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Integration between dividing lines : the spatial and social integration of African immigrants in post-apartheid Cape Town
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Abrahamse, Clarie Janet |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | Over the last fifteen years since the demise of apartheid South Africa, under a new democratic dispensation, has become host to several million immigrants from the rest of the continent. This has been paralleled by a rise in violent acts of xenophobia against an increasingly diverse immigrant population by those who consider themselves "legitimate citizens" of the new post-apartheid nation. As with immigration worldwide, this is a particularly urban phenomenon. Yet in contrast to the urban theories on immigration which have developed in parallel with the emergence of the industrial city, specifically in the Chicago School writings of the 1920s, the South African city has a very particular cultural, historical and physical geography, deeply embedded with notions of race and belonging, and heavily influencing the perception of its new immigrants. The question thus arises as to whether the international urban theories have any explanatory purchase in the South African case. Through analysing Cape Town according to these theories and examining the historical urbanplanning responses to immigration and the "other" that have been employed since the colonial era, a few sites are identified in contemporary Cape Town in which a certain level of integration is occurring between immigrant communities and their host societies. It is argued that these sites show strong urban commonalities in terms of the formal and social environments they are able to provide. One of these urban neighbourhoods, Mowbray, is examined in detail against a series of hypotheses drawn from the international theories and the metropolitan and historical understanding of the city. These relate to the specific aspects of urban space, grain of fabric and land markets present, the specific ideologies that have guided the making of the neighbourhood, and the effects of civic institutions and organisations in aiding the building of place-based social networks. The analysis of how each of these aspects play out across the spatial and social landscape of the neighbourhood then informs the building of an urban theory and response to the spatial promoters of environments of integration in the city, recognising that while immigration is a very complex phenomenon, its urban location represents an opportunity for urbanism to be brought to bear on making the experience of immigrants less hostile. Thesis Supervisor: Julian Beinart Title: Professor of Architecture This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and support of many wonderful people. Firstly, I would like to thank those who have undertaken this journey with me for the last year. To Professor John de Monchaux for his always insightful comments on the work, and his helpful advice in approaching the fieldwork portion of this work. To my advisor, Professor Julian Beinart, whose enthusiasm and insight into the subject of cities and immigration drove this study forward, opened up new avenues for exploration and helped to distil and frame each new insight. I would also like to thank Professor Craig Wilder, whose class The Ghetto: from Venice to Harlem helped to give me a broad yet vivid foundational understanding of the urban study of immigration. Many people have shown much patience and have gone out of their way to help me undertake this research. To the staff of the Cape Archives (National Archives of South Africa), who constantly allowed me to bend the rules, to the many professionals who gave of their time in interviews, and to the archivists at the City of Cape Town Land Survey Department, sincere thanks are owed. The opportunity to further my studies at MIT was made possible by generous scholarships from the Fulbright Programme and the Total Corporation Fellowship Programme. I am grateful for their generous assistance and support. I hope this work does justice to our common concern with the challenges facing Africa. My parents have always supported me unconditionally in all I do, and their support has been critical to this process. I also thank them for understanding when I spent so much of my precious few weeks at home in the archives and interviewing in Mowbray. To Alistair who, despite the geographic and time differences, has played an active role in this thesis: thank you for supporting me, checking grammar and editing the text, and for all the wake-up calls. Lastly, I would like to thank the amazing group of women I have had the privilege to study with over the last two years. You have all inspired, taught and supported me on many levels. Thank you. Acknowledgements Integration between dividing lines: the spatial and social integratio of African immigrants in p heid ape Town |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/49724/438977644-MIT.pdf?sequence=2 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
