8 the state of science in south africa
H U M A N I T I E S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S
of this work is an article by Harold Wolpe, James called the two sides of the divide
a lawyer turned sociologist, which argued ‘social history’ and ‘historical sociology’. The
that the [African] Reserves (later called the second issue, the thematic focus, was di-
Bantustans), by preserving limited access rected towards the study of labour – here
to agricultural land by the families of black the work of the sociologist Eddie Webster
migrant labourers, subsidised urban wages stands out. Unfortunately, there is no space
and therefore served as a source of cheap here to discuss Webster’s work and the pro-
black labour for industrial and mining capi- found effect he (and others) have had on
tal. the development of labour activism. This
work, however, is in the case study mould,
The influence of the new thinking was im- in which theory and practice are drawn to-
mediately felt in the country’s (still largely gether in a single emancipatory project.
white) English-language universities. Its
march, and the simultaneous re-activation The ‘social historians’ were associated with
of work-based and community-based or- the work of London University’s Institute of
ganisations during the 1970s, enhanced a Commonwealth Studies, which, in the 1970s
Marxist explanation of South African events and into the 1980s, was directed by the
and drew social theory and political prac- South African-born historian Shula Marks.
tice closer. This was seen in the role played But the form and influence of this stream is
by intellectuals – academics and students, best appreciated through the writing of the
mainly – in the formation of black trade un- historian Charles van Onselen – especially
ion movements in Durban and later in the his two-volume Studies in the Social and
country’s financial capital Johannesburg Economic History of the Witwatersrand. This
and Cape Town, which is called the country’s approach to understanding South Africa’s
Mother City. The leading figure in this intel- past, its present and its future was widely
lectual-activism was the Sorbonne-trained disseminated throughout the South African
Rick Turner, whose name has already been academy by the Annual History Workshop
mentioned. This is not the occasion to dis- at Johannesburg’s University of Witwa-
cuss Turner’s life’s work – neither his activ- tersrand. The cohort stressed social agency,
ism nor his writing – but it is necessary to and sought to reconstruct understandings
note that long after his death, his ideas con- of the country’s history through sensitivi-
tinue to inform many South African debates. ties to the activities and practices of the
We must however turn to the influence of country’s popular classes. The other thread
the Western Marxism which inspired him, of Marxist thinking, as noted previously,
to appreciate the role of the humanities in was historical sociology: here the leading
South Africa’s political change. figure was Harold Wolpe; other members
included the Canadian sociologist Freder-
Two main perspectives and one theme ick Johnstone and another exiled South
emerged during early years of this ’Kuh- African historian, Martin Legassick. They
nian revolution’ in South African studies represented the structuralist tradition in
(Jubber, 1983:54). The sociologist Wilmot sociology and, with time, their writing was
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