Nation Formation and Social Cohesion is the publication of a MISTRA
research project that set out to examine different interpretations and
meanings that diverse social actors attach to the calls and prospects
for nation formation and social cohesion. The publication links theories
of nation formation and social cohesion to actual practices, both
focused on the attainment of a just society founded on the irreducible
equality of all its members on the one hand, and the factors militating
against achieving this, on the other. Ethnographic research in four
provinces provides the substance or practice to the theoretical framing
of the discourse. The study proceeds by interrogating the theoretical
suppositions of nation formation and social cohesion and this serves as
a starting point for a thorough reflection on these two processes. Thus
a synthesis, and not a conceptual position is arrived at, where the
interdependence of nation formation and social cohesion, specifically
for postcolonial societies, (and South Africa in particular) can be
interrogated effectively and critically.
This publication, with contributors Andries Oliphant, Yacoob Abba Omar,
Joel Netshitenzhe, Leslie Dikeni, Shepi Mati, Vincent Williams, Robert
Gallagher and Feizel Mamdoo, is intended to add to the debate and
stimulate new thinking around the diffcult processes that are being
sought to build a nation in the 21st century.
