The term ‘iShangane’: its history and use in South Africa

In South Africa the term 'Shangane', which has been transliterated into 'Shangaan' in the literature, has become one of the most current slur for African immigrants. However, the prevalence of this term presents a dilemma since it also defines one of South Africa's ethnolinguistic groups – the Tsonga-Shangaan – who are often interpellated as 'foreign' to the South African nation-state. Consequently, this has led some in this community to eschew this term in favour of the less stigmatized 'Tsonga' as a preferred ethnonym. Using ethnographic data gathered in KwaNdebele, the article demonstrates that the terms Tsonga and Shangaan have become the object of a semantic shift. It argues that while Shangaan began as a marker of 'ethnic' pride for the Gaza Nguni, today it has come to connote a status of itineracy as well as an 'illegal' sojourn in South Africa. Ironically, the term Tsonga, which has more pejorative etymological roots, has since become a neutral descriptor for a South African ethnic group. The article concludes that the term Shangaan does not refer to a primordial ethnic identity but has come to define a set of socio-economic relations between black South Africans and African immigrants, and sometimes among black South Africans themselves.