Coloured

Written for Coloured readers and drawn from Coloured voices, this collection gathers stories from across South Africa, reaching into its past, present and future. It begins with a set of open questions: what it means to be Coloured, who Coloured people are, and whether they are San or Khoe, Malay or of mixed descent, and where they belong within the country. It also confronts the long-repeated claim that Coloured people have no culture of their own and are not Black or White enough to have a heritage. Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel dispute that view and offer an alternative account.

The authors trace the history of Coloured people as descendants of Africa's Indigenous peoples and as a population whose identity was formed by colonisation and slavery. They examine the racial and political hierarchies those forces produced. The book is not only about this painful past, though. It also looks at the culture Coloured communities have built through food, music and shared life experiences, a culture that stands as both defiance and endurance.

Part reflection and part celebration, the book treats Coloured identities as they are lived and calls on Coloured communities to reclaim them. It also invites all readers to understand this history and the part Coloured people play in shaping South Africa's future.