Apartheid, the Bantustans and Global History

Rosemary Plummer
BA History

Apartheid, the Bantustans and Global History
Next semester I am taking a module on Apartheid, so attending Laura Evans’ talk on Bantustans intrigued me greatly, especially after having previously taken a class on Rhodesian land policy. Although Apartheid is not a topic that I am particularly familiar with, I was fascinated by Laura Evans’ argument that the system was not in fact as much of an isolated phenomenon as historians have often implied. Her time spent carrying out oral research in South Africa gave her a unique insight into life within Bantustans, and I could tell from her passionate manner of speaking that she was determined not to belittle the difficulties of life under Apartheid while presenting her potentially controversial argument.

Evans commenced her talk by explaining that Apartheid is generally singled out from other global trends, as historians fear appearing that they are belittling the suffering of those who lived under the regime, should they compare it to other global trends.  She clarified that her focus on comparing Bantustans to other global events was not to praise these land policies, but rather to emphasize that Apartheid administration did not exist in confinement. Evans also suggested that camps within South Africa have been overlooked and that, consequently, historiography has failed to recognise the significant connection between South Africa and other states such as Angola and Rhodesia. She declared that she felt that Apartheid reflected the strategies of late colonialism, rather than contrasting them, as existing literature had previously suggested. She supported this argument by discussing similar global trends of pushing ethnic self-determination upon populations, providing examples as proof.

Evans stated that historians have tried to place too much emphasis upon the ideology of the Apartheid state, in order to avoid accepting the reality, that Apartheid was in fact formed on the same basis as British paternalism and other late imperialist strategies. She implied that the roots of Apartheid were based in the inter-war years, with discussions stemming from League of Nation debates about agriculture and population.  Evans suggested that historiography has overemphasised how individualised the Apartheid’s state plan was, when in fact moving people to consolidate political boundaries was in fact common in the Post-War era, despite the Geneva Convention.  She also indicated how development economics played a role in inspiring the system Apartheid. Her comparison between developmental imperialism and civilising missions were highly insightful and helped me to think about the wider consequences of all development philosophies and projects. She also contextualised the Bantustans within the Cold War era, explaining how fears surrounding communism allowed the expansion of the security state to be deemed as acceptable. Evans eloquently explained that Apartheid was in fact far more connected to other forms of colonial statecraft than has previously been noted.

Questioning prompted Evans to offer an explanation as to why she thought historians had overlooked the connections between Apartheid and Global Trends. She said she suspected that this ignorance has originated from an unwillingness to focus upon the ‘dirty side’ of the British Empire. She also talked about how banishing rebels to Bantustans actually resulted in the politicisation of such areas, as well as explaining how the availability of secondary education encouraged many to migrate to such areas, ably demonstrating how her understanding of Bantustan life was developed through her experience carrying out oral interviews.

This talk really opened my eyes to the interconnected nature of decolonisation and how the decline of empire translated into other, related forms of oppression. It also invited me to see connections between land policies in South Africa and other states, such as Rhodesia, as clearly similar Global trends influenced many countries. Although my dissertation topic on Northern Ireland initially seems remarkably different from Apartheid, Evans talk has highlight to me how interconnected the trends of decolonisation in fact were, which can in turn be translated into an interesting perspective from which to examine the nature of Irish politics in a cold war era, in which the rest of the British Empire was gaining their freedom.