Tshwane, Pretoria, Phelindaba : structure - agency interaction and the transformation of a South African region up to 1994, with prospects for the immediate future

[摘要] The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the transformation of a SouthAfrican region, with the city of Pretoria at its core, from pre-historical times up to1 994, and with consideration of the prospects for the immediate future, in terms ofthe dynamic nature of South African society. The names Tshwane, Pretoria andPhelindaba in the title of the study refer to the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonialeras in the historiography of the region and symbolize the notion of transformation.The aim was to contextualize, exemplify and understand structure-agency interaction,with particular emphasis on the territorial outcomes of the interrelationship betweenidentity and place.The approach of the study was area specialization, based on the principles ofcontemporary locality and regional studies, and combining a structurationist ontologywith the epistemology of postmodernism.Chapter 1 introduces the purpose, theme, theoretical framework, sphere, subject field,approach and methodology of the study. After defining the study area and describing its natural environment, the chapter discusses the operational paradigm and theresearch process of this study.Chapter 2 describes the occupation of land, the control of resources and theorganization and transformation of society in the Bankenveld up to 1840 in relation tothe limitations and possibilities of a dynamic natural environment. A time-spaceschema integrating human-environment interaction in the study area over two millionyears of human occupation is presented.Chapter 3 describes the development of a colonial land policy set against the formationof a new colonial society in the Pretoria District after 1840. Further, it details thefindings of a reconstruction of territoriality, based on an identity-in-land. These findingsare at variance with established views on land occupation in the Pretoria District as at19 June 1913, and at the same time lend support for the current post-apartheid landreform programme.The focus in Chapter 4 is on the development of a racial land distribution policy intandem with the evolution of a Euro-colonial segregationist ideology in South Africa.The objective was to conduct an audit of land occupation in the Pretoria area between1 91 0 and 1 940. This quantitative analysis provides the basis for a critical evaluationof historical land policies and their influence on contemporary land reform policies.Chapter 5 presents an analysis of the development of the apartheid spatial planningstrategy in terms of the micro-environment of public urban amenities, the mesoenvironmentof urban planning and the macro-environment of homeland formationagainst the background of the evolution of the apartheid racial ideology from 1 940 to1990. It further traces the desegregation of public amenities and the demarcation ofnew provinces during the period of negotiations for a political settlement in SouthAfrica between 1 990 and 1 994, and considers prospects for spatial development inthe study area.Chapter 6, the final chapter, reflects on the conceptual framework, approach, and aimof the study in an attempt to understand fully the particularities of the Pretoria regionwithin the larger national context and within the context of an integrated human-earthin a fully theorized and integrated way.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria