics of language that they fail to communicate. To the same extent that one is an American, an Afrikaner, an English or isiXhosa speaker, we are all citizens of the global community. We must constantly be searching for more powerful ways to communicate who we are and what we believe in, in whatever language is most effective. My experiences in South Africa have taught me that a person's identity is not simply defined by how others see them, or even how they see themselves. Identity is how we communicate ourselves to the world.

~Ryan Lakin