Space, place and identity: political violence in Mpumalanga township, Kwazulu-Natal, 1987-1993

摘要

ABSTRACTudThis thesis investigates political violence between the United Democratic Frontudand Inkatha in Mpumalanga township, Natal. In the early 1980s and early 1990sudMpumalanga was one of Natal’s townships most gravely affected by politicaludviolence.udI ask and answer four questions:ud1. Why and how did the conflict between political organisations in Nataludbecome violent?ud2. What forms did the violence take?ud3. Why, as a result of the violence did ordinary people with little prior historyudof political activity come to identify with either the UDF or Inkatha?ud4. How were these political identities produced?udIn order to answer these questions the thesis explores three primary arguments.udThe first argument is that 1987 represents a severe rupture in the politics of Natal.udThis rupture is captured in the violent form of political conflict that gripped theudprovince. To understand this rupture the thesis looks back at a complex set ofudprocesses that interlocked over space and time.udA second major argument of the thesis is that an aspect of the distinctiveness ofudthe violence was its profoundly spatialised form in combination with genderedudand generational forms. There were two major shifts in the spatialised form of theudviolence. The first shift occurred when instead of only attacking individuals, theudhousehold and its members also became targets. And then the second shift wasudwhen the purpose of the violence was about the pursuit of territory. Boundariesudbetween territories identified who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ and all aspects ofudeveryday life became politicised.udThe third major argument of the thesis is that there was a strong relationshipudbetween space/place and political identity. The re-territorialisation of spaceud- iv -udduring the violence was central to the production of these new identities. Politicaludviolence created new spatialities, with space itself acquiring political meaning andudidentity. The political meanings of these spaces were intense markers of theirudidentity and overrode all other meanings and identities. As the spatial form of theudviolence shifted it forced people to question their political identities. The livedudexperience of the politicisation of everyday life by the violence shaped theudproduction of political identities.