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

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It is difficult to estimate how much each separate train of thought affected the practical methods, or the success of the upliftment of the poor whites. Often the ideas of these various trains of thought were so entangled and their dogmas amalgamated to such an extent that, while it is possible to identify the initial main ideas of each approach, they became inseparable in practice. This is one of the most formidable features of the poor white project: the united thoughts behind it made it powerful and all pervasive. This all-inclusive quality was transferred to and reflected in the everyday life of the residents of Epping Garden Village. In the first decades of the twentieth century this amalgamated set of ideas became the social norm, and a framework for the social engineering. It also created a framework for the rehabilitation of the white poor, which were guided towards the ideals of the category a good white. The present strong and consistent stigmatisation of the South African poor whites shows that there is still an ideal of a good white. There have indeed been many ideals of proper White behaviour, while the content of the category poor white and discourses of whiteness have varied. A person could be branded as a poor white by mere association, such as residing in a suburb like Epping Garden Village. The term poor white thus largely referred to a perceived category. In this thesis the term is used rather eclectically, and applied to those who were labelled as such. Studying the practices of upliftment in Epping Garden Village shows how and on what terms the category White was constructed in the twentieth century. In the 1930s and 1940s the residents were chosen for their potential to become good whites. The emphasis was on finding low-income residents who were respectable and socially ascending. But while Epping Garden Village was established in order to prevent and stop the degeneration of the respectable poor, it simultaneously offered a physical locus for it. Steadily, the suburb became ever more stigmatised. The gradual abolition of the strict selection process can be seen in the people who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s, when EGV became largely institutionalised. The residents grew increasingly marginalised, and became more stigmatised. Currently they represent the downside of whiteness in the South African imagination. Although there were ‘losers’ in the first generation and ‘winners’ even in the era of institutionalisation, it can be said that there were particular embodied ideals, whiteness or a White identity that the uplifters attempted to impose on the residents of the suburb. Afrikaner nation-building has come a long way from uniting the intellectuals behind the common cause of building a nation for the benefit 62
of ‘racially superior’ whites to today’s harsh reality where there is no respectable White poverty, and those known as poor whites are an embarrassment to the middle-class whites. The identity of a good white is maintained not only in opposition to people of colour, but also in opposition to poor whites. At present there are no longer uplifters who are interested in constructing good whites in the suburb, although the residents are still concerned about fitting into the framework of a good white. The recent social and political changes in South Africa have deprived them of their previously ’privileged’ position, and they are seeking ways to adapt, or at least survive. 63
Page 1 and 2:
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
Page 11 and 12: CONTENTS Men and Women at Work: Toi
Page 13 and 14: 1. INTRODUCTION ”...There are ver
Page 15 and 16: of national unity (volkseenheid) an
Page 17 and 18: individual studies take in respect
Page 19 and 20: effortless, and it did not always p
Page 21 and 22: these bodily and social boundaries?
Page 23 and 24: term ‘poor white’ can be regard
Page 25 and 26: 2. THE POOR WHITE CATEGORY The cate
Page 27 and 28: Poverty became more visible in the
Page 29 and 30: POOR WHITEISM Until the 1880s, pove
Page 31 and 32: people (Mattila 1996: 15-16). These
Page 33 and 34: mindedness assumed that it was conc
Page 35 and 36: that it had been strongly influence
Page 37 and 38: dependent was thus perceived as a c
Page 39 and 40: Afrikaner organisations such as the
Page 41 and 42: whites. Between 1880s and 1930s the
Page 43 and 44: poor whites was a crucial part of t
Page 45 and 46: From the beginning, the Housing Lea
Page 47 and 48: The First Residents: 1938-1948 Whil
Page 49 and 50: dren, while her husband Charles wor
Page 51 and 52: control of the poor whites grew har
Page 53 and 54: the area is not shared by middle-cl
Page 55 and 56: private life was not really private
Page 57 and 58: project, and a warning of the conse
Page 59 and 60: national prize-winning novel Triomf
Page 61: THE POOR WHITE STIGMA After the Sec
Page 65 and 66: 3. FIELDWORK: FACING THE ISSUES OF
Page 67 and 68: whites, and furthermore, a betrayal
Page 69 and 70: In EGV I was an outsider, a profess
Page 71 and 72: 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
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Map 3: Ruyterwacht in 2001 113
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study model cities in England, Germ
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Since the spatial planning of the a
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well-being of the poor whites and t
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tion was to be a way out of humilia
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6. THE ERA OF FAITH AND HARD WORK:
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The CHL wanted to ensure that it ch
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Social Services in the CHL Housing
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Advice was offered on employment an
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DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC CAPITAL De
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money each family had spent on furn
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of rehabilitation. From the very be
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the idealisation of volksmoeders ti
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tution could provide. The risks inv
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“…the tenants in the Company’
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doctors to exercise care in issuing
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(and still are) measures of a good
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“It is said that Mrs. H. is addic
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“It was stated by neighbours howe
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deteriorating infl uence on other c
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“Investigation of the family circ
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purity. They accepted people with a
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unhappiness and tells her not to wo
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still accepted as White, for they w
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CONCLUSION Epping Garden Village wa
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During this era most of the residen
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7. THE ERA OF STAGNATION AND DISINT
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Being simultaneously poor and white
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The question of an optimal minimum
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ing privately owned homes, and the
Page 173 and 174:
times and had nowhere else to go. T
Page 175 and 176:
which, combined with the regulation
Page 177 and 178:
Offi cer for automatic transfer to
Page 179 and 180:
contributed to the family income mu
Page 181 and 182:
aimed at those children who were sh
Page 183 and 184:
eficial manner, and connected with
Page 185 and 186:
itself as ”narrative structural p
Page 187 and 188:
in order to scare their men into be
Page 189 and 190:
with different men at different tim
Page 191 and 192:
came obvious from the note in the a
Page 193 and 194:
when the state paid for travel, clo
Page 195 and 196:
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
Page 207 and 208:
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
Page 213 and 214:
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
Page 229 and 230:
Arriviste Tactics: Muslims in the C
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empty talk, a non-functional tactic
Page 233 and 234:
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
Page 249 and 250:
Opheffing. Upliftment. To ’uplift
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APPENDIX 2: EGV IN 1940 Picture 4:
Page 253 and 254:
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
Page 261 and 262:
Freund, Bill 1992. Introduction: Th
Page 263 and 264:
Horrell, Muriel (compiler) 1978. La
Page 265 and 266:
Mauss, Marcel 1979. Sociology and P
Page 267 and 268:
Russell, Diana E.H. 1997. Behind Cl
Page 269 and 270:
Worden, N., van Heyningen, E. and B
Page 271 and 272:
APPENDIX 5: INDEX WORDS ACVV 42-43,
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Johannesburg 15, 27, 67, 101, 104,
Page 275 and 276:
275
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