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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Middle class neighbourhoods or 'African kraals'? The impact of informal settlements and vagrants on post-apartheid white identity
Author:Ballard, RichardISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:Urban Forum
Volume:15
Issue:1
Pages:48-73
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:images
informal settlements
suburban areas
External link:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-004-0009-1
Abstract:The author examines the generally hostile response by many white people in South Africa to the arrival of informal settlements and vagrants. He bases himself on interviews conducted with white people in the Berea (Durban) in 1996-1997 as well as newspaper material on the study site and relevant examples from around the country throughout the 1990s. The reasons given for the dislike of informal settlements present the squatters as a threat to established formal residents, especially in terms of crime, health and decreased property value. The author argues that while the instinct to defend property value is indeed at the core of white resentment of informal settlements, on its own this is an inadequate explanation. Informal settlements impact on more than the bank balance: they impact on residents' sense of place - squatting is seen as a threat to the conception of an ideal environment - and therefore on their self-perception as Western, modern, civilized people. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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