THE CHRISTMAS BANDS MOVEMENT IN THE WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE CONSTITUTION OF SUBJECTIVITY

What is it about?

Christmas bands are ensconced within lower class coloured (a racialised designation for people of mixed descent) communities of Cape Town. Issues of race and class have dominated the history of coloured people in the Western Cape because it is a history rooted in a particular context. The article investigates how the bands constitute themselves as respectable members of society through disciplinary routines, uniform dress and military gestures.

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Why is it important?

Through rituals of truth making, Christmas bands construct normalising practices to produce disciplined bands and selves that perform the enactment of self-respecting, unique communities. By employing these strategies, they identify themselves in a particular way as South African citizens, despite the denial of their citizenship that has been a feature of their history and still remains a contested and difficult terrain.