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American tribes, and most of them have been displaced from their indigenous lands. Unknown numbers have intermarried outside of and across tribal lines. Yet the registration system of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for counting who is really a member of a recognized tribe (and thus deserving of government benefits) is as contorted as tribal counting under apartheid. Munson (1997), for example, writes of the laws in the state of New Mexico that seek to protect Native American artisans from non-Indian imitators claiming to be "genuine Indian art." The laws have the ironic effect that a legitimately registered member of a tribe from another state could come to the area, have no prior knowledge of local tradition, but legally sell "genuine" Indian artifacts. At the same time, a local from an unrecognized tribe, having lived in New Mexico all his or her life, would not be able to do so. In an imposed, purified system of categories, both under apartheid and elsewhere, there are many ironies and much individual suffering. |
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Another ironic twist of the categorical landscape leading to acute torques occurred when race classification was suddenly, unexpectedly shifted. For example, Ronnie van der Walt was a famous boxer in South Africa. At the age of twenty-nine, he was suddenly reclassified from white to coloured on the eve of a big match. One presumes from the Newsweek article reporting the case that someone had informed the race classification board, and it timed its inspection to be maximally embarrassingan object lesson for others. The local race classification board's decision "was based on an inspection of Ronnie, Rachel and their two children." "One man there," Ronnie recalls, "walked around us peering at us from every angle like you do when you buy an animal. He said nothing, just looked . . . Interior Minister P.M.K. Leroux insisted that the ruling on Ronnie would stand. 'He has never been a White person,' sniffed Le Roux. Then, with logic reminiscent of the Mad Hatter the minister added 'And I do not believe he will ever become one'" (Newsweek 2/27/67, 42). |
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Van der Walt's biography and career were suddenly bisected by the revision of his race classification. Other cases were reported that illustrated the precarious nature of race purity. Two white children, Jane-Anne Pepler and Johanna de Bruin, had severe malfunctions of the adrenal glands, which caused their skin to turn brown. Jane-Anne had an operation to remove the glands at the age of fifteen; in a short period of time her skin and hair went from fair to dark brown. Her |
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