South Africa and India. Michelle Williams M.

      Introduction

      South Africa–India: Historical Connections, Cultural Circulations and Socio-political Comparisons

       Isabel Hofmeyr and Michelle Williams

      Pick up any South African newspaper or tune in to any broadcast programme and before long one is likely to come across an item on India. Whether an advertisement for a particular model of Tata or Mahindra motor car, or a report on the growing trade and investment links between the two countries, each day brings mounting evidence of the marked intensification of relations between South Africa and India.

      This Indian presence in the South African media may seem unremarkable. As a rising world economic power, India probably currently features more in most international media than it used to. South Africa has one of the largest Indian diasporic populations and one may hence expect India-related stories. However, the Indian presence in the South African media is noteworthy in two respects: firstly, the reporting on India appears in the mainstream media rather than those aimed specifically at South African Indian communities and, secondly, the discussion of India in the South African media tends to explore the economic synergies that exist between the two countries rather than discussing India’s rise in general.

      This focus on these new economic possibilities in turn forms part of a series of state and public policies that specifically seek to bolster South Africa–India interactions. Prior to South Africa’s political transition in 1994, there were no formal economic ties between the two countries. In 2008/2009 total trade amounted to over US$4 billion. Since 2001 it has grown at a phenomenal rate of 22 per cent per annum, and the two governments set a target of US$10 billion in trade by 2010. Investment has grown almost as rapidly, and today there are at least 50 major corporations from each country operating in the other, and as many as 20 or 25 others exploring the possibility of investing from one to the other. Both states are committed to increasing these figures by making use of their growing number of bilateral agreements and the trilateral possibilities opened up by the India–Brazil– South Africa initiative (commonly know as IBSA). Growth in commercial ties has seen the establishment of bilateral business associations and similar bodies, but has also stimulated the expansion of linkages in other social arenas beyond the market.

      Other factors promote closer South Africa–India exchanges. There are longstanding historical links between the two countries inaugurated by 17th-century slavery at the Cape, where about one-quarter of the slaves were from South Asia, and then, from the 1860s, by the arrival of indentured labourers followed by merchants. The two countries share cross-cutting anti-colonial histories in which the figure of Gandhi has been central. The African National Congress and South African Communist Party drew on ideas and strategies from Indian nationalist struggles, while India was one of the first countries to provide support for the anti-apartheid movement. Both countries are middle-ranking powers in the Global South and both are vibrant democracies with strong traditions of public debate and press freedom. In addition to facing similar social issues such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and unemployment, both states are characterised by extreme linguistic, ethnic and religious diversity. Both are grappling with the issues presented by a rapidly rising middle class characterised by a mixture of high-minded political ideals encountering new modes of materialism and consumerism.

      Given this context, it is not surprising that there has been a groundswell of academic interest in projects with a South Africa–India dimension. Across the disciplinary spectrum there has been a turn towards India, with increasing numbers of South African academics seeking out Indian partners with whom they can start to track the emerging interactions between the two countries, while analysing both the possible future implications of these new realities and their pasts.

      The chapters drawn together in this volume arise out of an interdisciplinary project based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.¹ The project draws together about two dozen scholars working in software engineering, public health, economics, education, social sciences and the humanities. Research themes include trade and investment patterns between the two countries, comparative constitutional law, Indian Ocean cultural exchanges, English in secondary schools in Johannesburg and Delhi, HIV/AIDS in South Africa and India, and comparative topics (urbanisation in both countries; the Communist Parties of South Africa and Kerala). This research has expanded rapidly and in 2008 the university established a Centre of Indian Studies in Africa, where Professor Dilip Menon has been appointed to the Chair of Indian Studies.

      The work arising out of this group consciously attempts to speak to the new relations that have emerged between South Africa and India. This volume presents an opportunity to profile this research. We begin by discussing older traditions