The Making of a Good White - E-thesis - Helsinki.fi

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money, and the CHL was still designing its methods of rehabilitation. It was considered important that the upliftment of the poor whites was conducted ‘scientifically’. The various social sciences’ theories – as formulated by their practitioners abroad – were introduced. The influence of the Carnegie Commission’s research, as well as Professor Batson’s thumbprints could be observed in the ways the Company ran its housing projects. The selection of suitable families was seen as the key to success, and the first generation of residents chosen to reside in EGV had to meet certain prerequisites. At the time, being a poor white and respectability were not mutually exclusive qualities. In the minds of South Africans there was still a difference between arm blankes and blanke armes (Marijke du Toit 1992: 7). Also the Carnegie Commission’s research report had divided the poor whites into the ‘naturally poor’ who were poor because of their personal qualities, and the ‘deserving poor’ who were destitute because of external circumstances. (Rothmann 1932: 166; Albertyn 1932: 1-21.) In the 1930s, the housing companies only wanted to accommodate the deserving poor who had the potential to become good whites. Parnell describes the selection procedure to qualify for a poor white housing estate in Johannesburg as stringent (1988a: 585). Evidence shows that it was no less difficult to obtain a home in Epping Garden Village in the 1930s and the 1940s. Settling in the area was, furthermore, a complicated process. Before the residents were selected, a detailed application form had to be filled in, and be accompanied by references from the applicant’s employer and church minister. Then a social worker visited the applicants in their homes and interviewed them. Only after this pre-monitoring were the applicants interviewed by the selection committee. (CHL: Report of the Selection Committee 1937.) Nuclear families with children and an income of more than £10 a month but less than £20 were favoured in this selection procedure. These were people who already had a stable lifestyle brought about by parenthood and a permanent income, but who were still starting their careers. They were the candidates most likely to succeed. (CHL, SWR 114 : 1937.) The heads of these families were in the prime of their working age. In 1942 only 32 persons, or 0.6 per cent of the Epping Garden Village residents received an old age pension. (CHL Survey: 1942.) 114 Citizens’ Housing League, Social Welfare Committee Resolutions, Minutes and Reports. All the quotes with regard to the CHL originate from the archives of Communicare (formerly the Citizens’ Housing League). 124
The CHL wanted to ensure that it chose people who did not have any significant problems and who were thus capable of rehabilitation. It was also important to establish that the residents were ‘white’ enough and hence personal contact was needed. However, those who were seen as worthy were helped abundantly. In my interviews with the oldest generation I was told that some prospective but destitute residents were even helped to obtain jobs so that their income would qualify for a house in the suburb. Professors of sociology and social work of the universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town helped to define the criteria for the selection process, and the Citizens’ Housing League’s selection committees handpicked the tenants of the first 700 houses in the area. The first residents were working class whites, and, as previously negotiated with the South African Railways, railway employees and their families. In 1942 there were 3.096 residents with an average of 2,68 children per family, in 1946 there were 3481 residents and an average of 2,67 children per family. The number of residents increased when the suburb was extended during 1945–1947 and the number of residents increased to 8.698 in 1950. The post-war baby boom hit the Village as well, for in 1950 the average number of children had risen to 3 children per family. (CHL Survey: 1942, 1946, 1950; CHL, SWR: 1952.) The first residents were reasonably educated. In 1942 a majority of the grown-ups, 76 per cent (996 out of 1.314) had completed standard 6, which equals eight years of formal schooling. Cape Town offered them plentiful job opportunities, and at that time there were only three unemployed people in the Village. (CHL Survey: 1942.) During the first years the educational standard rose, and in 1946 the second generation, the adult children of the families, were already better educated than their parents. Their increased professional opportunities, the post-war economic boom and the change from traditional manual occupations to new, clerical jobs – all these changes giving preference to whites – are reflected in the occupational structure of the suburb. 115 Table 1 demonstrates how the second generation moved towards white-collar occupations and away from unskilled manual occupations. The children were moving up fast. (CHL Survey: 1942, 1946.) 115 For the post World War II developments in South African white professions, see Bickford-Smith et al. 1999: 121-122; Giliomee 1979b: 160-161. 125
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Annika Björnsdotter Teppo THE MAKI
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”Dit is dr. Anton Rupert wat ges
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Myriam Houssay-Holzscuch for her wi
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CONTENTS 1. Introduction Background
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CONTENTS Men and Women at Work: Toi
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1. INTRODUCTION ”...There are ver
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of national unity (volkseenheid) an
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individual studies take in respect
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effortless, and it did not always p
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these bodily and social boundaries?
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term ‘poor white’ can be regard
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2. THE POOR WHITE CATEGORY The cate
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Poverty became more visible in the
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POOR WHITEISM Until the 1880s, pove
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people (Mattila 1996: 15-16). These
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mindedness assumed that it was conc
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that it had been strongly influence
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dependent was thus perceived as a c
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Afrikaner organisations such as the
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whites. Between 1880s and 1930s the
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poor whites was a crucial part of t
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From the beginning, the Housing Lea
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The First Residents: 1938-1948 Whil
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dren, while her husband Charles wor
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control of the poor whites grew har
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the area is not shared by middle-cl
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private life was not really private
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project, and a warning of the conse
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national prize-winning novel Triomf
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THE POOR WHITE STIGMA After the Sec
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of ‘racially superior’ whites t
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3. FIELDWORK: FACING THE ISSUES OF
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whites, and furthermore, a betrayal
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In EGV I was an outsider, a profess
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understanding of the everyday life
Page 73 and 74: the past ten years 71 discussions o
Page 75 and 76: Toit 1992 and 2003; Morrell 1992; P
Page 77 and 78: In Discipline and Punish, Foucault
Page 79 and 80: his body, he takes into account soc
Page 81 and 82: odily values (e.g. cleanliness). Si
Page 83 and 84: suburb. Other things, such as an ab
Page 85 and 86: for symbolic power is a very defini
Page 87 and 88: egulation. The means to this end we
Page 89 and 90: Embodiment and distinctions in the
Page 91 and 92: encouraged the system of concubinag
Page 93 and 94: The conversations followed a basic
Page 95 and 96: The world of the pass-whites was in
Page 97 and 98: people, since that would lead to de
Page 99 and 100: 140-141; Dubow 1995: 281-283; O’M
Page 101 and 102: space, but there were still many ur
Page 103 and 104: (1970: 17). Therefore the treatment
Page 105 and 106: intellectuals and church officials,
Page 107 and 108: acism. In 1932 he was nominated to
Page 109 and 110: and economic upliftment of the poor
Page 111 and 112: CONSTRUCTING EGV, A WHITE SUBURBAN
Page 113 and 114: Map 3: Ruyterwacht in 2001 113
Page 115 and 116: study model cities in England, Germ
Page 117 and 118: Since the spatial planning of the a
Page 119 and 120: well-being of the poor whites and t
Page 121 and 122: tion was to be a way out of humilia
Page 123: 6. THE ERA OF FAITH AND HARD WORK:
Page 127 and 128: Social Services in the CHL Housing
Page 129 and 130: Advice was offered on employment an
Page 131 and 132: DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC CAPITAL De
Page 133 and 134: money each family had spent on furn
Page 135 and 136: of rehabilitation. From the very be
Page 137 and 138: the idealisation of volksmoeders ti
Page 139 and 140: tution could provide. The risks inv
Page 141 and 142: “…the tenants in the Company’
Page 143 and 144: doctors to exercise care in issuing
Page 145 and 146: (and still are) measures of a good
Page 147 and 148: “It is said that Mrs. H. is addic
Page 149 and 150: “It was stated by neighbours howe
Page 151 and 152: deteriorating infl uence on other c
Page 153 and 154: “Investigation of the family circ
Page 155 and 156: purity. They accepted people with a
Page 157 and 158: unhappiness and tells her not to wo
Page 159 and 160: still accepted as White, for they w
Page 161 and 162: CONCLUSION Epping Garden Village wa
Page 163 and 164: During this era most of the residen
Page 165 and 166: 7. THE ERA OF STAGNATION AND DISINT
Page 167 and 168: Being simultaneously poor and white
Page 169 and 170: The question of an optimal minimum
Page 171 and 172: ing privately owned homes, and the
Page 173 and 174: times and had nowhere else to go. T
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which, combined with the regulation
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Offi cer for automatic transfer to
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contributed to the family income mu
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aimed at those children who were sh
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eficial manner, and connected with
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itself as ”narrative structural p
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in order to scare their men into be
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with different men at different tim
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came obvious from the note in the a
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when the state paid for travel, clo
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She already had four siblings at th
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make it likely that some people did
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acks on the idea of Afrikanerdom. T
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scribed in the conclusion of the pr
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The racial ideas are alive and well
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The white residents of the suburb c
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Throughout the twentieth century th
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plaints are not openly directed at
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Some have moved to Goodwood, some h
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On the western boundary of Ruyterwa
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the position of poor white areas in
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since, as Burkitt has suggested,
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Picture 2: A thoroughly renovated G
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the same lifestyle or bodily concer
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to the authorities. As soon as they
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The Hierarchists Revolt: How Ruyter
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“You see, if you want to live in
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Arriviste Tactics: Muslims in the C
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empty talk, a non-functional tactic
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The End of the Upliftment as We Kne
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at home, it is possible to show you
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The social work has changed, and th
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“I do not bother myself with them
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understandable. As shown earlier, m
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and regulated Ruyterwacht homes are
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UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Before the
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REDISTRIBUTION? At the end of the a
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Opheffing. Upliftment. To ’uplift
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APPENDIX 2: EGV IN 1940 Picture 4:
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APPENDIX 3: TABLES Occupations whit
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CODES/PRIMARY DOCUMENTS* 1 2 3 4 5
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Bickford-Smith, V., van Heyningen,
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De Certeau, Michel 2000. Ethno-Grap
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Freund, Bill 1992. Introduction: Th
Page 263 and 264:
Horrell, Muriel (compiler) 1978. La
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Mauss, Marcel 1979. Sociology and P
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Russell, Diana E.H. 1997. Behind Cl
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Worden, N., van Heyningen, E. and B
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APPENDIX 5: INDEX WORDS ACVV 42-43,
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Johannesburg 15, 27, 67, 101, 104,
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275
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