Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa, 1919–36

This analysis of the historical development of racial segregation in South Africa between the World War I and II casts light on the period immediately before the advent of modern-day apartheid and provides an account of the ideological, political and administrative origins of apartheid. Segregation is seen here as a complex combination of ideas and policies which aimed to entrench and legitimize the basis of white domination in South Africa. The authors feel that in essence, it represented an attempt to uphold white supremacy by containing the powerful social forces unleashed by South Africa's rapid process of industrialization. The work is based on archival research in South Africa and aims to draw upon some of the most recent scholarship.