Reviewed for H-Urban by Keith Tankard, Rhodes University, South
Africa. <ktankard@lark.ru.ac.za>
Vivian Bickford-Smith, _Ethnic Pride and Racial Prejudice in
Victorian Cape Town_ (London, New York & Melbourne: Cambridge
University Press, 1995 OR Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University
Press, 1995) xix + 281 pp, maps, tables, notes, bibliography,
index. ISBN 1 86814 289 2
Urban segregation began to take on importance as a theme in
South African history during the 1970s, partly because of the
introduction of the neo-Marxist interpretation of the link
between the rise of capitalism and the evolution of segregation.
The two mining towns of Kimberley and Johannesburg became the
focus of attention because they were regarded as early centres of
"capital accumulation" in the late 19th century, although
apartheid itself would only assert itself as a form of social
engineering during the mid-20th century.
In 1977, however, Maynard Swanson produced his seminal
paper which linked urban segregation to what he called the
"sanitation syndrome" which explored the idea that segregation
happened at such pre-industrial towns as Cape Town at the turn of
the century, and quite independently of capital. (M. Swanson,
"The Sanitation Syndrome: Bubonic Plague and Urban Native Policy
in the Cape Colony, 1900-1909" in JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY,
XVIII, 3, 1977, 387-410) An assortment of papers then emanated
from the University of Cape Town which further explored this
theme.
Vivian Bickford-Smith rightly points out that, although
these papers are critical to the analysis of urban segregation,
especially in Cape Town, there is nevertheless a lack of
cohesion. There is therefore a need for a monograph to draw all
these threads together. This current book attempts to do just
that.
The author conducts an extensive and thorough examination
of economic fluctuations and urban growth in Cape Town between
the years 1875 and 1902 during which time, he argues, the seeds
of segregation germinated and took root. The common perception,
he says, is that Cape Town was a "unique city in its racial
integration" until the post-1948 apartheid regime forced
segregation upon a "reluctant liberal-minded" citizenry. The
truth, however, is that DE FACTO segregation came to Cape Town
between 1875 and 1902 and DE JURE segregation followed after
that. His book sets out to demonstrate this view by a
comprehensive analysis of the economic, legal, political and
social milieu during those years.
The opening chapters present a chronological analysis of
Cape Town, taking the themes of economic prosperity (1875-1881),
recession (1881-1892) and renewed prosperity (1892-1902). He
provides a thorough analysis of demographic growth and employment
opportunities from the mercantile elite at the top of the social
ladder to the fishermen and washerwomen at the bottom. He then
shows how the cycles of prosperity and recession affected each
group within this hierarchy.
The essence of Bickford-Smith's argument is that
demographic growth during times of prosperity led to a seizure of
power by the elite, "White, bourgeois and mainly English" who
based their philosophy upon such principles as the "moralising
efficacy of hard- work and cleanliness". At the same time, the
growth of power of an Afrikaner clique within the wider colonial
structure, emerging as a political party (Afrikaner Bond) in the
late 1870s, saw the ebbing of "traditional liberalism" within the
colonial government itself.
It was now also fifty years since the liberation of both the
Khoikhoi (Hottentot) people and the Cape slaves. By now these
two groups were forging themselves into a unity (to be known as
the "Malays") and their freedom was being emphasised by stressing
their difference from the White population in such ways as choice
of Islam instead of Christianity as the religion and their
dedication of Saturday instead of Sunday as their day of worship.
They were also now beginning to make inroads into the economic
world and were therefore becoming an economic threat to many of
the Whites.
At the same time, the importation/migration of African
people from the eastern Cape and Mozambique would create new
problems in urban attitudes. They were essentially poor and
radically different from the White community and were perceived
as "immoral" with "filthy habits" which made them a natural
scapegoat to explain outbreaks of disease, especially smallpox in
the 1880s and bubonic plague in 1901.
Bickford-Smith maintains that the years between 1875 and
1900 saw the gradual evolution of racist attitudes amongst the
White community toward both the "Malays" and the African
population. Already in the 1880s there was talk of urban
segregation but the sheer expense of such a move prevented its
accomplishment. The African community, on the other hand, was
different because its essential otherness and poverty made it a
natural target for economically attainable segregation. By the
late 1890s the means was available: it merely required the
incentive to accomplish it and that was provided by the bubonic
plague pandemic.
The major weakness in this study, I find, lies in the
concluding chapters which break away from the chronological
thread and appear to lose some focus. At the same time the
author puts most of the blame on "bourgeois hegemony" of what he
consistently calls the "dominant class": the development of
segregation was a distinctly "class" thing. Yet analysis of
voter apathy in other Cape municipalities (like East London) does
indicate that the "dominant class" was not necessarily in control
of municipal politics. As a result, the book does not fully
evaluate to what extent the "dominant class" did in fact maintain
power through politics or whether, for that matter, they
controlled through some other means. One is therefore left with
the feeling that, when all is said and done, the essential
question of what led to urban segregation has not yet been fully
answered.
Nevertheless, Bickford-Smith's book is essential reading
for any researcher interested in urban segregation, especially
the South African variety. It is thoroughly researched, very
readable and his arguments have to be taken seriously. As a
first book on this subject, he succeeds in tying up many of the
threads left loose by earlier historians and he exposes "liberal"
Cape Town of the late 19th century in a way never before seen.
Keith Tankard
Department of History
Rhodes University
Eastern Cape
South Africa
e-mail: ktankard@lark.ru.ac.za
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