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Designed to Divide: Public Toilets in Cape Town, 1880-1940 Lucienne Argent ARGLUC001 Town Cape of A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Historical Studies University Department of Historical Studies Faculty of the Humanities University of Cape Town 2018 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work.Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: Date: ____ A b s t r a c t This dissertation seeks to explore the frequently overlooked site of public toilets in relation to the politics of production and maintenance of social hierarchies in Cape Town between 1880 and 1940. In particular, it examines how public toilets both reflected and operationalised new understandings of demarcation of space, and disciplining and distribution of bodily functions. Rather than providing a comprehensive history of this municipally provided facility, this dissertation aims at exploring the ways in which the scanty, scattered and seemingly technical archive on public toilets can be used to understand the co-production of the built environment and social values.The emphasis on the spatial and the corporeal aspects of this history not only allows us to challenge the abstraction of the ‘public’ with which historians usually operate, but also to recognize how, for the city officials, the human body’s capacity to generate waste was both a source of anxiety and a means of constructing ‚inferiority‛ among particular groups of people. The dissertation consists of a chapter-length introduction, followed by three chapters based on primary research. In conversation with a range of conceptual and comparative academic literature, the introductory chapter identifies and examines the key theoretical questions underlying a possible history of public toilets in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Cape Town. Chapter One interrogates the public-ness of the so-called public toilets, by A b s t r a c t critically engaging the intersections of race, class and gender, and by calling attention to their role in the maintenance of social hierarchies. Chapter Two focuses primarily on the question of infrastructure and design, trying to place the relationship between material designs and physical bodies at the centre of a history of practices. Chapter Three is concerned with the use and control of public toilets, and traces the ways in which both toilet users and attendants negotiated the values and habits that city officials tried to enforce in and through this institution. This research has drawn on a variety of archival sources, including Mayor’s Minutes, Reports of the Medical Officers of Health, correspondence between the city council and members of the public, Select Committee Reports, articles in and letters to the press, maps of the city, architect’s plans, as well as contemporary fictional literature. C o n t e n t s Acknowledgements i Abbreviations iii Introduction 1 Toilets in Public Debates 5 Toilets in Urban Histories of South Africa 9 Conceptualising Public Toilets 17 Historiographical Conjunctions 19 Reflections on Methodology 30 Overview of Chapters 37 Chapter One “Abating All Nuisances”: Gender, Race, Class 39 “The City of Stinks” 45 “Cleanliness” and Reform Politics 49 Infrastructural and Bureaucratic Changes 51 The “Problem” of Public Urination 54 Public Toilets and the Body 56 Women’s Presence in the Public Realm 57 Managing Women’s Bodily Habits 61 Number of Toilets 63 Not All Men Were Respectable 64 Women and Location: The Pre-War Period 67 Women and Location: The Post-War Period 69 Intersections of Gender and Race 74 Conclusion 78 Chapter Two “For Aesthetic Reasons”: Designs, Bodies, Stereotypes 80 Shielding from the Public Gaze 82 Underground Designs 83 Screens and Fences 87 Entrance Orientation 90 Water Closets vs. Earth Closets 93 Toilet Styles: Posture, Privacy and Materiality 96 RMO Latrines: Designing for Black Bodies 103 Despotism of Design 106 “Progress”, Race and Toilet Styles 107 Conclusion 111 Chapter Three: “The People We Have to Contend With”: Access, Use, Contestations 113 Habitants and Habits: Colonial Assumptions 116 From the Street to the Cubicle: Shifting a Public Habit 121 Price and Prejudice 127 Users and Attendants: Negotiating Access 131 Approaching “Abuse” 140 Conclusion 144 Conclusion 147 Bibliography 153 Appendix A: Maps of Public Toilets in Cape Town 172 Appendix B: Table showing Details of Public Toilets in Cape Town 181 Acknowledgements There are many people who have helped me in this process, in immeasurable ways, and words do not feel adequate to express the depth of my gratitude. Nevertheless, I would like to formally express my thanks to the following: To the National Research Foundation, for awarding me the Scarce Skills Masters Scholarship, as well as extension funding for this research. To IAPO, for granting me the scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Spring semester in 2015. I would also like to thank my lecturers, classmates and fellow exchange students at UW Madison, for making it such a positive and stimulating experience – especially Professor Keith Woodward, Associate Professor Sean Dinces, Stefano Ambrosi, Cleome Bernick-Roehr, Taylor Kaspar, Yusi Liu and Doug Adams. To the Department of Historical Studies at UCT, which has been my academic home for the last five years, including Associate Professor Lance Van Sittert and the administrative staff, and especially Colleen Petersen, without whom nothing would happen. Special thanks must go to my supervisor, Dr. Bodhisattva Kar. I am grateful for his sincere interest in my topic. For the freedom he gave me to explore and to make mistakes by myself, and for his guidance when I got lost down rabbit holes. For the way he pushed me far beyond my comfort zone and brain capacity, and for engaging with my work so thoroughly and in such detail. For always making time in his busy schedule for me, and for his enduring patience. I especially want to thank him for the way that he always gave me i the benefit of the doubt. In the process of writing, I often revealed ignorant assumptions, prejudices and problematic thinking. But rather than writing me off, or critiquing me as a person, he was always adamant that the writing did not reflect my values or my politics. I am immensely grateful for this generosity, which I certainly have not always deserved. To the many people who helped me find and arrange my data: Harriet Clift at the Environmental and Heritage Resource Information Centre, who assisted me in finding archival material, and who piqued my interest in mapping techniques; Nicholas Lindenberg at the GIS lab, for his hours of patience; and all the staff at the African Studies and Government Publications libraries at UCT, and at the Cape Town Archives, for their kind assistance. To my family, who patiently listened to me talk about toilets for four years. In particular, to my parents, Sally and Andrew Argent, who read countless drafts, who encouraged me, and who provided a never-ending source of love and support. To my brothers, Jonathan and Brendan, and my sister-in-law, Muriel, who helped keep me sane, and never let me feel too sorry for myself. Our regular Skype and lunch dates, respectively, were invaluable to me. And to my godmother, Hilary McLea, for her support from afar. To my friends, who believed in me, and put up with me, and kept me fed: Rebecca Helman, Neroli Price, Zoe Gill, Megg du Toit, Ashleigh Heese, Nyx McLean and Stacey Kriger. Special mention must be made of Yoni Pakleppa and Ben Vigne, with whom I have shared much of this process, and without whom many long hours on campus would have been much less enjoyable. I have cherished your companionship. I also want to acknowledge the loved ones that I lost along the way: my grandmother, Helen Argent; my uncle, John Verster; and my friend, Sarah Webb, all of whom would have liked to have celebrated the culmination of this process with me, and who are greatly missed. And to my beloved cat, Kittyno, who kept me company for many hours at my desk, and who has left a permanent hole in my heart. ii Abbreviations AGM of SARH Assistant General Manager of South African Railway and Harbours ANC African National Congress DA Democratic Alliance DCUCT Digital Collection, University of Cape Town EHRIC Environmental and Heritage Resource Information Centre, City of Cape Town GPUCT Government Publications, University of Cape Town Libraries HBRC Health and Building Regulation Committee KAB Cape Town Archives Repository NCWSA National Council of Women of South Africa RMO Railway Medical Officer SCUCT Special Collections, University of Cape Town Libraries UCT University of Cape Town WC Water closet WMA Women’s Municipal Association WSRRA Woodstock and Salt River Ratepayers Association iii Introduction toilet poem things of course about which one would never write a poem force their way into the territory of poetic themes