Bibliography: pages 220-234. / This thesis examines the historic right of the Kalk Bay fishermen to occupy the area and exploit the marine resources of False Bay. It attempts to provide the historical base absent from anthropological, and other, works which have focussed on the area. In recent years, the local handline fishing community has faced destruction by a complex web of political, social and economic forces. This work shows that these have simply been new challenges in a long line, albeit the most serious, faced by the fisherfolk of Kalk Bay. The study begins with an examination of human settlement, and the origins of fishing, in Kalk Bay to the late nineteenth century. This is followed by an analysis of the organisation of the local fishing industry at the close of that century. These two chapters provide the backdrop for discussion of the commercialization of the local fishing effort, between 1890 and 1913. The fourth chapter deals with the establishment of the modern fishing industry in Kalk Bay, from 1913 to 1939. The thesis concludes with a brief examination of the community to the 1980s. Major findings are that the local fishermen of today are the product of a cultural and economic tradition stretching back thousands of years. By the late nineteenth century, the rhythm of life in the area was being rapidly changed by its incorporation into the social and economic orbit of greater Cape Town. Over the main period covered by the thesis, the local fishermen, as a result of their race and class, occupied the weaker position in conflicts with local authorities, the state and capital. However, they were able to fight dependence upon a single buyer and growing pressures for their proletarianisation and managed to maintain their independence as petty-commodity producers. The independence of the fisherfolk was nevertheless maintained at the expense of increasingly depressed local markets for their fish. Since the Second World War, the escalating political, social and economic subordination of the fisherfolk has progressively threatened the existence of the handline fishing industry and the fishing community at Kalk Bay. However, should racial ideologies and commitment to monopoly capitalization of the industry be set aside by the state, the Kalk Bay fisherfolk could survive, albeit in altered and diminished circumstances.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/22499 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Kirkaldy, Alan |
| Contributors | Bickford-Smith, Vivian, Harries, Patrick |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Historical Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | application/pdf |
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