Communal identity creation among the Makgabeng rural people in Limpopo Province

Abstract

Key to this study is the history of Makgabeng, mainly focusing on creation of rural communal identities in that area. Defining identity will be an important aspect for this study in which a deduction will be made on how the Makgabeng communities viewed themselves and were also viewed by those outside their area. The various aspects which shaped and led them to view themselves and be viewed that way over time will all be explained.

The history of Makgabeng was never included in the mainstream just like the history of most of the previously marginalised communities in South Africa. The early history of such communities was documented by Europeans, while those communities did not participate in the production of their own histories and the history of South Africa in general. The history of indigenous communities has been told from the other people’s perspectives resulting in huge gaps as well as distorted, prejudiced and subjective accounts of the past. The past of these indigenous communities was mostly preserved in oral traditions and oral history. Therefore, one of the principal aims of this study is to work towards filling the gaps as well as attempting to rectify distortions and myths prevailing in the current texts which were made by authors alien to the indigenous people.