Watersheds in South African History - The development of Racism throughout centuries

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7 (A-), Stellenbosch Universitiy (History of Economic Thought), course: Economic and Developmental Problems of South Africa and Africa, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Drop a frog into boiling or near boiling water. He jumps out. Then put one in cold water with a slow flame. He likes the warmth. He gets comfortable and sleepy. He eventually gets cooked. History is often seen as pre-determined. Developments occur rather slowly so that, like a frog in warm water, it might not be possible to see what is happening in the long run. The following text will deal with the question of possible turning points in South African racism history. It will try to figure out when things could have changed in another, possibly better way, and what events prevented that from happening. It will therefore describe the colonisation by the mainly Dutch-speaking Boers in the 17 th and 18 th century and the early relations between colonialists and indigenous population with special reference to the creeping development of racist attitudes. In the second part the systemic period of British colonialism will be investigated. The introduction of a capitalistic system and the influences of the Evangelist Humanitarian Movement will be described first. In the second part the impacts of British capitalism and the discovery of gold and diamonds will be major topics to be analyzed with respects to a development of a racist ideology. Thirdly I will describe the rise of Afrikaner Nationalism mainly in the first five decades of the 20 th century and what root causes underlie this development. The main questions I will deal with are: Was the development of South African racism unavoidable? Why did racism develop? When had been crucial points in history that could made a different development possible?

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