The Native Village Debate in Pietermaritzburg, SA, 1848-1925: Revisiting the 'Sanitation Syndrome'
Historical Visions and Revisions Speaker Series
Event Details
-
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Building: Scott House
Room: Traill College
Cost: Free
The Native Village Debate in Pietermaritzburg, SA, 1848-1925: Revisiting the 'sanitation syndrome' Maynard Swanson first coined the term “sanitation syndrome” in his 1976 study of the origins of racial segregation in Durban. This posits that scientific knowledge about contagious disease was co-opted and exploited by racist whites - sometimes unconsciously - as a rational-sounding, humanitarian cover for the politically difficult goal of physically removing Asians and Africans from the city into tightly controlled, racially segregated locations. The concept struck a chord among radical historians in South Africa and farther afield, not only because it problematized science as metaphorical, but also because it shifted blame for the antecedents of apartheid onto urban, self-styled progressive British officials and voters. I employ a case study approach to assess whether the empirical evidence from Maritzburg supports such an analysis. The focus is upon an infamous decision in 1925 to place the “model native village” beside the city dump. I highlight generally overlooked African voices in that debate, and particularly elite women’s first foray into the public political sphere (1923), long before the usual starting point for African women’s political activism.
Marc Epprecht is a professor and head of the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen's University. He has published extensively on the history of gender and sexuality in Africa including Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa (winner of the 2006 Joel Gregory Prize – best book on Africa published in Canada), and Heterosexual Africa? and Sexuality and Social Justice in Africa. Professor Epprecht lived on the continent off-and-on since the 1980s and has also taught at the University of Zimbabwe, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and University of Basel. His forthcoming book is entitled Environment, Health, and Gender in an African City: Edendale and environs, South Africa (MQUP).
Please join us Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 at 7PM in the Senior Common Room in Scott House at Traill College.