Everything about The Cape Malay totally explained
The
Cape Malay community is an
ethnic group or
community in
South Africa, taking its name from what is now known as the
Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from the
Malay archipelago, mostly Javanese from Indonesia, who started this community in South Africa. The community's earliest members were slaves brought by the Dutch East India Company, followed shortly thereafter by political dissidents and
Muslim religious leaders who opposed the Dutch presence in what is now Indonesia. Starting in
1654, these resistors were imprisoned or exiled in
South Africa by the
Dutch East India Company, which founded and used what is now
Cape Town as a resupply station for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. They are the group that first introduced
Islam to South Africa.
Terminology
Because ethnicity is a politically loaded and historically painful topic in South Africa, it can be useful to consider the Cape Malay identity as the product of a set of histories and communities at least as much as it's a real definition of an ethnic group. Further, since many Cape Malay people find their Muslim identity to be more salient than their "Malay" ancestry, there have also been many instances in which people in one situation were described as "Cape Malay", and were in another situation described as "
Cape Muslim" by people both inside and outside of the community. From the early 1970s to the present, some members of this community – particularly those with a political allegiance to broader
liberation movements in South Africa – may refer to themselves as "black" in the terms of the
Black Consciousness Movement. The "Cape Malay" identity was also a subcategory of the so-called "
Coloured" category in the terms of the
apartheid-era government's classifications of ethnicity. Like many South Africans, people described in some situations as "Cape Malay" are often the descendants of people from many continents and religions.
But if there are those who shy from the label, there are also others who use the phrase "Cape Malay" as a proud marker of their own history and cultural identification.
Culture
The founders of this community were the first to bring
Islam to South Africa. The community's culture and traditions have also left an impact that's felt to this day. Adaptations of traditional foods such as
bredie,
bobotie,
sosaties and
koeksisters are staples in many South African homes. The
Muslim community in Cape Town remains large and vibrant to this day, now much expanded beyond those exiles who started the first mosques in South Africa.
People in the Cape Malay community generally speak mostly
Afrikaans but also
English or local dialects of the two. The
Malay languages and other languages that their ancestors brought are no longer spoken, though various Malay words and phrases are still employed in daily usage.
'Cape Malay' music also became closely associated with this cultural group. An interesting secular folk song type, of Dutch origin, is termed the 'nederlandslied'. The language and musical style of this genre reflects the history of South African slavery; it's often described and perceived as 'sad' and 'emotional' in content and context. The nederlandslied shows the influence of the Arabesque (ornamented) style of singing. This style is unique in South Africa, Africa and probably in the world. Cape Malay music has been of great interest to academics, historians, musicologists, writers and even politicians. The well-known annual
Cape Town Minstrel or Carnival street festival is a deep-rooted Cape Malay cultural event; it incorporates the Cape Malay comic song or 'moppie' (often also referred to as 'ghoema' songs). The barrel-shaped drum, called the 'ghoema', is also closely associated with Cape Malay music.
Population and location
It is estimated that there are about 166,000 people in Cape Town who could be described as Cape Malay, and about 10,000 in
Johannesburg. The picturesque Malay Quarter of Cape Town is found on
Signal Hill, and is called the
Bo-Kaap. Many Cape Malay people also lived in
District Six before it was demolished; after its demolition, they moved to so-called Coloured
townships on the
Cape Flats. The
Claremont Road Mosque, frequented by many Cape Muslims, was an important center of anti-apartheid activity. Islamic scholar
Farid Esack is from this community.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cape Malay'.
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