The 1949 Durban 'Riots' - a case-study in race and class
Date
1974-08
Authors
Webster, E.C.
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Abstract
This paper was written as a response to the somewhat abstract
discussions that sometimes take place in university seminars on the
relative weight of class, race and ethnicity in explaining human
behaviour. It rests on the assumption that conceptual clarification
has limited value, unless conceptual analysis is followed by a concrete
historical or sociological analysis of a particular social
situation. The Durban 'riots' of 1949 was chosen as a case-study
because it has been widely used by 'separate development theorists'
as an example of the inevitability of conflict between the races,
without any attempt being made to relate this conflict to the political
economy. This paper is an attempt to develop a theoretical franework
that recognizes the embryonic and partial nature of class formation
in a 'plural society' through the notion of class 'suppression',
but nonetheless attempts to derive a meaningful frame of reference for
explaining a class based act. In Part 1 I will introduce the theoretical framework. Part II, III and IV is an attempt to give a portrait
of the participants in the riot, analysing their composition, motives
and how activity was generated among them. Here a note of caution
needs to be introduced. I am still at a tentative stage in my research
in two crucial areas; firstly, on the 'consciousness' of the participants
I have to date only had access to written material such as newspapers
and reports. These sources are a partial perspective - this includes
in particular, the official Government Inquiry into the riots. Hopefully
I will have a fuller picture when I have extended my data-gathering
to interviews of participants. Secondly, I realise that in a crucial
area of my argument among the African traders I am still at an early
stage of research. Part V tries to place the conflict in a wider
perspective of the social structure.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented October 1974
Keywords
Riots. South Africa. Durban