Ethnic Pride and Racial Prejudice in Victorian Cape Town: Group Identity and Social Practice, 1875-1902 - Softcover

Vivian Bickford-Smith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1868142892 ISBN 13: 9781868142897

Publisher: Wits University Press, 1995

Synopsis

Nineteenth-century Cape Town, the capital of the British Cape Colony, was conventionally regarded as a liberal oasis in an otherwise racist South Africa. Longstanding British influence was thought to mitigate the racism of the Dutch settlers and foster the development of a sophisticated and colour-blind English merchant class. Vivian Bickford-Smith skilfully interweaves political, economic and social analysis to show that the English merchant class, far from being liberal, were generally as racist as Afrikaner farmers. Theirs was, however, a peculiarly English discourse of race, mobilised around a 'Clean Party' obsessed with sanitation and the dangers posed by 'un-English' Capetonians in a period of rapid urbanisation brought about by the discovery of diamonds and gold in the interior. This original contribution to South African urban history draws on comparative material from other colonial port towns and on relevant studies of the Victorian city.

About this title

Book Description:

Nineteenth-century Cape Town, the capital of the British Cape Colony, was conventionally regarded as a liberal oasis in an otherwise racist South Africa. Vivian Bickford-Smith skilfully interweaves political, economic and social analysis to show that the English merchant class, far from being liberal, were generally as racist as Afrikaner farmers.

Review:

"Bickford-Smith's book is essential reading for any researcher interested in Urban segregation, especially in South African variety. It is throroughly researched, very readable and his arguments have to be yaken seriously. As a first book on this subject, he succeeds in tying many of the threads left loose by earlier historians and he exposes 'liberal' Cape Town of the late nineteenth century in a way never before seen." Keith Tankard, H-Net Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Wits University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1868142892
• ISBN 13: 9781868142897
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 307