GROUP DISCOURSES AND IDENTITIES
5.3 BEHAVIOUR ADAPTATION AND IDENTITY RECONSTRUCTION The environment of the University of Natal is new to all categories of students
5.3.3 Model C Guys (MC)
passive resistance to the customary language choice and behaviours, particularly the gender relations between the groups, in the university. They speak of themselves as confused (a bit) and dilute, but they have clear views about 'Model C students and female students: You also find Zulu girls or ladies who come from rural areas, but when they come on campus, they start speaking to you in English. The dilute males refer to women as weak, and feel alienated from the 'Model Cs' who have adopted the 'western culture'. At the same time the dilute males are beginning to move away from rigid traditional stances and towards a more flexible university culture, which is the result of what they perceive as clashes between the university 'western culture' and their ethnic identities. It is likely that some of the confusion of attitudes which they show comes from their sense of English as the language (and culture) of the coloniser, and some from their understanding that English is nowadays the language of education and advancement: We find ourselves in a awkward situation, because we know our culture, and now we realise where we are, what kind of people we are with and we do not know which way to pursue. This confusion is expressed by the hybrid men through their interpretation of the situation as a chaos of identities: / think we're in a state of bit confusion. They also speak of their vulnerability as a group of people who have found themselves in a context where the norms of behaviour and communication are largely different from the norms they have lived by until now: most of us are partly diluted here. The dilute males are beginning to come to terms with the change; this is exhibited by signs of fear and vulnerability as to their group identity, which may be subsumed by the university culture.
MCI: I describe myself as fun, fair, accommodating, loving, I don't like antagonising people. I am proud of being a South African. At the end I am an individual, I am what God made me to be, an individual.
MC2: I recognise who I am and what I am because I think that is what I was created for and that is what I am funny.
MC3:1 am a person just like every other. I am friendly and charming.
MC4: It will be polite to speak back in Zulu but it is not rude to respond in English since we all understand and speak English and because of the context of school.
MCI: If someone speaks to me in Zulu - If you are not comfortable in the situation in Zulu, then it will not be impolite.
MC2:1 learn as many languages as possible, because I believe in it for my own good. Some Zulus want to learn only Zulu and English.
MC3: I look forward to when I can speak all eleven official languages and I'll feel good about myself
MC4: Everybody has the right to speak whatever language they choose.
MCI: I am from a strong Zulu cultural background and I speak Zulu.
MC2: But in school we were taught more on how to be individuals and not depend on other people. Of course I didn'tlearn any anything about my culture at school. What I know about my culture is from my home.
MC3: But I am proud of my culture of being a South African.
The extent to which the Model C guys describe themselves as individuals is striking. While referring to themselves as individuals or persons in their own right, they also speak about the different attributes that distinguish them as individuals: for instance, one claims to be fun and fair. At the same time they display an ability to be part of a group, but present this in terms of T , not 'we', for instance in describing themselves as accommodating and loving. Unlike the Zulu bradas, dilute males and diverse males who dwell on their cultural backgrounds in their definition of themselves, the Model C guys, focus more on their individual traits and attributes. In contrast to the generally assumed strong sense of community for 'Africans', as indeed demonstrated by Zulu bradas and dilute males, the Model C guys construct themselves very differently from the other male respondents in terms of their relationship to culture and tradition.
Their culture and cultural inclinations are strong, in that they still speak their primary ethnic languages and are proud members of their communities. They are also aware of the fact that their sense of self is born out of a combination of their upbringing and cultural expectations which they learnt at home, and their school education, where they acquired knowledge of westernised cultural norms. Their individualism, they point out, was acquired in school: in school we were taught more on how to be individuals and not depend on other people. Thus their attitude to issues relating to language choice is very liberal: If someone speaks to me in Zulu, if you are not comfortable in situation in Zulu then it will not be impolite. While they all agreed students have the right to choose to communicate in the most convenient language for them (particularly in English), two of the four respondents also talk of learning other languages to empower and enhance themselves.
MC4: I don't like being called Model C. It is stigma - you are someone who thinks too highly of himself, and I do not want to be seen like that.
MCI: I like to be seen and treated as a normal person and not Model C. I was also influenced by my culture, because I was taught manners at home as well as in school.
MC3: When referred to as Model C, I just calmly ask them not to call me Model C, instead you can say I went to a white school or something like that.
MC4: We are referred to as Model C by some people because they feel insecure about their use of English language and jump quickly to see differences between themselves and Zulus who attend multiracial schools.
MCI: There is a gap, unfortunately; some Model Cs think that they are better than their peers. When people feel that they are better off, they tend to behave different.
MC2: It is true that some present themselves as better off. You find people speaking with their nose.
MC3: Some use it as ego, like, I speak better English than you.
MC2: Parents take their children there to give them the best and not so that they can become Model C.
MC3: We can't all be the same, but we should befriends with people that enjoy common things. You can choose your friends, but can't choose your family.
The Model C guys argue that the label 'Model C it is sort of stigma that they carry, especially within the cultural group into which they were born. They point out that the term tends to portray them as arrogant and condescending. It is a stigma from which they want to be disassociated. They desire to be treated as ordinary people by others. Sometimes their high proficiency in English tends to intimidate the Zulu bradas and dilute males, who use that to differentiate between them and others: they feel insecure about their use of English language and jump quickly to see difference. The Model C guys admit that some people who went to such schools (obviously not themselves) do represent themselves as better off educationally. While arguing that being stigmatised is unnecessary, the Model C guys acknowledge that there are some amongst them who derive pleasure from the gap created by inequalities between schools: It is true that some present themselves as better off. You find people speaking with their nose.
The Model C guys conclude with statements about their families: firstly that parents send their children to where they will receive the best education, and not so that they can become Model C. Secondly, they point out that friends can be chosen but not families, and for them race is not an issue when making friends, as all whether black or white, are 'ordinary people'. Unlike the Zulu bradas who see ethnicity as inborn, family is crucial here, it is the family that the Model C guys are born into that defines them - while the opportunities they are exposed to
will subsequently also influence their attitudes and behaviours.
It must be noted that in the discussion included here, the Model C guys were markedly individualistic in their approach. Each person spoke of his experiences and encounters, but in the discussion quoted below, they suddenly began to use collective terms such as 'we', which may be because the individuals are aware that there are others that share their concern.
MCI: Zulus are most impolite, probably because they have the sense that this is their place and they will not allow you, from Limpopo province, for example, to invade their own land. Zulu females get along with everybody, irrespective of where they are from and the colour of their skin.
MC2: I have no problem with anybody. We are all here to be educated, Zulus, South Africans and international students, we are all equal.
MC3:1 have white friends, people I used to sit with back at school, but things are a little different to that of high school; at school we were much closer, like a family. Here you meet lot of other people and you become friends. Whites are just ordinary people like all the others.
MC4: I have lots of white friends because we were at school together, these are made at school based on values, successes, characteristics; it was not based on the colour of skin.
MCI: I don't have a point to prove to anybody, if you don't want to be my friend, fine. I have no problem with that; then you are not my friend.
The Model C group members make their friends across cultural, racial and gender boundaries. As far as they are concerned, as students, all are here to learn and all are equal. All are human: We are all here to be educated - Zulus, South Africans and international students, we are all equal. For them friendship is based on shared values and has no basis in any form of discrimination. In other words, their understanding of friendship transcends the barriers of social categories that exist in the university (Gee 1996).
It is nevertheless the case that Model C guys enter the university environment a little better prepared than other groups, in the sense that they have been culturally prepared by their schools for the university culture. They seem to understand the university culture from their entry into the university, because it is similar to that of the multiracial schools. As a result these men ease into the system more effortlessly than the others, and construct themselves as conversant with the university culture.