Diaspora or transnational citizens? Indian Ocean networks and changing multiculturalisms in South Africa

This article gives an historical perspective to debates on xenophobia and immigration in South Africa after 1994. It contrasts contexts for immigration and the establishment of claims of belonging within the changing multiculturalisms of apartheid and “the rainbow nation.” It discusses different types of identity tactics deployed by immigrant groups in their struggles for recognition within these contexts. Finally, it compares the development during the twentieth century of the use of transnational Indian Ocean networks to support simultaneous claims for national and transnational belonging, as exemplified by groups of Cape Muslims and Durban Zanzibaris.