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How do you define Africanism? Is it based on melanin, tracing ancestorial roots, or is it based upon how the Government of the day views you?  Further still, in a world of “woke” and intensely capitalistic politics, how are indigenous communities and tribes treated and how do they define themselves in the structure of newfound borders, associated flags and polarised politics?

In this podcast, I delve into the topics at hand in South Africa, a country divided by its past and still torn by brutal displays of ethnic bias.  I am joined by 11 respected leaders of the Khoisan community from across the entire region, as we tackle the elephant in the room and uncover the dangerous narratives that have reduced a once “rainbow nation” into a “zebra nation”.

South Africa is home to over 1.5 million people of Indian origin. The community have faced several threatening challenges. Although many are proudly South African, in 2021 they were reminded once more of the ideas surrounding nationalism as riots erupted in Durban that challenged the ideas around national identity. During this unrest, the silence from the globe was deafening. The Global Indian Series was one of the first to respond and mobilised Governments globally to condemn the violence.

Click here for our coverage on South Africa: https://globalindianseries.com/?s=south+africa

About the Khoisan:

Khoisan /ˈkɔɪsɑːn/, or Khoe-Sān (pronounced [kxʰoesaːn]), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the Sān or Sākhoen (Saake in the Nǁng language).

The San were formerly called Bushmen,[3] (from Afrikaans Boesmans from Dutch: Boschjesmens); and the Khoekhoen were formerly known as "Hottentots",[4] speculated to be a Dutch onomatopoeic term referring to the click consonants prevalent in the Khoekhoe languages. However there is no evidence of this etymology.[5] The language of both peoples are grouped under Khoesān. Early Cape settlers would ply Khoekhoen with liquor as an inducement for them to perform a ritual dance.[citation needed] The lyric accompanying the dance sounded in Dutch ears like hot-en-tot.

Sān are popularly thought of as foragers in the Kalahari Desert and regions of Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Northern South Africa. The word sān is from the Khoekhoe language and simply refers to foragers ("those who pick things up from the ground") who do not own livestock. As such, it was used in reference to all hunter-gatherer populations of the Southern African region who Khoekhoe-speaking communities came into contact with and was largely a term referring to a lifestyle, distinct from a pastoralist or agriculturalist one, and not to any particular ethnicity. While there are attendant cosmologies and languages associated with this way of life, the term is an economic designator rather than a cultural or ethnic one.

Khoekhoen is an ethnic designator. It refers to several populations which speak closely-related languages and are considered to be the historical pastoralist communities in the South African Cape region, through to Namibia, where Khoekhoe populations of Nama and Damara people are prevalent ethnicities.

These Khoekhoe nations and Sān are grouped under the single term Khoesān as representing the indigenous substrate population of Southern Africa prior to the hypothesised Bantu expansion reaching the area roughly between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago.

Many Khoesān peoples are the direct descendants of a very early dispersal of anatomically modern humans to Southern Africa before 150,000 years ago. Their languages show a vague typological similarity, largely confined to the prevalence of click consonants. They are not verifiably derived from a common proto-language, but are today split into at least three separate and unrelated language families (Khoe-Kwadi, ǃUi-Taa and Kxʼa). It has been suggested that the Khoekhoeǁaen (Khoekhoe peoples) may represent Late Stone Age arrivals to Southern Africa, possibly displaced by Bantu immigration.[6]

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan

About the Global Indian Series:

My name is Rajan Nazran Chief Explorer for the Global Indian Series, the official platform for people of Indian origin (PIO) and liberal minds, because let’s face it, we are everywhere!

For over 15 years I have travelled across the globe deep diving into 60+ countries whilst exploring the kaleidoscope of our remarkable 50 shades of brown community.

Voyaging to the edges of the Amazon, facing Ebola in West Africa, being held hostage in Eastern Europe, tapping rubber in Malaysia, drinking chai with Heads of State and sharing laughter with local fishermen – I have been there, looking for the ideas that re-shape a nation.

My purpose is simple, to build a living encyclopaedia of the human experience of the community and a safe mooring ground for open discussions, whether you are an NRI, Indian Diaspora, person of Indian origin (PIO) or a fan of South Asian anthropology, what I do is bring people and communities together.

I do this by plunging into the human experience of being a person of Indian origin (PIO), taking a second look at the countries we now call home and tackling the conversations we need to know more about.

Through our range of award-winning original content (print, podcasts, events and TV) and fascinating discussions, our impactful stories and platforms have spearheaded national and international conversations that have brought people together.  Our work is featured in global brands including The Indian Express through to the CNBC network.

How to get involved:

Interested in getting involved in building the world’s largest living encyclopaedia on the community? Whether you want to become a patron, buy us a chai in a new location or have your story shown, simply get in touch via our website, we would love to hear from you. www.globalindianseries.com

Social media:

You can reach Rajan via

Global Indian Series (@rajannazran) • Instagram photos and videos

(1) Rajan (Singh) Nazran | LinkedIn

Global Indian Series - YouTube

Special thank you to TAIZU for the music

Episode: 130

Presenter – Rajan Nazran

Producer –Global Indian Series/NazranRoth

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Support change: A little favour to ask-We believe true freedom is to be able to act without fear or favour and that identity is not a “brand” to be abused, politicized, or reduced for personal gain. As Global Indians, the need to work together is greater now than ever before.  If we want to see real change, we need to create a better society for all, tackle injustice and plunge into the many aspects of what the human experience truly offers.The Global Indian Series has been built to be a platform of integrity, fairness and to remain fiercely independent of political influence. We are the first in the world to connect with every echelon of society with all human voices being treated equally.  We are the first to have travelled physically to locations far and wide, often putting our own lives on the line to bring forward stories that deserve to be told.  Whether it’s through our Podcast that delves into the human experience behind identity, our articles and features that cover key events we need to know, or live based events that tackle topical discussions, we have been there to support a better community and planet.Despite the high costs and time needed to maintain our work, we continue, because we know our work has helped more people understand what is happening within the communities across our planet, why it matters, and how, together, we can demand progress.  We challenge head-on, the silent divisions that have crept into our collective consciousness and how to tackle key issues that often go neglected in mainstream media.How you can help:Please share our work: By collaborating with others who share our values, our combined voices make change, with many more becoming inspired to take meaningful action.Subscribe to the platform:Many from across our community have decided to subscribe to our platform. It helps us grow which in turns attracts like-minded supporters. If you have not already, we would appreciate you subscribing to our newsletters and following our social media accounts. It is free and supports our journey.