ABSTRACT
Foucault once suggested that the study of social phenomena in pathological societies sometimes reveals clearly what is elsewhere less obvious. If this is so, perhaps it is because of the raw instrumentality that seems to prevail in such contexts. This chapter examines an instance of such raw instrumentality. It draws from, and is intended to contribute to, a rich scholarly literature showing just how situational and fluid South African identities have been, and how various and even bizarre were the ways in which they were constructed, thereafter to be imposed, rejected, or assumed by the operation of coercion, choice, or unselfconscious acculturation. 1
