Governing Poor Whites Race, Philanthropy and Transnational Governmentality Between the United States and South Africa
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Governing Poor Whites Race, philanthropy and transnational governmentality between the United States and South Africa Edward-John Bottomley Department of Geography, University of Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Emmanuel College October 2016 For Milla, of course 2 Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University of similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text It does not exceed the prescribed word limit of 80,000 set by the Degree Committee for Earth Sciences and Geography. Edward-John Bottomley October 2016 3 Acknowledgements My PhD research, and time at Cambridge, was funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship provided by the UK government. It simply would not have been possible without the extremely generous support of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Cambridge Trusts. I also received financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Grant-in-aid programme; the Smuts Memorial Fund, in memory of Jan Christiaan Smuts; and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This thesis benefitted greatly from the support of my supervisor, Phil Howell. Over the course of many years he has been unstinting in his advice, wisdom and friendship. I am lucky to have had his input. I am grateful to my advisory committee, David Nally and David Beckingham, for their help and advice. I am also grateful for the friendship, help and advice of Chay Brooks, Dave McLaughlin and Olja Petri. A number of archivists and librarians made my primary research a pleasure. I would like to thank Jennifer Comins of the Carnegie Collection at Columbia University. At the Rockefeller Archive Center in Sleepy Hollow, I am grateful to Patricia Rosenfield, Thomas Rosenbaum, and Bethany Antos. I would like to thank my family for being the people they are: my mother, Nielen, Daniel, and my father, who started this research, but was not able to see it completed. Lastly, and especially, I would like to thank my wife, Milla. My greatest accomplishment has been to marry her. 4 Abstract Throughout the twentieth century so-called Poor Whites caused anxiety in countries where racial domination was crucial, such as South Africa, the colonies of European empire and the United States. The Poor Whites were troubling for a number of reasons, not least because they threatened white prestige and the entire system of racial control. The efforts of various governments, organisations and experts to discipline, control and uplift the group necessarily disadvantaged other races. These controls, such as colour bars and Jim Crow laws, had an enormous effect on the countries where the Poor Whites were seen as a problem. The results can still be seen in the profoundly unequal contemporary racial landscape, and which is given expression by protest groups such as Black Lives Matter. Yet the efforts to manage the Poor Whites have thus far been examined on a national basis — as a problem of the United States, or of South Africa, to name just the most significant locales and regimes. This dissertation attempts to expand our understanding of the geography of the Poor Whites by arguing that the ‘Poor White Problem’ was a transnational concern rooted in racial interests that transcended national concerns. The racial solidarity displayed by so-called ‘white men’s countries’ was also extended to the Poor Whites. Efforts to control and discipline the population were thus in service of the white race as a whole, and ignored national interests and national borders. The transnational management of the Poor Whites was done through a network of transnational organisations such as the League of Nations and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as the careering experts they employed. The dissertation argues that these attempts constituted a transnational ‘governmentality’ according to which these organisations and their experts attempted to discipline a Poor White population that they viewed as transnational in order to uphold white prestige and tacitly maintain both global and local racial systems. This dissertation examines some of the ways in which Poor Whites were disciplined and racially rehabilitated. It examines health and sanitation, education and training, housing standards and the management of urban space, and finally photographic representation. 5 Table of Contents Declaration .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 4 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Mapping the Poor White ..................................................................................................... 25 Race and the margins of empire ........................................................................................................ 25 Imperial networks and imperial expertise ......................................................................................... 32 White men’s countries and philanthropic empires ............................................................................ 37 Transnational governmentality and other methodologies ................................................................. 43 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 46 Chapter 2: Training the Poor White ...................................................................................................... 48 The Country Life Commission and rural decline .............................................................................. 48 Farm demonstrations and home improvement .................................................................................. 50 Southern education reform and the General Education Board .......................................................... 59 Poor White country schools and implementing racial rehabilitation ................................................ 69 The Carnegie Commission and international philanthropic networks .............................................. 76 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 85 Chapter 3: Curing the Poor White......................................................................................................... 87 The discovery of ‘Poor Whiteism’ .................................................................................................... 87 Eugenics and the science of race....................................................................................................... 89 Hookworm and the South ................................................................................................................. 97 Malaria and the Bushveld ............................................................................................................... 107 The danger of the tropics ................................................................................................................ 115 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 121 6 Chapter 4: Housing the Poor White .................................................................................................... 123 Space and sanitation in the Victorian city and colony .................................................................... 125 Model villages, garden cities and the eugenic diagram .................................................................. 132 Town planning in the United States: philanthropy, suburbs and slums .......................................... 141 Making pure white spaces out of poor white communities ............................................................. 152 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 161 Chapter 5: Representing