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Title: | Small Town Urbanization in South Africa: A Case Study |
Author: | Manona, Cecil W. |
Year: | 1988 |
Periodical: | African Studies Review |
Volume: | 31 |
Issue: | 3 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 95-110 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | urbanization small towns Labor and Employment Urbanization and Migration Ethnic and Race Relations |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/524075 |
Abstract: | From the 1940s farms in the Albany and Bathurst districts of South Africa were rapidly losing labour, largely on account of mechanization and land rationalization. At that time many black workers from white-owned farms were migrating to Grahamstown, and to some extent Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape. The past few decades witnessed a massive further migration from these farms and this, together with natural increase, contributed to the 53.9 percent increase in Grahamstown's black population in the 1970-1980 decade. This paper seeks some understanding of the basic motivation of these migrants. The case of Grahamstown reveals some of the lesser known aspects of urbanization in southern Africa: the interdependence between town and country, the immigrants' overwhelming commitment to urban living, the relevance of chain migration, the role of the extended family in facilitating urban adaptation, and the utilization of rural resources by those who are settling in town. Bibliogr., notes. |