Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis examines the lives of four families in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal and what the situation in which these families find themselves tells us about race, poverty and social change in contemporary South Africa by using ethnographic participant observation techniques. Central to the thesis is a concern with contradiction expressed in the entanglement of these four families with a particular moral order. This moral order is the basis of continued material survival, but at the same time, it is not adequate to transform conditions of poverty nor to change feelings of entitlement, making it impossible for these families to imagine their condition as shared with other races. The problem appears to be just about individuals not thinking correctly about their position and about them not seeing how many South Africans are struggling to survive and therefore share similar difficulties. The thesis shows that the difficulties experienced have rather more to do with changing the families' common sense notions. Their common sense is grounded in material realities, in realties of institutions that provide for them but also dictate a particular way of seeing the world, a moral order. Common sense is embedded in the material practices of people, in how they inhabit space and make place for themselves, in how they interact with family, in how they work with the institutions that are the very condition of their survival, and in how they come to understand and judge the past. At the moments when the limits of the moral order become clear, it is then not the moral order that comes into question but rather it is reasserted through explanations based on particular structural changes as contingencies that reinforce the moral order rather than challenge it. It is at these moments that people reassert race since their common sense explanations seem limited. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die alledaagse lewens van vier families in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal en wat hul situasie ons kan vertel van ras, armoede en sosiale verandering in 'n kontemporêre Suid-Afrika gebasseer op deelnemende waarneming en etnografiese tegnieke. Sentraal tot die proefskrif is 'n fokus op die teenstrydigheid wat voorkom in die verstrengeling van hierdie vier families met 'n bepaalde morele orde. Hierdie morele orde is die grondslag vir voortgesette materiële oorlewing, maar terselfde tyd is dit nie voldoende om die kondisies van armoede te transformeer of om hul gevoelens van geregtigheid te verander nie en maak dit amper onmoonltik vir die families om hulle kondisie as gedeel en gemeenskaplik met ander rasse te sien. Die probleem blyk om meer te wees as net individue wat nie korrek nadink oor hul posisie nie of nie sien hoeveel ander Suid Afrikaners sukkel om 'n bestaan te maak nie en dus soortgelyke probleme ervaar. Die tesis wys dat dit het eerder te doen met 'n verandering in wat die families „weet‟ gebaseer op hulle gesonde verstand (common sense). Hulle gesonde verstand is gegrond in materiële realiteite, die realiteite van instellings wat vir hulle voorsiening maak en gevolglik die spesifieke wyse waarop hulle die wêreld sien dikteer; 'n morele orde. Hulle gesonde verstand is gegrond in die materiële praktyke van mense, in hoe hulle in ruimtes leef en plek maak vir hulself, in hoe hulle omgaan met familie, in hoe hulle te werk gaan met instellings wat die basis is vir hulle oorlewing en in hoe hulle sin maak van die verlede asook dit oordeel. In die oomblike wanneer die grense van die morele orde bereik word, is dit nie die morele orde wat bevraagteken word nie. Die morele orde word eerder gehandhaaf deur regverdigings gebasseer op spesifieke strukturele veranderings wat dit verder versterk, eerder as uitdaag. Dit is in hierdie oomblikke wat mense fokus op ras omdat hulle gesonde verstand se rationalisasies of regverdigings beperk is.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, March 2017 / This thesis focuses on group of poorer white South Africans who have settled, informally and illegally, in a former caravan park on the West Rand of Johannesburg, The King Edward Park. It is enthographic study that explores the socio-economic genealogies of the poorer white residents of the park, the everyday practices of making livelihoods, and attempt to produce ideologies of South African blackness. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / MT 2018

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 26, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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.

Founded in 1928, Iscor was intended to make South Africa self sufficient in the provision of steel while providing employment for poor whites. Economic considerations prevailed when Iscor began replacing expensive white labour with cheaper black labour. From 1934 to 1948 black labour was employed to curtail costs. While being replaced by black labour, white employees' salaries and fringe benefits remained better than those of their black colleagues. Affordable houses were provided for white employees while blacks were housed in overcrowded compounds. No medical or pension benefits were made available to black employees or their families, while white employees enjoyed both. White employees were provided with what were arguabley the finest sports facilities in the country while black facilities were neglected. With the National Party victory in 1948 more emphasis was placed on the employment of Afrikaans speaking white South Africans at the expense of blacks and English speaking whites. / History / M.A. (History)

Founded in 1928, Iscor was intended to make South Africa self sufficient in the provision of steel while providing employment for poor whites. Economic considerations prevailed when Iscor began replacing expensive white labour with cheaper black labour. From 1934 to 1948 black labour was employed to curtail costs. While being replaced by black labour, white employees' salaries and fringe benefits remained better than those of their black colleagues. Affordable houses were provided for white employees while blacks were housed in overcrowded compounds. No medical or pension benefits were made available to black employees or their families, while white employees enjoyed both. White employees were provided with what were arguabley the finest sports facilities in the country while black facilities were neglected. With the National Party victory in 1948 more emphasis was placed on the employment of Afrikaans speaking white South Africans at the expense of blacks and English speaking whites. / History / M.A. (History)

This thesis examines three groups of northern Methodists who made their way to north Florida during Reconstruction: northern white male Methodists, northern white female Methodists, and northern black male and female Methodists. It analyzes the ways in which these men and women confronted the differences they encountered in Florida‟s southern society as compared to their experiences living in a northern society. School catalogs, school reports, letters, and newspapers highlight the ways in which these northerners explained the culture and behaviors of southern freedmen and poor whites in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Monticello. This study examines how these particular northern men and women present in Florida during Reconstruction applied elements of “the North” to their interactions with the freedmen and poor whites. Ultimately, it sheds light on northern Methodist middle class values in southern society

Thesis (DPhil (History))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLSIH ABSTRACT: This study is a political biography of D.F. Malan (1874–1959), the first of the apartheid-era Prime Ministers, and covers the years 1874 to 1954, when Malan retired from politics. It endeavours to provide a warts-and-all account of D.F. Malan which challenges prevalent myths and stereotypes surrounding his public persona and his political orientation. While the overwhelming focus is on Malan’s political career, special attention is paid to his personal life in order to paint a multi-faceted picture of his character. The biography is written in the form of a seamless narrative and employs a literary style of writing. It is based on archival research which utilised Malan’s private collection, as well as the private collections of his Nationalist contemporaries. Malan takes the centre stage at all times, as the biography focuses on his perceptions and experiences. Malan’s views regarding Afrikaner nationalism, which was his foremost political priority, are described, and are related to his views of British imperialism as well as other ideologies such as communism and totalitarianism. This study demonstrates that there is a notable link between Malan’s perceptions of race relations and his concerns about the poor white problem. It reveals that Malan’s racial policy was, to some extent, fluid, as were his views on South Africa’s constitutional position. Debates about South Africa’s links to Britain and the nature of the envisioned republic preoccupied Afrikaner nationalists throughout the first half of the twentieth century – and served as an outlet for regional and generational tensions within the movement. Malan’s clashes with nationalists such as Tielman Roos, J.B.M. Hertzog and J.G. Strijdom are highlighted as an indication of the internecine power struggles within the National Party (NP). By emphasising these complexities, this study seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the South African past. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is politieke biografie van D.F. Malan (1874–1959), die eerste van die apartheid-era Eerste Ministers, en dek die jare 1874 tot 1954, toe Malan uit die politiek getree het. Dit poog om onversuikerde beeld van Malan te skets wat heersende mites en stereotipes aangaande sy openbare beeld en sy benadering tot die politiek uitdaag. Die fokus is hoofsaaklik op Malan se politieke loopbaan, maar besondere aandag word aan sy private lewe geskenk om sodoende veelsydige portret van sy karakter te skilder. Die biografie is in die vorm van naatlose narratief geskryf en maak van literêre skryfstyl gebruik. Dit is gebaseer op argivale navorsing, waartydens daar van D.F. Malan se privaat versameling gebruik gemaak is, sowel as die privaat versamelings van sy tydgenote. Malan is ten alle tye die sentrale figuur en die biografie fokus op sy persepsies en ervarings. Malan se denke oor Afrikaner nasionalisme, wat sy vernaamste prioriteit was, word beskryf en in verband gebring met sy opinie van Britse imperialisme, sowel as ander ideologieë soos kommunisme en totalitarisme. Die studie wys op die verband tussen Malan se denke oor rasseverhoudinge en sy besorgdheid oor die armblanke vraagstuk. Dit dui daarop dat Malan se rassebeleid tot sekere mate vloeibaar was. Dit was ook die geval met sy benadering tot Suid-Afrika se konstitusionele posisie. Afrikaner nasionaliste het tydens die eerste helfte van die twintigste eeu baie aandag geskenk aan debatte oor Suid-Afrika se verhouding tot Brittanje en die aard van die voorgenome republiek. Dit was tot mate weerligafleier vir reeds bestaande spanning tussen die onderskeie streke en generasies. Malan se botsings met nasionaliste soos Tielman Roos, J.B.M. Hertzog en J.G. Strijdom word belig as aanduiding van die diepgewortelde magstryd binne die Nasionale Party (NP). Deur op hierdie kompleksiteite klem te lê, poog die studie om bydrae te lewer tot meer genuanseerde begrip van die Suid-Afrikaanse verlede.