Browsing by Author "Bekker, Simon"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Coloured migration in the Cape region at the beginning of the 21th century
    (SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein -- University of the Free State -- UFS, 2003) Bekker, Simon; Cramer, Joseph
    INTRODUCTION: During the twentieth century, the port of Cape Town transformed itself from a town of some 150 000 to a city of 3 million. Before this period, different cultural traits of in-migrating and resident groups had mixed and produced new syncretic features that were passed on to the next generation. In the second half of this century, however, state policies imposed separation and unequal access to state resources among groups within this population. Accordingly, the identities of coloured, black and white – imposed as they have been by the state from above – could not but continue to carry meaning in the lives of Cape Town’s residents and of those living in its hinterlands. Though rarely the primary identities of residents, these labels are widely acknowledged to be both shared and meaningful.
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    Diminishing returns : circulatory migration linking Cape Town to the Eastern Cape
    (UCT -- University of Cape Town, 2001) Bekker, Simon
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    Household language, residential segregation and social mobility : continuity and change in eThekwini, South Africa
    (Union for African Population Studies, 2016) Bekker, Simon; Hill, Lloyd Bennett
    This article uses South African census data for 1996, 2001 and 2011 to explore the relationship between language and social mobility in the metropolitan region of eThekwini (including what was previously known as Durban). We focus particular attention on variables selected to shed light on residential segregation and social mobility, such as education level, income, race and in-migration. Data on adults at ward level (using 2011 ward boundaries) in eThekwini is used to develop a comparative spatial context for this analysis. Our main finding is that English appears in eThekwini to be the household language of the social elite as well as the language of upward mobility and empowerment.
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    Language, residential space and inequality in Cape Town : broad-brush profiles and trends
    (Union for African Population Studies, 2014-05) Hill, Lloyd Bennett; Bekker, Simon
    This article uses South African census data for 1996, 2001 and 2011 to explore the relationship between language and demographic change in the metropolitan region of Cape Town. We begin with a conceptual and methodological discussion of the use of ‘language’ as a demographic variable, before commencing with a GIS based analysis of the changing relationship between ‘household language’ and selected census variables associated with post-apartheid demographic change. We focus particular attention on variables selected to shed light on urban inequality, such as education level, income, race and in-migration. Data on adults at ward level in Cape Town is used to develop a comparative spatial context for this analysis. Our main finding is a significant level of continuity between 1996 and 2011 with respect to the geo-social patterning of the three main languages in the metro: Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. We argue that English and Afrikaans have retained status through proximity to key development corridors. We explain this trend in terms of different streams of migrants, settling at different times and in different regions of the city.
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    Residents perceptions of developmental local government : exit, voice and loyalty in South African towns
    (UNISA online, 2003) Bekker, Simon; Leilde, Anne
    Over the past decade, local government policy in South Africa has proposed a greater degree of local democracy and a greater degree of local public participation. The latter, captured under the phrase ‘developmental local government’, promises local residents engagement as voters, as citizens affected by local government policy and as partners in resource mobilisation for the development of the municipal area. Qualitative fieldwork in a number of small towns in the Western Cape conducted in 2000 revealed no common sense of loyalty toward the town or its local government. Socio-economic (more than ethnic) identity marked differences in orientation. The middle income minority engaged both the local council and its municipality in a relationship of loyalty and criticism whilst both the affluent as well as the poor had withdrawn from local civil society.