Thesis(MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study excavates a century’s worth of the history of household waste in South
Africa, from 1890-1996. It shows that waste history is entangled with histories of
disease and poor sanitation, advances in technology, the impact of war, environmental
concerns and – perhaps above all – shifting socio-economic circumstances. Using a
socio-environmental analytical framework, this analysis of waste history unearths
empirical archival data and oral testimony, to contextualise themes of gender, race,
class and nationalism in order to place rubbish within the wider historical debates in
South Africa. This study uses Rubbish Theory and Broken Windows Theory as well
as concepts of “Othering” and the “Sanitation Syndrome” to explore the role of waste
in the construction of racial identities and perceptions. This thesis shows that
Apartheid should not be seen as a watershed within this waste history, but rather as a
continuation of colonial ideas of cleanliness that helped to perpetuate racist
stereotypes. This study argues that the lack of waste services in “locations” during
this time helped to contribute to the perception of the urban African as the unsanitary
Other. The state and civic societies fostered gender roles, which (coupled with wartime
nationalist propaganda) helped in shaping waste behaviour promoted by the
National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) during the Second World War (WWII).
In the years after WWII, the threats of wartime shortages and enthusiastic solutions
suggested to municipalities to “end the waste problem” were thwarted by the spread
of the landfill as an even more convenient disposal method. The implementation of
Apartheid, especially the Group Areas Act (No 41 of 1950) and the rise of consumer
society, led to increasingly divergent experiences of waste for urban Africans and
whites. The thesis uses a case study of the Devon Valley Landfill community outside
of Stellenbosch. This ethnographic history explores notions of the “Subaltern” in
order to give this history a human face. The diachronic analysis of this community
offers a lens into ideas of “ordentlikheid” (decency), “weggooi mense” (throwaway
people) and how these waste-pickers experience the environment in which they live. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie grawe ’n eeu se geskiedenis van huishoudelike afval in Suid-Afrika op,
van 1890-1996. Dit toon dat die geskiedenis van afval verweef is met geskiedenisse
van siekte en swak sanitasie, tegnologiese vooruitgang, die impak van oorlog,
omgewingskwessies en – dalk bowenal – veranderende sosio-ekonomiese
omstandighede. Deur middel van ’n sosio-omgewings-analitiese raamwerk ontgin
hierdie analise empiriese argiefdata en mondelingse getuienis om temas van geslag,
ras, klas en nasionalisme te kontekstualiseer ten einde afval binne die breër historiese
debatte in Suid-Afrika te plaas. Die studie gebruik Afval-teorie en Gebreekte
Vensters-teorie sowel as begrippe van “Othering” en die “Sanitasie-sindroom” om die
rol van afval in die totstandkoming van rasse-identiteite en -persepsies te ondersoek.
Die tesis toon dat Apartheid nie as ’n waterskeiding in hierdie afval-geskiedenis
gesien moet word nie, maar eerder as ’n voortsetting van koloniale idees oor higiëne
wat gehelp het om rasse-stereotipes te perpetueer. Die studie argumenteer dat die
gebrek aan afvalverwyderingsdienste in “lokasies” in die tyd bygedra het tot die
persepsie van die stedelike Afrikaan as die onhigiëniese Ander. Die staat en
burgerlike samelewings het geslagsrolle gekweek, wat (tesame met oorlogtydse
nasionalistiese propaganda) gehelp het met die vestiging van afval-gedrag wat
bevorder is deur die National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) gedurende die
Tweede Wêreldoorlog. In die jare na dié oorlog is die bedreigings van oorlogtydse
tekorte en die entoesiastiese oplossings wat vir munisipaliteite aanbeveel is om die
“afvalprobleem te beëindig”, gefnuik deur die toenemende gebruik van
stortingsterreine as ’n selfs geriefliker afvalverwyderingsmetode. Die implementering
van Apartheid, veral die Groepsgebiedewet (No. 41 van 1950) en die opkoms van die
verbruikersamelewing, het gelei tot toenemend uiteenlopende ervarings van afval
onder stedelike Afrikane en wit mense. Die tesis maak gebruik van ’n gevallestudie
van die gemeenskap van die Devonvallei-stortingsterrein buite Stellenbosch. Hierdie
etnografiese geskiedenis verken denkbeelde van die “Ondergeskikte” om ’n menslike
gesig aan die geskiedenis te gee. Die diakroniese analise van die gemeenskap is ’n
venster op idees van “ordentlikheid”, “weggooimense” en hoe hierdie afvalontginners
die omgewing waarin hulle woon, beleef.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/86689 |
| Date | 04 1900 |
| Creators | King, Giorgina F. J. |
| Contributors | Swart, Sandra S., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 200 p. : ill. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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