Displacement, land and identity: Ontological (s)place density

This study explores the ontological dimensions of land and identity among Africans, focusing on the Vhavenḓa of South Africa as the locus of enunciation. It proposes a theoretical framework for understanding what I term ‘ontological (s)place density.’ Drawing on decolonial theory and African epistemologies, I contend that Vhavenḓa identity emerges from an intimate relationship between land, spirituality, culture, tradition, and Indigenous knowledge systems. The study introduces a conceptual formula to illustrate how these factors, epistemologies, culture and tradition, spirituality, and land, shape the ontological density of Vhavenḓa being within their cosmology. Through qualitative research conducted in Songozwi, Tshakhuma, and Ha-Makuya, located in Venḓa, Limpopo province, South Africa, this study demonstrates how colonial and apartheid spatial regimes have severed these ontological connections, resulting in what I term ontological displacement. It argues that identity transcends social construction; rather, it is an ontological condition rooted in (s)place. Grounded in Vhavenḓa cosmologies, this work contributes to the decolonisation of spatial theory and emphasises that African ontologies present critical alternatives to the prevailing Euro-Western spatial theories that dominate South African planning frameworks.