South African Culture in New York City

---

South African New York City

We are not aware of any South African communities in New York although there must be some among New York City’s African Diasporic communities.

South Africans in NYC is an Instagram group. @saffasinnyc

South African Food in NYC

• Kaia Wine Bar in Manhattan’s Upper East Side focuses on South African wines. kaiawinebar.com

South African Government in NYC

• The South African Consulate is in Midtown East, Manhattan. southafrica-usa.net

---

South African Culture

South Africa has been called “The Rainbow Nation” because it is so diverse.

South African Art

Some of the world’s oldest known art from around 75,000 years ago was discovered in a South African cave.

South African Film

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” is a 1980 comedy about a Coca-Cola bottle thrown from an airplane into the bush. A Bushman sees it fall and thinks it is a gift from God. The shiny new object causes disruption in the community, so the Bushman decides to walk to the end of the world and throw the bottle away. It leads to many adventures.

South African Government

Former freedom fighter and President Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), remains a global human rights icon. nelsonmandela.org

South African Music

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a world-famous South African choir. These multiple Grammy winners and really inspiring. @theladysmithblackmambazo

Amapiano is South African house music from the townships. It’s mostly sung in Zulu or Xhosa with the occasional English word. Opening and closing one leg from the hip is a signature movement. Dancers keep the upper and lower bodies moving all the time with small movements that play with various pendulum motions. It’s fun to dance and fun to watch the dancers. Tik Tok and YouTube are full of amapiano dancers. Amapiano’s log drum sound is already showing up in popular music around the world.

Tyla’s “Water” (2024) took amapiano global. She sings it in English. Her dance with its grinding moves took over Tik Tok for a while. Tyla is 100% South African, but she has an Indian heritage. It’s another proof point that we are all mixed.

---

South Africa

South Africa is in a strategic location at the southern tip of Africa, between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The Origin of Us

Along with Southeast Africa, South Africa has long been considered part of the region where humans come from.

Recent scholarship suggests that we don’t come from one group in one place, but rather from many groups in Mother Africa who were separated at times and mixed together at times. We, Homo Sapiens, are the product of that mix. It’s an interesting proof that diversity is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

The early people of South Africa are the Khoisan (or San) people who include Khoekhoe nomadic farmers and San hunter-gatherers.

The San remain, but were largely displaced by the Bantu expansion out of Central Africa. The Xhosa are among the southernmost Bantu peoples.

Colonial Era

Being colonized is an apocalyptic horror. Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition to land in South Africa in 1487. His story “Os Lusíadas” by Luís de Camões (1572) is the foundation of Portuguese literature and identity.

The Dutch East India Company set up a trading post in 1652.

Modern Era

Though it has become an icon for African self-rule, modern South Africa is still partly defined by the Apartheid Era’s (1948-1994) separation of society into White, Black, Indian, and Coloured groups.

Freedom is just one generation new. It takes multiple generations to recover from major social shocks, so the story of Modern South Africa is not yet fully written.