Anthropology - Living in Multicultural Societies

Anthropology-Living in Multicultural Societies
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(June 25, 2012)
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Anthropology-Living in Multicultural Societies
Multiculturalism identifies with diverse cultures coexisting equitably and peacefully in one nation. The Asian population is significant although small in South Africa. Majority of Asians according to research are merchants. Significant numbers of Asians came to South Africa during the colonial period by the British (Jayasuriya, 2011). During the railway construction, British colonial rulers gained skilled laborers from the Asians gearing at social apartheid. The cultures of the Asians were very different comparing with the African and the European culture. Particularly Indians had different dressing code, different cooking styles, different music and different architectural skills. Research has indicated that at most times, referring Indians incorporates the whole Asian South Africans (Everyculture.com, 2012).
South Africa recognizes eleven languages as official, reflecting on the constitution passed in the year nineteen ninety seven. This made the country multilingual with the democratic constitution. The languages are accorded equal status identifying with English, Afrikaans, IsiNdebele, IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Tshivenda and SiSwati (Everyculture.com, 2012). There are a number of languages spoken by the Asians, Europeans and the Africans. Research has indicated that current populations of the South Africans are multilingual, with English taken as the commercial and official public language, with IsiZulu taking the second position (Park & Rugunanan, 2009).
Diversity in South Africa has taken shape over the years with more than fifty million people with diverse cultures, languages and religious beliefs (Moia.gov.in, 2010). Statistics in the year two thousand and eleven indicated that the South African population has been increasing over the decades (Jayasuriya, 2011). Africans are the majority incorporating more than eighty percent of the entire population, colored people and the whites taking ten percent wile three percent is taken by the Asian people. The most populated provinces in South Africa identifies with the KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. African populations in South Africa identifies with the Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Tsonga and the Venda. White South Africans identifies with the Afrikaners, English speakers and the Immigrants (Everyculture.com, 2012).
Indian population takes the biggest chuck of Asian South Africans. Majority of the Indians came to Africa in the nineteenth century as indentured workers (Moia.gov.in, 2010). Early Indians worked on sugar plantations in Natal located Eastern part of the South African coastal area. Majority of the Indian community are descendants and has managed in retaining their original languages (Jayasuriya, 2011). Chinese South Africans are the other group of the Asians...