The “Vuka Africa” Store
African shopkeepers and urban cultural practices in South Africa under segregation and apartheid, 1880s-1960s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51185/journals/rhca.2021.e553Keywords:
urban black culture, food, trade, shopkeepers, segregation, apartheid, consumptionAbstract
Rapid urban growth on the Witwatersrand in South Africa from the late nineteenth century onwards opened up opportunities for a growing class of African hawkers and pedlars, and for “Native” shopkeepers who sought to establish themselves as fixed traders in the urban Native Locations. This article argues that this incipient African business class made a critical contribution to the emergence of a vibrant urban black culture as they fought to establish viable businesses and subvert racist efforts at black exclusion or marginalisation in towns and cities under segregation and apartheid. In the process, they were prominent participants in the development of new and distinctive urban black cultural practices in South Africa, especially with respect to consumption.
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Some rights reserved 2021 Alan Cobley; Laurent Chauvet, Sophie Dulucq
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