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The Conflict of Nationalisms in South Africa*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Charles R. Nixon
Charles R. Nixon
Affiliation:
University of California
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Extract

Can the paths of African nationalism be shaped by white communities? And, if so, in what direction might African nationalism be led? These are questions which puzzle white governments in all parts of Africa. Though African nationalism may be recognized as having its own inner dynamics, and to be an inevitable growth, no matter how hostile the Western powers and white settlers may be to it, yet tJiere is an assumption underlying the policies of most governments in Africa that the particular paths which African nationalism will follow can be shaped by the kinds of alternatives which the white communities offer to it.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , October 1958 , pp. 44 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1958

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References

1 Various terms are used to designate the different population groups in the Union of South Africa. “Afrikaners” and “Boers” designate the white South Africans who are descendants of the early Dutch and Huguenot settlers; their language is Afrikaans. “English-speaking South Africans” designates the whites of British descent. “African,” “Bantu,” and “Native” designate the black population of Bantu origin. “Coloured” designates both those of mixed blood and a group of Cape Malays.

2 For an analysis of various types of African political movements, see Coleman, James S., “Nationalism in Tropical Africa,” American Political Science Review, XLVIII, No. 2 (June 1954), pp. 404–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Ibid., p. 407.

4 For an analysis of native policy in South Africa up to 1926, see Brookes, Edgar H., The History of Native Policy in South Africa, 2nd rev. ed., Pretoria, 1927.Google Scholar A comprehensive analysis of racial affairs in South Africa just prior to the Nationalist Party victory in 1948 is provided in Hellmann, Ellen, ed., Handbook of Race Relations in South Africa, London, 1949.Google Scholar For recent trends, see Horrell, Muriel, Non-European Policies in the Union and the Measure of Their Success, South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg, 1954Google Scholar, and the Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, published annually by the South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg.

5 Summary of the Report of the Commission for the Socio-Economie Development of the Bantu Areas Within the Union of South Africa, UG61/1955, The Government Printer, Pretoria. This is popularly referred to as the Tomlinson Commission Report.

6 Hellmann, Ellen, in “Tribalism in Modern Society,” Race Relations Journal, XXIV, Nos. 1 and 2 (January-June 1957), pp. 1–11Google Scholar, analyzes the revolution in tribal culture implied in the Tomlinson Report.

7 Houghton, Hobart, The Tomiimon Report, South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg, 1956, p. 22.Google Scholar

8 Derived from data and projections used in Report, op.cit., pp. 25–29.

9 Ibid., p. 211.

10 For a statement of the government's position on the report, the steps taken to implement it, and the attitude of the United Party, see The Sequel to the Tomlinson Commission Report, Supplementary Fact Paper No. 506, State Information Office, Pretoria, January 1957.

11 See comments in the Pretoria News (an anti-government paper), December 12 and December 23, 1954, as reported in Press Digest (Johannesburg), No. 1, January 6, I955.

12 A typical comment is that of Professor L. K. Mathews and Dr. D. G. S. M'Timkulu, who refer to the chiefs and headmen as a group who “with few exceptions represent the most unenlightened section of the African population.” “The Future in the Light of the Tomlinson Report,” Race Relations Journal, XXIV, Nos. 1 and 2 (January-June 1957). P. 15.

13 The Star (Johannesburg), July 19, 1954, as reported in Press Digest, July 22, 1954, p. 273.

14 See Hellmann, , ed., Handbook, op.cit., pp. 275–91.Google Scholar

15 Quoted in Suzman, Helen, A Digest of the Fagan Report, South African Institute of Race Relations, 1948, p. 2.Google Scholar

16 Ibid., p. 3.

17 Native Laws Amendment Bill (1957).

18 Dagbreek en Sondagnoos (Johannesburg), November 11, 1954, as reported in Press Digest, No. 47, November 25, 1954, p. 466.

19 See Hellmann, , ed., Handbook, op.cit., p. 265.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 531.

21 For a discussion of the Natives Representative Council and African attitudes toward the Council, see Roux, Edward, Time Longer than Rope, London, 1948, p. 295Google Scholar, and Hellmann, , ed., Handbook, op.cit., pp. 31Google Scholar, 513, and 516.

22 An excellent analysis of this Act and other measures for controlling non-European political movements is given in Kuper, Leo, Passive Resistance in South Ajrica, New Haven, Conn., 1957, ch. 11.Google Scholar

23 Criminal Law Amendment Act, No. 8 of 1955. See ibid., p. 62.

24 Hellmann, , ed., Handbook, op.cit., p. 531.Google Scholar