Survival in the 'Dumping Grounds' examines a defining aspect of South Africa's recent past: the history of apartheid-era relocation. While scholars and activists have long recognised the suffering caused by apartheid removals to the so-called 'homelands', the experiences of those who lived through this process have been more often obscured. Drawing on extensive archival and oral history research, this book examines the makings and the multiple meanings of relocation into two of the most notorious apartheid 'dumping grounds' established in the Ciskei bantustan during the mid-1960s: Sada and Ilinge. Evans examines the local and global dynamics of the project of bantustan relocation and develops a multi-layered analysis of the complex histories - and ramifications- of displacement and resettlement in the Ciskei.
Laura Evans (PhD, University of Sheffield, 2011) is a Senior Lecturer in History at Sheffield Hallam University and Research Associate of the International Studies Group, University of the Free State. She teaches modern South African, colonial and postcolonial history and has published articles on various aspects of the history of apartheid and the bantustan scheme.
[...] 'Das mit viel Empathie für die Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner der Ciskei geschriebene Buch hat seine Stärke in der Empirie. Es zeigt differenziert deren Handlungsmöglichkeiten und -grenzen unter den vorgegebenen Verwaltungsstrukturen auf, so trägt es zur Sozialgeschichte des früheren Homelands bei.' [...]
Rita Schäfer in Dhau - Yearbook for Extra-European History 5/2020, pp. 235-240.
[...] Survival in the âDumping Grounds is a brilliant work of social history. Evans effortlessly provides a clear and concise account of the tragedy of apartheid in South Africa, expertly executes a nuanced historical analysis with insight into the imperial foundation in which apartheid anchored its segregationist policies, and meticulously presents the stories of Black South Africans who experienced relocation to the bantustans. It is well-researched and masterfully written. Therefore, this book would be ideal for both novice students and expert scholars of Africa. Moreover, it accomplishes the duality of capturing the complexities of segregationist policies while remaining comprehensible.
Constance Pruitt, Howard University, in African Studies Quarterly, Volume 21, Issue 1, 2022, pp. 75-77
Preface Acknowledgements List of Illustrations and Tables List of Abbreviations Introduction: Rethinking Relocation in Apartheid South Africa
Part 1: Regimes of Relocation
â1Apartheid, the Bantustans and the End of Empire
â1Peace, Population and Colonial Development, c.1920â1945
â2The âlate colonialâ Apartheid State
â3Cold War in Southern Africa: Villagisation and Counter-insurgency
â2Regimes of Relocation in the Ciskei
â1The Cape as Apartheid Test Case
â2The Relocation Regime
â3Villagisation and Repression
â4Decolonisation, Repatriation and Resettlement
â5The Expansion of Sada and Ilinge
â6White Farmers and Relocation
Part 2: Repertoires of Relocation
â3Dislocation and Disrupted Livelihoods: Removals, Evictions and Banishments
â1The Coercive Relocation Regime
â2The Biopolitics of Neglect
â3Displacement and Marginal Livelihoods
â4Farm Evictions: Enclosure and Dispossession
â5Urban Removals: Dislocation and Deprivation
â6Political Banishment: Surveillance and Isolation
â7âWe were starving. And we survivedâ: Gender, Domesticity and Displacement
â4Farm Dwellers and Relocation: Gender, Generation and Agrarian Change
â1Farm Labour and Agrarian Change
â2Gender, Generation and Changing Men
â3Changing Livelihoods and the Transformation of Aspirations
â4Migration, Male Breadwinners and Masculinity
â5Gender, Autonomy and Impoverishment: The Paradoxical Impacts of Relocation
âPart 3
Place, Space and Power
â5âWe Came from Different Placesâ: Displacement and Place-Making
â1Forced Removals and âcommunities of memoryâ
â2The Emergence of Underground Networks in Sada and Ilinge
â3Churches, Spirituality and Sociability
â4Poverty, Survival and Reciprocity
â6Relocation and the State: Relations of Rule
â1Territoriality and the Gendered Disciplinary Project of the BAD, c. 1963â71
â2Ethnic Politics, Clientelism and Coercion under Ciskei, c.1971â80
âConclusion
Bibliography Index
All interested in the history of South Africa, including academics, students and lay readers. Relevant subjects: History, Geography, Planning, Social Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Development Studies, African Studies.