A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg 1995. / This thesis set out to investigate the relation between hostels and the political violence on the Reef between July 1990 and December 1993 which claimed 4756 lives. This relation is anchored in a broader discussion of firstly, political violence in South Africa generally, and secondly of the hostel system. This contextualisation frames the investigation of two Sowetan hostels Meadowlands and Merafe. These two hostels were among those that became focal points of political violence on the Reef during the period under review. The thesis argues that the political violence and conflict on the Reef between 1990 and 1993 constituted a "war" in which these and other hostels played a crucial part. The Inkatha Freedom Party colonised these institutions, ejected non-Zulu and ANC supporters and transformed the hostels from migrants camps into "fortresses of fear" from which many attacks on township residents were launched. The thesis attempts to understand this process through an in-depth investigation of Meadowlands and Merafe hostels as case studies. It attempts to draw a sociological profile of these two hostels. This has involved examining these hostels as social institutions, the social relations and culture operating within them, and their place in the social structure of the surrounding community. The thesis has included an investigation of the social characteristics of hostel residents such as their ethnic identity, age, gender identity, marital, employment status, political affiliation and work history. These multiple identities are components in attempting to explain the participation of many hostel residents in political violence. Through a series of in-depth interviews the thesis has attempted to map their different experiences and understandings of political violence in relation to their broader aspirations, beliefs and world views. It is asserted that any investigation of the relation between hostels and political violence requires this attempt to map a 'view from below' which goes deeper than official statistics and media accounts. / AC2017