CONCEPTUALIZING SOCIAL FORMATION: PRODUCING A TEXTBOOK ON SOUTH AFRICA ALAN JOHN LESTER THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF PhD INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LOND19 Abstract The ultimate goal of the thesis is the construction of a text, appropriate for student use, on South Africa's social and spatial formation. The first part of the thesis is the most lengthy. It is a sophisticated account of South Africa's historical geography since 1652. This is written in an academic style, not for students, but for a learned readership, and contains some original insights. In itself, it represents an innovative contribution to the literature on South Africa's social development. The second part is a review of existing texts on South Africa's history and geography, written purposefully for students. These texts are subjected to a critique with content and coverage being the main criteria. The third part is an investigation of theoretical issues concerning the relationship between readers, particularly student readers, and texts. It seeks to formulate guidelines for the writing of a student text and the devising of learning activities which are appropriate for learners. In a brief conclusion, attention is paid to the ways in which the original aims have been manifested in a student text, included in the thesis as an appendix. Although this text is another lengthy treatment of South Africa's social and spatial formation, this time it is written for an intended student readership. It draws on the content deemed appropriate in the sophisticated text of Part One, seeks to overcome the weaknesses identified in current student texts in Part Two, and is written in a style, appropriate for students, suggested by Part Three. It also contains student activities devised in the theoretical context introduced in Part Three. The text is deemed to be a significant advance on previously published History and Geography educational materials. 1 Introduction This thesis arose out of a combination of two interests. The first is in South Africa's historical development, and in particular, how South African society had come to be as it was at the end of the apartheid era. The second is in teaching, and particularly in teaching students taking A levels or in the early stages of degrees. The general purpose of the thesis is remarkably straightforward: to produce a text on South Africa intended as a learning guide for such students. Its execution, however, was more problematic. I began the task with pre-formulated ideas about South African historical geography - ideas which had been evolving over years of study since I visited South Africa as an undergraduate researcher. I knew early on that, as a first part of the thesis, I wished to formalize these ideas into some kind of grand narrative - a narrative which would be eclectic and comprehensive. The construction of this narrative would enable me to identify that "content" which I would consider most relevant for students of South Africa. (I use the word "content" guardedly at this stage, for reasons involving the link between language and "message", which will become clearer in Part Three). I also knew early on that the end product of the thesis would be a text, ultimately derived from this comprehensive account, but written expressly with students in mind. It would have to be different from the original account in two main ways: firstly, its coverage could not be so extensive and secondly, its language and discourse structure would have to be adapted. In regard to the former consideration - of coverage - I turned to currently available student texts on South Africa. A review enabled me to identify both achievements which I would wish to emulate, and limitations which I would wish to transcend in my own version. The latter consideration - guidance on language and structure - proved more elusive. At my supervisor's instigation, I undertook to read literature on language structure, discourse and genre, 2 produced by literary theorists, educationalists and psychologists, all in an attempt to identify what it is which makes some "factual" texts more successful than others, for students as a particular type of reader. By the time I had completed this task, I had collected together a comprehensive account of South African social formation, a review of perceived successes and failures of current student texts on the subject and a consideration of what generally makes for a successful student text. All that remained was to write my own. This then, is the structure of the thesis: Part One: a thorough and "learned" account of South African social formation. Part Two: a review of student texts on South Africa, focusing mainly on their coverage. Part Three: a consideration of the relationships between readers and texts, and the characteristics of a successful text for "learners". Overall Conclusion. Appendix: a student textbook on South African social and spatial formation. 3 Contents Introduction 1 Part One: The Formation of Social and Spatial Structures in South Africa, 1652-1994 Introduction 6 Chapter One: The Foundation of a Society 20 Chapter Two: Colonial Expansion, Industrialization 38 and Afrikanerdom Chapter Three: The Germination of a System 77 Chapter Four: The Formulation of a Structure 116 Chapter Five: Adaptations and Contradictions 151 Chapter Six: The Reformulation of a Structure 189 Chapter Seven: Policy and Reality 217 Chapter Eight: The Changing South African State 252 Conclusion: Conceptions of South African Socio- 289 Political Formation 4 Part Two: A Critique of Formal Educational Materials on South Africa at the Post-16 Level 302 Part Three: The Writing of a Text 350 Overall Conclusion 375 Part One Bibliography 379 Part Three References 402 Appendix: South Africa's History and Geography: A Text For Students 407 Foreword 407 Chapter One: Founding a Colony 413 Chapter Two: Expanding Frontiers 436 Chapter Three: African Experiences and Segregation 527 Chapter Four: Consolidating Segregation and Intensifying 565 Afrikaner Nationalism Chapter Five: Apartheid 610 Chapter Six: Contradictions and Further Adaptations 645 Chapter Seven: Botha's Reforms and Insurrection 677 5 Chapter Eight: The Abandonment of Apartheid 718 Conclusion 742 Glossary 755 Appendix References 766 6 Part One The Formation of Social and Spatial Structures in South Africa, 1652 to 1994 Introduction The purpose of Part One is to render a satisfactory explanation of the nature of contemporary South African society and its spatial configuration. This explanation cannot be attempted without tracing the course of social formation and-adaptation in South Africa over the last three and a half centuries. There is considerable historical inertia involved in the constitution of social structures anywhere, and South Africa's most tangible social structures have been more rigidly rooted in the past than many. A reading of Part One should enable the identification of the most important historical continuities in South Africa - those processes and traits which have had most to do with shaping South Africa's present society: its social group stratification, its political institutions, the patterns of its human geography, the structure of its economy and its external links. However, the following account is coloured by a particular interpretation of events and processes. "All history is fiction", to a greater or lesser extent, since historical "facts" are distorted by the light of interpretation thrown upon them. There are conflicting interpretations,- not- just of events and medium term processes, but of the structural conditions underlying and shaping the course of South Africa's social development. The different conceptions ultimately boil down to varying perceptions of the psychological motivations of the actors involved in social change, and of the way societies in general operate. My own interpretation of events has been derived from weighing up the explanatory attributes of various "schools of thought". Before setting out the structure of the ensuing chapters, the bulk of this introduction is devoted to a brief analysis of what have been two particularly divergent scholarly tendencies (although the delineating characteristics of the two schools have blurred recently). An analysis of the traditional cleavage of 7 interpretation between Marxists (or "radicals", a wider term) and "liberals", should not only allow my own interpretative tendencies to become clear early on; it should also help to clarify other, competing poles of interpretation. The central issue around which academic conflict between liberals and Marxists has revolved, is that of the relationship between capitalism as a mode of production, and apartheid's racial structures. "Given that South African economic development was profoundly structured by racial labour policies, moulded by ideology and a violent racially repressive socio-political environment, it is not surprising that the interplay between political and economic forces. has received a great deal of academic attention" (Nattrass,1991,654). Behind this "academic attention" though, lies a more subtle and nuanced debate over the markers of social identity and the forms of self-conception, which divide the individuals comprising society into groups. The lines delineating these groups are inconstant and fluid, but in specific circumstances, the polarization between social units, over certain issues, is discernable. Where Marxists have tended to find the crucial basis for social group formation in the relationship