Cruel choices: The political adjustment of the Indian minority to the South African State

Nandini Ramaswamy, Purdue University

Abstract

Indian politics in South Africa has been very different from African or colored politics, in spite of the commonality of apartheid policies. Indians have attempted cooperation and resistance to those in power and they have not always joined the larger black struggle against racial tyranny. The reasons for the seemingly vacillating politics of the Indian community in South Africa has not been deeply studied by other works on Indian South Africans. Class analysis of Indian politics does not adequately explain the poignancy of the Indian predicament in South Africa. This dissertation hopes to fill in this gap in the literature. The main argument presented in this dissertation are that Indian politics should be seen in the light of a migrant minority trying to gain recognition and citizenship in a new country. As such, their political struggles should not be seen in the same light as the Africans and colored, who were indigenous to South Africa. Their peculiar position in the social hierarchy in South Africa created certain "cruel choices" for the Indian community. What these "cruel choices" were and how the Indian community reacted to them is the main focus of this dissertation. A wide range of primary and secondary sources were used for the purposes of this dissertation. The primary sources are mainly from the Library of Congress and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress also has a very valuable collection of secondary sources, in addition to books. This dissertation is the result of one and a half years worth of research in many state libraries as well as in the Library of Congress and National Archives.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Melson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Political science|Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology

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