Curry and Race: Gender, Diaspora and Food in South Africa

Abstract

Indians are a small minority in post-apartheid South Africa, a country that grapples with issues of unemployment and poverty, inter- and intra-ethnic tensions, stark economic disparities and the continuing inequities of apartheid. Indentured under British colonialism, Indian South Africans were defined as ‘ethnic’ others—outsiders with identities derived from Diaspora connections (and disconnections) with India. But the Indianness that lies at the centre of this designation is indigenised, localised and hybridised, gaining its resilience through cultural adaptations and accommodations. Food lies at the basis of these discourses, as do gender relations. In a location influenced by global capitalism, transnational networks, and patriarchy, women have resisted overtly through political activism, and covertly by closing ranks and maintaining strong ethnic and religious networks and cultural practices. Along these lines, women have appropriated male dominated public spaces to create a sense of community and to celebrate the indigenized delights of diaspora food.