Browsing by Subject "Ethnology - South Africa - Nieu Bethesda"

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    Persistent paternalism : an ethnography of social change in a post-apartheid village
    (1997) Sandell, Janet Mary; Boonzaaier, Emile
    This ethnographic study of Nieu Bethesda, a village in the Eastern Cape district of South Africa, is the product of a total of five months of fieldwork. The research was conducted between 1993 and 1995, a period that spanned the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. The ethnography explores the effects of apartheid on life in Nieu Bethesda. It traces the dynamic interactions between social life and worldviews as these were manifested in the village. Geographically isolated, and to a large extent cut off from mainstream politics, the processes and effects of apartheid in this village have taken an idiosyncratic form. The research suggests that racial stratification has been remarkably resilient throughout the history of the village. Such stratification must be understood in terms of ideas shaped both during and before the apartheid era, rather than solely in terms of state action or the violence of apartheid. Ideologies of segregation have found their expression in paternalistic practices on the part of Whites, and the relations of dependence thus generated may account for the apparent lack .of overt opposition to apartheid. However, the thesis acknowledges the multiplicity of voices in the village, and negates the notion of a shared set of ideas and values sanctioned by the population of Nieu Bethesda. Subtle change has taken place in the 1990s, only some of which is attributable to the demise of apartheid. In addition, factors such as the provision of electricity and a dramatic increase in tourism have reduced the isolation of the village, and networks of mutual support link the people of Nieu Bethesda with other parts of South Africa. It is suggested that change in the foreseeable future is more likely to originate from the increased communication that such networks make possible, than from changes in legislation, or improvements in material conditions, resulting from development projects.