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This volume is the first general social and economic history of the Western Cape of South Africa. Until recently, this region had been largely neglected by historians because it does not occupy a central place in the national political economy. Wilmot G. James and Mary Simons argue that a great deal about modern South Africa has been shaped by the distinctive society and economy of the Western Cape. Its history also reveals striking parallels and contrasts with other regions of the African continent. The Western Cape is the only region of South Africa to have experienced slavery. In this sense, the Western Cape has historical traditions more akin to colonial slave societies of the Americas than to those of the rest of Africa. Moreover, in contrast to the rest of South Africa, a proletariat emerged in the Western Cape early in its history, at the start of the eighteenth century. There developed a much more stable and enduring system of class and labor relations. In the twentieth century, these became closely enmeshed with race and status. Racial paternalism and the close correlation between class, caste, and color have their historical roots in the Western Cape. The book is arranged thematically and explores the social and economic consequences of slavery and emancipation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Issues of economy and labor, such as economic underdevelopment in the Western Cape, the labor market, and trade-union organization in the twentieth century are examined. The authors also treat the role of the state in shaping Western Cape society. "Class, Caste, and Color" is not only a groundbreaking work in the study of South Africa, but provides an agenda for future researchers. It will be essential reading for historians, economists, and Africa area specialists. "Wilmot G. James" is the executive director of the Africa Genome Education Institute. He has taught at The University of Cape Town, Yale University, and Indiana University. "Mary Simons" is a senior lecturer in the department of political studies at the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include social relations in Cape Town, gender politics, and third world comparative politics.
This paper was presented as the first annual John Gerhart Memorial Lecture at the conference of the Africa Genome Initiative held in Cairo in March 2004. In Africa in the Age of Biology, Dr James discusses Africa's long history of scientific, technological and mathematical enterprise, from tokens of the very earliest counting by humans to the sum of knowledge brought to bear in the construction of the pyramids. But he focuses on the challenges of today, and tomorrow, which he suggests Africa's leaders and scholars dare not overlook. Dr James argues that Africa stands challenged to act on its own initiative to focus investment beyond the scale of NEPAD's initiatives, provide political leadership and direct scholarly attention on making the most of genetic developments for the benefit of its populations.
Since the early 1970s, the South African gold-mining industry, for decades dominated by a set of fixed and unchanging features, has undergone a transformation. Above all, it is in the area of labour relations that changes have been most rapid and profound. Faced with a crisis in traditional patterns of labour recruitment, the mines have been forced to revise their sourcing and recruiting strategies and in so doing have struck at the heart of the migrant labour system. At the same time, in an attempt to contain the crisis of control, the mines have, for the first time in a hundred years, permitted trade unions to organise among workers, and in consequence the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has emerged as a powerful force in the industry. These processes are the subject of Wilmot James's sociological and historical study of African mine workers, which provides the first major account in twenty years of labour in South Africa's gold industry. In his lucid and original analysis, based on material much of which was not previously available to researchers, Wilmot James traces the interlocking developments which have brought about a transformation in the gold industry, and relates these to wider processes of change in contemporary South African society.
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