Segregation and Apartheid in Twentieth-Century South Africa

301 Pages·2003·2.4 MB·English

SEGREGATION
AND APARTHEID IN
TWENTIETH-CENTURY
SOUTH AFRICA

‘This is an outstanding collection…gathering the harvest of twenty years
of intense scholarly and political debate.
Jim Campbell, Northwestern University, Illinois
‘Well-known to South Africanists as individual contributions, this
collection of seminal essays deserves, and will now find, a wider and
more multidisciplinary audience.’
C.R.D.Halisi, Indiana University
Beinart and Dubow’s selection of some of the most important
essays on racial segregation and apartheid in twentieth-century
South Africa provides an unparalleled introduction to this
contentious and absorbing subject. The volume includes:
(cid:127) a specially written introduction by the editors which
contextualizes the historiographical controversy, taking into
account the 1994 election and associated changes;
(cid:127) explanatory notes and article summaries to improve the
accessibility of the material;
(cid:127) a glossary of unusual terms to facilitate understanding.
William Beinart is Reader in History at the University of Bristol.
Saul Dubow is Lecturer in History at the School of African and
Asian Studies, University of Sussex.
Rewriting Histories
Rewriting Histories focuses on historical themes where standard
conclusions are facing a major challenge. Each book presents 8 to
10 papers (edited and annotated where necessary) at the forefront
of current research and interpretation, offering students an
accessible way to engage with contemporary debates.
Series editor Jack R.Censer is Professor of History at George
Mason University
REWRITING HISTORIES
Series editor: Jack R.Censer

Already published
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WORK IN
NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE
Edited by Lenard R.Berlanstein
SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE SLAVE SOUTH
Edited by J.William Harris
ATLANTIC AMERICAN SOCIETIES
From Columbus through Abolition
Edited by J.R.McNeill and Alan Karras
GENDER AND AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1890
Edited by Barbara Melosh
DIVERSITY AND UNITY IN EARLY NORTH AMERICA
Edited by Philip D.Morgan
Forthcoming
NAZISM AND GERMAN SOCIETY 1933–1945
Edited by David Crew
SEGREGATION AND
APARTHEID IN
TWENTIETH-
CENTURY SOUTH
AFRICA
Edited by William Beinart
and Saul Dubow

London and New York
First published 1995
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Editorial contributions © 1995 William Beinart and Saul Dubow
© 1995 Individual contributions
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Segregation and apartheid in twentieth-century South Africa/edited
by William Beinart and Saul Dubow.
p. cm.—(Rewriting histories)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Apartheid—South Africa. 2. South Africa—Race relations.
3. South Africa—History—1909–1961. 4. South Africa—
History—1960– I. Beinart, William. II. Dubow, Saul.
III. Series.
DT1757.S44 1995
323.1'68'0904–dc20 94–36134

ISBN 0-203-42544-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-73368-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-10356-8 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-10357-6 (pbk)
CONTENTS

Series editor’s preface vii
List of tables and maps xi
INTRODUCTION: The historiography of segregation
and apartheid 1
William Beinart and Saul Dubow
1 THE SANITATION SYNDROME: Bubonic plague
and urban native policy in the Cape Colony, 1900–09 25
Maynard W.Swanson
2 BRITISH HEGEMONY AND THE ORIGINS OF
SEGREGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1901–14 43
Martin Legassick
3 CAPITALISM AND CHEAP LABOUR POWER IN
SOUTH AFRICA: From segregation to apartheid 60
Harold Wolpe
4 NATAL, THE ZULU ROYAL FAMILY AND THE
IDEOLOGY OF SEGREGATION 91
Shula Marks
5 MARXISM, FEMINISM AND SOUTH AFRICAN
STUDIES 118
Belinda Bozzoli
6 THE ELABORATION OF SEGREGATIONIST
IDEOLOGY 145
Saul Dubow
v
CONTENTS
7 CHIEFTAINCY AND THE CONCEPT OF
ARTICULATION: South Africa circa 1900–50 176
William Beinart
8 THE GROWTH OF AFRIKANER IDENTITY 189
Hermann Giliomee
9 THE MEANING OF APARTHEID BEFORE 1948:
Conflicting interests and forces within the
Afrikaner Nationalist alliance 206
Deborah Posel
10 DISPLACED URBANIZATION: South Africa’s rural
slums 231
Colin Murray
11 ETHNICITY AND PSEUDO-ETHNICITY IN THE
CISKEI
J.B.Peires
Glossary 285
vi
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE

Rewriting history, or revisionism, has always followed closely in
the wake of history writing. In their efforts to re-evaluate the past,
professional as well as amateur scholars have followed many
approaches, most commonly as empiricists, uncovering new
information to challenge earlier accounts. Historians have also
revised previous versions by adopting new perspectives, usually
fortified by new research, which overturn received views.
Even though rewriting is constantly taking place, historians’
attitudes towards using new interpretations have been anything
but settled. For most, the validity of revisionism lies in providing a
stronger, more convincing account that better captures the
objective truth of the matter. Although such historians might
agree that we never finally arrive at the ‘truth’, they believe it
exists and over time may be better approximated. At the other
extreme stand scholars who believe that each generation or even
each cultural group or subgroup necessarily regards the past
differently, each creating for itself a more usable history. Although
these latter scholars do not reject the possibility of demonstrating
empirically that some contentions are better than others, they
focus upon generating new views based upon different life
experiences. Different truths exist for different groups. Surely
such an understanding, by emphasizing subjectivity, further
encourages rewriting history. Between these two groups are those
historians who wish to borrow from both sides. This third group,
while accepting that every congeries of individuals sees matters
differently, still wishes somewhat contradictorily to fashion a
broader history that incorporates both of these particular visions.
Revisionists who stress empiricism fall into the first of the three
camps, while others spread out across the board.
vii
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE
Today the rewriting of history seems to have accelerated to a
blinding speed as a consequence of the evolution of revisionism. A
variety of approaches has emerged. A major factor in this process
has been the enormous increase in the number of researchers. This
explosion has reinforced and enabled the retesting of many
assertions. Significant ideological shifts have also played a major
part in the growth of revisionism. First, the crisis of Marxism,
culminating in the events in Eastern Europe in 1989, has given rise
to doubts about explicitly Marxist accounts. Such doubts have
spilled over into the entire field of social history which has been a
dominant subfield of the discipline for several decades. Focusing
on society and its class divisions implied that these are the most
important elements in historical analysis. Because Marxism was
built on the same claim, the whole basis of social history has been
questioned, despite the very many studies that directly had little
to do with Marxism. Disillusionment with social history
simultaneously opened the door to cultural and linguistic
approaches largely developed in anthropology and literature.
Multi-culturalism and feminism further generated revisionism.
By claiming that scholars had, wittingly or not, operated from a
white European/American male point of view, newer researchers
argued that other approaches had been neglected or
misunderstood. Not surprisingly, these last historians are the
most likely to envision each subgroup rewriting its own usable
history, while other scholars incline towards revisionism as part of
the search for some stable truth.
Rewriting Histories will make these new approaches available to
the student population. Often new scholarly debates take place in
the scattered issues of journals which are sometimes difficult to
find. Furthermore, in these first interactions, historians tend to
address one another, leaving out the evidence that would make
their arguments more accessible to the uninitiated. This series of
books will collect in one place a strong group of the major articles
in selected fields, adding notes and introductions conducive to
improved understanding. Editors will select articles containing
substantial historical data, so that students—at least those who
approach the subject as an objective phenomenon—can advance
not only their comprehension of debated points but also their
grasp of substantive aspects of the subject.
The study of segregation and apartheid provides a long history
of revisions of common understandings. Scholarly opinion had
viii
SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE
held that forms of white domination related particularly to the
racism of the Afrikaner population. More recently, historians
pointed to British culpability and economic motivations. While
historians have not abandoned these last two factors, this volume
emphasizes both the role of ideas and the ability of black South
Africans to resist control. Also included are essays documenting
the ironies and contradictory effects of segregation and apartheid.
Recognizable in the transformation of this subject are trends
present in other historical fields. Of particular interest is the
emphasis here on agency, in this case of blacks. More generally,
this approach might be added to those responsible for changing
the entire field of history.
Jack R.Censer
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All extracts and articles published in this volume, with the
exception of the piece by Martin Legassick, have already been
published. We would like to thank the following copyright
holders for permission to reproduce their work:
Maynard Swanson, ‘“The Sanitation Syndrome”: Bubonic
Plague and Urban Native Policy in the Cape Colony, 1900–1909’,
Journal of African History 18 (1977) (Cambridge University Press).
Harold Wolpe, ‘Capitalism and Cheap-Labour Power in South
Africa: From Segregation to Apartheid’, Economy and Society 1
(1972) (Routledge).
S.Marks, ‘Natal, the Zulu Royal Family and the Ideology of
Segregation’, Journal of Southern African Studies 4 (1978).
B.Bozzoli, ‘Marxism, Feminism and Southern African Studies’,
Journal of Southern African Studies 9 (1983).
S.Dubow, ‘The Elaboration of Segregationist Ideology’, in
Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa c.
1919–1936 (Macmillan, 1989).
W.Beinart, ‘Chieftaincy and the Concept of Articulation: South
Africa c. 1900–1950’, Canadian Journal of African Historical Studies 19
(1985).
D.Posel, ‘The Meaning of Apartheid Before 1948: Conflicting
Interests and Forces within the Afrikaner Nationalist Alliance’,
Journal of Southern African Studies 14 (1987).
H.Giliomee, ‘The Growth of Afrikaner Identity’, in H.Adam
ix