City, state and citizenship in South Africa: towards a normative approach
Date
1991-09-02
Authors
Atkinson, Doreen
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Abstract
South African historiography is ripe for change. Since the
emergence of revisionism in the 1960s, South African politics has
been studied using certain hitherto unquestioned assumptions. The
radical paradigm has been responsible for extraordinary insights
in South African political and historical analysis; however, also
it needs to be transcended in important ways. It is the aim of
this paper to subject these assumptions to critical scrutiny, and
to develop an alternative approach to the study of political
phenomena in South Africa - an approach from the perspective of
Apolitical morality'. To some extent, I will have to overstate my
case - most notably by underplaying the important dynamics of
conflict and coercion. I feel this is legitimate however, because
these issues have occupied, unchallenged, the centre stage in
political analysis in this country. After a review of the existing
literature and some theoretical comments, I will apply the notion
of Apolitical morality' to a specific historical context, viz.
township administration in South African cities during the 1950s.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 2nd September, 1991
Keywords
Ideology. South Africa, Political change. South Africa, South Africa. Politics