Apartheid, classificatory rigidity and uncomfortable whiteness of the Portuguese community in South Africa

Abstract

Apartheid is known worldwide for the implementation of a rigid racial system, responsible for the separation between groups in South Africa and for the subordination of non-white populations to the interests of the minority. In reality created by the theorists of segregation, each race would assume a static position within the national classification system, as if whites, blacks, mestizos (colored) and Indians corresponded to autonomous universes, closed to the interference and influence of the others.

Thus, the text proposes a reflection on this classificatory rigidity, based on a community that has assumed an ambiguous role: the Portuguese community. How can we think of a racially rigid reality from its margins? If the segregationist principles preached the full integration of individuals with politically defined racial groups, how can we think of a community that put in check the identity rigidity and, consequently, the very support pillar of the system? We intend to answer these questions, signaling the complexity of one of South Africa's lesser-known communities.