Department of History

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Browsing Department of History by Author "Beukes, Danike Nanine"

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    "It is not only the guilty who suffer" : exploring gender, power and moral politics through the contagious diseases acts in the Cape Colony, c1868-1885
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Beukes, Danike Nanine; Grundlingh, Albert M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with the build-up to, and resultant reactions against, regulating sexual practices in the Cape Colony, especially the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1868 and 1885. The focus will be on the existence of venereal disease as a colonial epidemic. The wider context in terms of Britain, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia will also be taken into account. The research is based on a theoretical framework made up of three components; gender, power and moral politics. The role of gender will be looked at through the existence of the double standard and the prostitute. Power and the existing relations between the colonies and the colonisers will be looked at by addressing the issue of race, superiority and the exportation of the colonial mindset. Moral politics will be analysed through the discussion of purity campaigns, women’s role in society and the medical aspect of politics. Within this thematic framework, the focus of the study will then move to the Cape Colony and the existence of regularity practices there. This study seeks to establish the ways in which regulation developed at the Cape and in doing so hopes to contribute to the existing historiography.