Historical Context Chart
Research Topic : South African Apartheid
Selected Revised Research Question : How did apartheid start in South Africa and who started it?
| Secondary Source Citation | Historical Context of Event | Support your Thesis Statement |
| (Mhlauli et al., 2015) | The source, Understanding Apartheid in South Africa through Racial Contract , provides a detailed explanation about the history of apartheid in South Africa. It highlights the factors that led to apartheid and its relationship with the pre-industrial period. This source also provides a historical context of apartheid by mentioning that it began with the settler commandos denying locals access to their ancestral grazing land and robbing them of their cattle. The Dutch and British European settlers then introduced racial discrimination in the country. The source affirms that the emergence of Afrikaner nationalism legalized apartheid to promote their supremacy. The Afrikaner government sustained apartheid through cultural and religious identity (Mhlauli et al., 2015). The source further asserts that this government used major institutions within the economic, educational, and political spheres to uplift whites' status while undermining other racial groups. | The historical context of this source confirms the thesis statement that apartheid negatively affected South Africa through segregation and oppression. The source suggests that before apartheid, all citizens had a right of ownership. However, the settler commandos' emergence introduced separation as they denied blacks access to their ancestral grazing areas. Moreover, they also oppressed the locals by taking away their cattle. Before apartheid, all citizens were under the British colonial rule facing similar fate under the British rule. However, the source affirms that the Afrikaner nation was interested in taking over the country and all institutions (Mhlauli et al., 2015). The Afrikaner government had a view that South Africa would develop if the Africa nation were in charge of all institutions. Nevertheless, the Afrikaner nation affected the country negatively by elevating whites while dehumanizing other racial groups confirming the thesis statement. |
| Mphambukeli, 2019 | The source, Apartheid , provides a historical context of apartheid in South Africa. The source explains the origin of apartheid and the factors that promoted this oppressive system, mainly between 1948 and 1993. Although apartheid was more evident during this period, the source asserts that it existed as early as the 17th century. In 1659, Cape Town's governor authorized the construction of a boundary between blacks and white in the city. According to the source, the Afrikaner government used the foundations laid by this segregation to promote apartheid. The government modified the 1600s segregation patterns and generated new segregation patterns. The difference between the 17th century and the 20th-century apartheid is that while the government focused on segregating the urban areas in the 17th century, apartheid supported both rural and urban segregation and oppression of blacks (Mphambukeli, 2019) . According to the source, the history of apartheid coincides with legislations of the National Party. The source also confirms that apartheid originated from previous state tendencies. | The historical background of this source confirms the thesis statement that apartheid supported the oppression of colored and black South Africans affecting the country negatively. The Afrikaner government promoted apartheid by claiming that the state acts were for the good of the country. However, these actions resulted in class segregation and oppression of the blacks and the coloreds. The source supports the thesis statement by mentioning that apartheid was used to control the colored and Africa labor. According to the source, the National Party government used urban segregation to control this labor (Mphambukeli, 2019). Moreover, they alienated blacks claiming that they were sources of various diseases such as tuberculosis. Apartheid was also used to make blacks generate revenue for the whites. The source suggests that whites and white-designated areas developed at the expense of blacks confirming the thesis statement. |
References
Mhlauli, M., Salani, E., & Mokotedi, R. (2015). Understanding Apartheid in South Africa through the Racial Contract. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 5 (4), 203-219. Retrieved from http://www.aessweb.com/pdf-files/ijass-2015-5(4)-203-219.pdf
It’s time to jumpstart your paper!
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Mphambukeli, T. (2019). Apartheid. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. John Wiley & Sons.
