Speaking for themselves

Speaking for themselves

Kaaps is a language widely spoken in the bleak townships of Cape Town, South Africa. It’s often denigrated as a lesser form of Afrikaans – the language that was used as a tool of white supremacy during the apartheid era. Spoken predominately by working class people on the Cape Flats, Kaaps is associated with negative stereotypes – its speakers denigrated as uneducated, "ghetto" layabouts involved in gang culture.

But a new, burgeoning movement led by hip-hop artists, academics, writers and film makers is actively changing that perception. They want to reclaim Afrikaaps to restore the linguistic, cultural and racial dignity of a formerly disenfranchised people. The writer Lindsay Johns travels to Cape Town to meet the activists determined to assert the worth and pride of the people who speak Afrikaaps.

Presenter: Lindsay Johns Producers: Audrey Brown and Tim Mansel Mixed by Neil Churchill Production coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross Series Editor: Penny Murphy

(Image: Children in Lavender Hill, a township on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. Credit: Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

BBC OS Conversations: Living with multiple sclerosis

BBC OS Conversations: Living with multiple sclerosis

A ground-breaking new medical trial has begun in the UK aimed at slowing the progress of multiple sclerosis. The Octopus trial is looking into whether existing drugs can be repurposed to help slow the...

15 Apr 202324min

Heart and Soul: Sikhism’s lost song

Heart and Soul: Sikhism’s lost song

In the heyday of the Sikh Empire, Kirtan (Sikh hymns) were performed using stringed instruments such as the sarangi, rabab and taus. The rich, complex tones these instruments create are said to evoke ...

14 Apr 202326min

Gran Chaco - Paraguay’s vanishing forest

Gran Chaco - Paraguay’s vanishing forest

The Gran Chaco Forest is Latin America’s second largest ecosystem. It is a mix of hot and arid scrublands, forests and wetlands, part of the River Plata basin, so large it extends into Paraguay, Brazi...

13 Apr 202328min

In the Studio: Telling the John Hume story

In the Studio: Telling the John Hume story

Beyond Belief: The Life and Mission of John Hume is a new musical drama about the Irish politician who was one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process. Marie-Louise Muir goes behind th...

12 Apr 202327min

Deep Waters: Container ships

Deep Waters: Container ships

Container ships are the monsters of the seas - the very biggest are almost half a kilometre long and piled high with up to 20,000 huge boxes. At any one time, there are tens of thousands of these floa...

10 Apr 202327min

Deep Waters: Sanctions and the new 'dark' fleet

Deep Waters: Sanctions and the new 'dark' fleet

Shipping has long been one of the most opaque of global industries. Now many operations in the oil sector, which accounts for nearly a third of all seaborne trade, have become still more secretive, fo...

10 Apr 202327min

Deep Waters: The hidden world of global shipping

Deep Waters: The hidden world of global shipping

Bulk carriers are the ships that keep the modern world going - like the MV Raeda and the MV Olivian Confidence carrying grain from Ukraine to Turkey, and flour to Afghanistan and Yemen. Zig zagging ac...

10 Apr 202328min

OS Conversations: Guns in America

OS Conversations: Guns in America

Funerals have been taking place for victims of the latest mass shooting in the United States. Six people – including three children aged 9 – were killed in the attack at the Covenant School in Nashvil...

7 Apr 202324min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
alt-fortalt
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
popradet
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
fladseth
synnve-og-vanessa
frokostshowet-pa-p5
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
rss-dannet-uten-piano
den-politiske-situasjonen
krisemoter