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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | The Contradictions of Community Politics: The African Petty Bourgeoisie and the New Brighton Advisory Board, c. 1937-1952 |
| Author: | Baines, Gary |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
| Volume: | 35 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 79-97 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | municipal government urban areas townships Ethnic and Race Relations Politics and Government Urbanization and Migration History and Exploration |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/182722 |
| Abstract: | Studies of the politics of urban African communities in South Africa have focused on the sporadic manifestations of mass protest, identifying formal labour and political organizations as the prime agents of mobilization. Advisory Boards and other government-created institutions have been portrayed as 'collaborationist' bodies, and those serving on such Boards dismissed as 'stooges'. Looking beyond the political rhetoric that has surrounded the Advisory Boards, the historical reality has been more complex. Although Advisory Boards lacked legitimacy, and were often powerless in policy terms, even progressive political organizations were prepared to use these 'institutions of the oppressor' to further their aims in the 1940s and 1950s. This case study of the politics of the New Brighton Advisory Board demonstrates the way in which such institutions provided a platform from which African communities might be mobilized around the everyday issues of urban life. In this way, the Advisory Board contributed to the formation of a strong political tradition in the Port Elizabeth township. This tradition was appropriated by different political groups and used to mobilize the African community around a variety of social, economic and political issues affecting the township. Notes, ref., sum. |
