Unsettling segregation: The representation of urbanisation in black artists’ work from the 1920s to the 1990s By Pfunzo Sidogi Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Visual Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Professor Lize van Robbroeck March 2021 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. March 2021 Copyright © 2021 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract In this study I explore artistic representations of urbanisation produced by black South African artists throughout the twentieth century. Successive colonial and apartheid governments denied black people full rights to the city through, amongst other strategies, the systematic creation of black urbanisms or ‘black cities’. Commonly known as townships, ‘black cities’ were built to house reservoirs of black labour beyond the major cities and industrial hubs. This forced separation resulted in selective and ambiguous integration for the urbanised black populace. The influx of black people into the peri-urban sphere led to an unprecedented proliferation of artists recording the black experience of living and working in segregated urbanisms. Regrettably, much of the discourses on urbanisation produced by white scholars constructed black urbanisation specifically as a ‘problem’, and the diverse artistic annals showcasing urban black life were classified as ‘Township Art’, a category that could not fully capture the multi- dimensional, complex, and layered experiences of the urban black. A Social-Darwinist teleology that rural-based African traditions necessarily had to make way for urban-based western modernity informed the way black artists’ works were interpreted. Contesting these discoures, I use Afropolitanism, and the associated notions of multi-locality and New Africanism, to reframe depictions of twentieth-century urbanisation by black artists in order to redress the sweeping and essentialising binaries that characterised white writing on the phenomenon. Through a thick description of the major forces that shaped urban black life, I use the redeeming qualities of Afropolitanism to arrive at alternate interpretations of the artistic representations of black urbanisation created by black artists, which ultimately unsettle the rural-urban and tradition-modernity dichotomies. iii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Opsomming Hierdie tesis ondersoek swart Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars se uitbeeldings van verstedeliking in die loop van die twintigste eeu. Opeenvolgende koloniale en apartheidsadministrasies het swartmense toegang tot die stad ontken, onder andere deur die sistematiese vestiging van ‘swart stede’. Hierdie swart stede, algemeen bekend as ‘townships’, is gevestig om swart werkers buite die groot stede en industriële spilpunte te huisves, wat gelei het tot ’n dubbelsinnige en selektiewe integrasie vir die stedelike swart bevolking. Die instroming van mense na die stedelike sfeer het gelei tot ’n ongekende groei in kunstenaars wat die swart lewenservaring van apartheid-era stedelikheid ondersoek het in hulle werk. Wit skrywers het swart verstedeliking as ’n ‘probleem’ benader en die etiket ‘Township Kuns’ geskep om die verskynsel van stedelike swart kuns te beskryf, maar dié kategorie vang nie die kompleksiteit en veelvoudigheid van die swart stedelike ervaring volledig vas nie. Sosiale Darwinisme het ’n groot invloed uitgeoefen op interpretasies van swart kunstenaars se werk en gelei tot interpretasies van swart kuns wat gebaseer was op die teleologiese begrip dat landelike Afrika-tradisies noodwendig moes plek maak vir Westerse moderniteit. In hierdie studie pas ek egter die konsep van Afropolitanisme en gepaardgaande begrippe van multi-lokaliteit en Nuwe-Afrikaniteit toe om kunstenaars se ervaring van swart 20ste-eeuse verstedeliking vas te vang, en sodoende wit veralgemenings en essensialistiese binêre interpretasies aan te spreek. Deur middel van ’n ‘digte beskrywing’ van die kernfaktore wat swart stedelike lewens beïnvloed het, gebruik ek die verlossende potensiaal van Afropolitanisme om ’n alternatiewe interpretasie van swart uitbeeldings van stedelike ervaring voor te lê, en sodoende die problematiese diskursiewe polarisasie van tradisie/moderniteit en platteland/stad aan te spreek. iv Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements To Lize van Robbroeck, who nurtured this research project from its infancy, ndo livhuwa nga maanda! Without you, this study would not have been. The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), in collaboration with the South African Humanities Deans Association (SAHUDA) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NIHSS and SAHUDA. I also acknowledge the additional financial support received from The Arts and Culture Trust, and the Department of Higher Education and Training’s University Capacity Development Grant (disbursed via the Tshwane University of Technology). I am extremely grateful to the Javett Foundation for giving me priceless insider access to their Bongi Dhlomo Collection. Finally, a special thanks to Bongi (MaBongi) Dhlomo for the incredible insight and knowledge you have deposited into me. You are the true ‘dokotela’. v Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Contents Declaration .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Opsomming ........................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ v Contents ............................................................................................................................. vi List of illustrations ............................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and rationale ........................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Urbanisation and western modernity in Africa .............................................. 1 1.1.2 Blackness in twentieth-century South Africa ................................................. 4 1.1.3 (Re)presenting the black experience through art .......................................... 6 1.2 Research questions and aims ................................................................................. 7 1.3 Literature review ...................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Problem statement and focus ................................................................................ 11 1.5 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 13 1.6 Research design and methodology ....................................................................... 15 1.7 Significance of the study ........................................................................................ 17 1.8 Outline of chapters ................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER 2: Designing urban segregation in South Africa .......................................... 19 2.1 Introduction to chapter ........................................................................................... 19 2.2 The beginnings of westernised urbanisms ............................................................. 20 2.3 The rise of inland urbanisms, 1830 to 1900 ........................................................... 27 2.4 Twentieth-century urbanisation: Constructing the ‘white city’ ................................. 31 2.5 Dealing with the swart gevaar ................................................................................ 37 2.5.1 The fear of the swart gevaar ...................................................................... 37 2.5.2 Cleansing the city of the swart gevaar ........................................................ 40 2.6 Black urbanisation as a ‘necessary evil’ ................................................................ 46 2.6.1 The urban black person as a non-being ..................................................... 46 2.6.2 Controlling urban black people ................................................................... 48 2.7 Constructing the rural-urban dichotomy ................................................................. 51 2.8 Segregation through Bantu homeland urbanisation ............................................... 53 2.9 Urban segregation at