This study examines identity construction in twentieth-century South Africa, where successive white minority regimes attempted to define individuals according to reified notions of race and ethnicity, and demarcate 'race' groups deemed to have essential origins from other similarly constructed groups. Strong sanctions were imposed on those transcending narrowly inscribed race boundaries. This narrative of the life of cricketer, school teacher and Imam Sulayman Kirsten, popularly known as' Solly', considers the …