A New Generation in South African Historiography - Studies in the social and economic history of the Witwatersrand, 1886–1914. Volume I. New Babylon. Volume II. New Nineveh. By Charles van Onselen. Harlow: Longmans, 1982. Pp. xvii + 213, x + 220 £4·95 per volume (paperback). - Industrialisation and social change in South Africa: African class formation, culture, and consciousness, 1870–1930. Edited by Shula Marks and Richard Rathbone. Harlow: Logmans, 1982. Pp. x + 383. £5.95 (paperback); £13.95 (hardback).

1984 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
John Iliffe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Change ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Class Formation ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Generation ◽  
New Babylon

The Economic History of South Africa 1948–94

2021 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Bill Freund ◽  
Vishnu Padayachee
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

This chapter addresses the unfolding economic history of South Africa in the apartheid era (1948–94). The chapter is organized according to a periodization with 1971–73 as a marker of the break, and along specific thematic lines. These include a discussion of the way in which this history has been studied and through what theoretical lenses, before engaging with the main issues, including the impact of Afrikaner nationalism on economic growth, the way in which the minerals energy sector, which dominated early perspectives of South African economic history and perspectives, is impacted in this era of National Party rule. An analysis of the role of one major corporation (Anglo American Corporation) in shaping this economic history is followed by an assessment of the impact of the global and local crisis after c.1970 on the South African economy. An abiding theme is that of race and economic development and the way in which the impact of this key relationship of apartheid South Africa on economic growth has been studied.

EVERYDAY POLITICS AND COLLECTIVE MOBILIZATION AGAINST FOREIGNERS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN SHACK SETTLEMENT

Africa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamlyn Monson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Equal Citizenship

ABSTRACTIn contrast to the tolerant and largely peaceful ‘living politics' of informal settlements, as embodied by the social movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, this article considers a darker side of squatter politics: ‘xenophobic’ mobilization. I show how the historical stratification of citizenship in South Africa remains spatially embedded in longstanding informal settlements, where distinctive repertoires of collective action have been shaped by a (still unfinished) history of struggle for inclusion. Using archival research and interviews conducted in the informal settlements of Atteridgeville, Gauteng, I show how the continuing struggle for equal citizenship draws on shared experiences of mundane hardship and collective labour, giving rise to social distance between established local squatters and politically indifferent foreign newcomers. At times of protest, this polarity is concentrated by and converges with familiar practices of insurgent citizenship, creating a context for mobilization against foreigners. In this sense, ‘xenophobic’ mobilization may be seen to articulate a claim for inclusion by structurally excluded ‘citizens', rather than an exclusionary claim by those who already belong. The article provides a useful counterpoint to readings of ‘xenophobic’ violence that focus on the role of elite discourses, instrumental leaders or crude racial identities in shaping such mobilization.

scholarly journals The emergence of black queer characters in three post-apartheid novels

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Andrews
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Queer People ◽  
The Social ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Race And Sexuality ◽  
History Of ◽  
Black Queer

Before the end of apartheid, queer lives were almost entirely unrepresented in public literary works in South Africa. Only after the fall of institutionalised apartheid could literature begin to look back at the role of queer people in the history of South Africa, and begin to acknowledge that queer people are a part of the fabric of South African society. A number of celebrated authors emerged who were exploring queer themes; however, most of these authors and the stories they told were from a white perspective, and black queer voices were still largely absent in literature, especially novels. This paper explores the limited number of black queer literary representations following the influential work of K. Sello Duiker. I explore the social dynamics that might have influenced the fact that so few examples of black queer characters currently exist in South African literature. Through an analysis of novels by Fred Khumalo, Zukiswa Wanner, and Chwayita Ngamlana, I show how black, queer characters in post-apartheid novels confront ideas of culture, race, and sexuality as they wrestle with their identities and with questions of belonging and visibility. 

The Interior Life of Mtutu: Psychological Fact or Fiction?

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ratele
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Inner Life ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Black Person ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

This article seeks to understand the routes to, and pasts, possibilities and forms of, the interior world of the African or black person in its relations to the politics and economy of superiority and separation. The world that is explored is primarily sexual, and therefore, incorporates embodied life, but of necessity widens to include affective, cognitive, and purposeful aspects. In the face of the scarcity of scholarly psychological literature in the area of the intimate lives of black individuals, particularly when seen against the backcloth of colonial and apartheid arrangements, the article begins by arguing for the importance of turning to other, imaginative, sources for help in trying to comprehend African interiors. It then turns to meanings of intimacy on which interiority is indexed, going on to discuss the notion in relation to the social, political and economic history of South Africa, while taking in the notion of soul along the way. Next, the interest of colonial and apartheid regimes in intimacy is traced, showing that this interest stretched beyond interpersonal relations to the very calculus of discrimination and domination. The article concludes by urging African scholars to take black inner life a little more seriously and without abandoning creativity, still locating such efforts within radical and ethical theoretical frameworks.

scholarly journals Colonial Institutionalisation of Poverty among Blacks in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tshepo Lephakga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Black People ◽  
African Society ◽  
Social Death ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Epistemological Foundation ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

This article examines colonial institutionalisation of poverty amongst colonised and conquered blacks in South Africa. Colonialism divided the world in two:  the centre, which is occupied by Europeans, and the periphery, which is occupied by non-Europeans. This division institutionalised poverty amongst the colonised to maintain the supremacist status of the coloniser and the colonial status of the colonised as non-beings. Colonial apartheid, following the colonial epistemological foundation(s) and justification(s) of the centre imposing itself on the periphery, strived to make black people go through social death, which became a necessity fed into the colonial thinking that those in the periphery are lesser beings. Social death was engineered and maintained through the impoverishment of black people. Poverty and colonial dependency syndrome were institutionalised following the systematic institutionalisation of the social creation of race. A number of scholars have noted that race is a social creation with real consequences. It is thus not surprising that the painful history of South Africa resulted in the impoverishment of the majority of the people in the country. Following its long historical institutionalisation, poverty resulted in poor black people internalising oppression and doubting their humanness. This paper contends that colonial apartheid is the cause of a vast inequality in the South African society, including social institutionalised poverty among the blacks in South Africa.

Religion as a Source of Social Change in the New South Africa

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Garner
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Change ◽  
South African ◽  
New South ◽  
Potential Influence ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
The Social ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
South African Township

AbstractIn the scholarship of recent decades, religion has been accorded little power as a source of social change, either 'from above' (via changes at the macro-level) or 'from below' (at the micro-level). However, as the attention of various disciplines has been drawn to developing societies, an awareness of the potential influence of religion has grown. Based on research in a South African township, conducted after the macro-transition to democratic government, this article explores the social and economic mechanisms at work in a variety of Christian churches. It argues that their capacity to effect social change 'from below' is uneven, and that the most powerful are those which maximise four variables: indoctrination, religious experience, exclusion and socialisation. These variables are often highest in Pentecostalism, and in certain types of AIC. The differential impact of church types on their members is then illustrated with reference to financial, social and cultural behaviour.

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