The relation between hostels and the political violence on the Reef from July 1990 to December 1993 : a case study of Merafe and Meadowlands hostels in Soweto.

[摘要] This thesis set out to investigate the relation betweenhostels and the political violence on the Reef between July1990 and December 1993 which claimed 4756 lives. Thisrelation is anchored in a broader discussion of firstly,political violence in South Africa generally, and secondly ofthe hostel system. This contextualisation frames theinvestigation of two Sowetan hostels Meadowlands and Merafe.These two hostels were among those that became focal pointsof political violence on the Reef during the period underreview. The thesis argues that the political violence andconflict on the Reef between 1990 and 1993 constituted a warin which these and other hostels played a crucial part. TheInkatha Freedom Party colonised these institutions, ejectednon-Zulu and ANC supporters and transformed the hostels frommigrants camps into fortresses of fear from which manyattacks on township residents were launched. The thesisattempts to understand this process through an in-depthinvestigation of Meadowlands and Merafe hostels as casestudies. It attempts to draw a sociological profile of thesetwo hostels. This has involved examining these hostels associal institutions, the social relations and cultureoperating within them, and their place in the social structureof the surrounding community. The thesis has included aninvestigation of the social characteristics of hostelresidents such as their ethnic identity, age, gender identity,marital, employment status, political affiliation and workhistory. These multiple identities are components inattempting to explain the participation of many hostelresidents in political violence. Through a series of in-depthinterviews the thesis has attempted to map their differentexperiences and understandings of political violence inrelation to their broader aspirations, beliefs and worldviews. It is asserted that any investigation of the relationbetween hostels and political violence requires this attemptto map a 'view from below' which goes deeper than officialstatistics and media accounts.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand