Cape Town among Religious Superdiversity, Social Inequalities, and Experiences of Dialogue

Since the end of apartheid (1994), Cape Town and South Africa have experienced 'the largest wave of migration, national and international, with different "racial", ethnic and religious backgrounds, in the country's history' (Kakonde, Núñez, Zulu 2019). On the other hand, South Africa, and especially Cape Town, have long fascinated social science scholars because of their 'multi-ethnic' and 'multicultural' character, 'syncretic' processes, and 'racialised' pathways of injustice and prejudice, almost as if they were endemic to that society, layered by decades of colonialism, discrimination against 'indigenous' ethnic groups, forced migrations of workers from Asia, and more recent displacements of people from various parts of the world. Starting from the category of religious superdiversity (Becci, Burchardt 2016), this contribution aims to analyse quantitative data pertaining to the religious affiliations of the Cape Town population by means of a comparison between different sources. The aim is to use them as indicators to chart the religious landscape of Cape Town and South Africa. Such data, in conjunction with other indicators emerging from censuses, such as those on 'racial' groups - in the censuses one must classify oneself as Black African, Coloured, Asian/Indian, White, Other -, on migratory origins, on average annual household income, and on levels of education provide a useful framework for defining and exploring the intersections between the role of faith communities and other features of society.