Stress, Crisis, and Behaviour — a South African Case

Brian M. du Toit

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00005206

Stress, Crisis, and Behaviour — a South African Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Brian M. du Toit

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It is March 1970 and a quiet warm Sunday afternoon in the town of Yungay. Most of the children are attending a performance by the visiting circus in the stadium, while their parents are relaxing in anticipation of the busy week ahead. The market is crowded with peasants who are selling and tourists who are buying. This picturesque town of 4,500 inhabitants is festive, and from many a house the radio can be heard broadcasting the World Cup soccer match from Mexico City.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 117 - 140

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00005206 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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^{page 118 note 1} While this example does not pertain to South Africa, the situation as described by Anthony Oliver-Smith represents a very special type of crisis; ‘Social Identity, Conflict and Consensus after Natural Disaster in Peru’, Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Houston, 1977. It is presented here to illustrate a further dimension of stress and crisis behaviour.

^{page 119 note 1} Lindsay, Rae S., Crisis Theory: a critical overview (Perth, 1975), p. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 2} Cf. Selye, Hans, The Stress of Life (New York, 1956), pp. 54–64.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 3} Cf. Caplan, Gerald, An Approach to Community Mental Health (New York, 1961), p. 43.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 4} Ibid. p. 45.

^{page 120 note 1} See Caplan, Gerald, Principles of Preventive Psychiatry (New York, 1964), p. 43.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 2} Cf. Caplan, , An Approach to Community Mental Health, p. 209.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 3} Cf. Lazarus, Richard S., Psychological Stress and the Coping Process (New York, 1966), p. 152.Google Scholar

^{page 121 note 1} Ibid. p. 162.

^{page 121 note 2} See S., Barbara and Dohrenwend, Bruce P., ‘Class and Race as Status Related Sources of Stress’, in Levine, Sol and Scotch, Norman A. (eds.), Social Stress (Chicago, 1970), pp. 111–40.Google Scholar

^{page 121 note 3} Sol Levine and Norman A. Scotch, ‘Social Stress’, in ibid.

^{page 121 note 4} Cf. Selye, op. cit. p. 64.

^{page 121 note 5} Edward Gross, ‘Work, Organization and Stress’, in Levine and Scotch (eds.), op. cit. p.55.

^{page 121 note 6} Lazarus, op. cit. pp. 155–6.

^{page 122 note 1} Levine and Scotch (eds.), op. cit. p. 287.

^{page 122 note 2} du Toit, Brian M., ‘Color, Class, and Caste in South Africa’, in Journal of Asian and African Studies (Leiden), 1, 3, 1966, pp. 197–212;Google Scholar‘Politics and Change in South Africa’, in International Journal of Comparative Sociology (Leiden), VII, I, 1966, pp. 96–118;Google Scholar‘Afrikaners, Nationalists, and Apartheid’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), VIII, 4, 12 1970, pp. 531–51;Google Scholar and ‘The Secret Society as Cultural Agent – the Case of the Broederbond in South Africa’, in Patterns of Prejudice (London), VIII, 2, 1974, pp. 1–7.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 1} du Toit, Brian M., ‘Involuntary Migration and Government Policy: population displacement in South Africa’, Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D. C., 1976.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 1} Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., ‘Preface’, in Fortes, Myer and Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (eds.), African Political Systems (London, 1958), p. xxiii.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 2} This latter case has been discussed in greater detail in du Toit, ‘Involuntary Migration and Government Policy’.

^{page 125 note 1} Since the beginning of 1975 certain changes have taken effect, primarily that mothertongue instruction is now used through Standard IV (i.e. the sixth grade), and after that for Religious Education and certain other non-examination subjects.

^{page 125 note 2} The Star (Johannesburg), 8 05 1973,Google Scholar reported that the African Teachers' Association of South Africa felt that the Homeland Governments should decide the medium of instruction for all their citizens wherever they lived. The political implications of this are far-reaching.

^{page 126 note 1} Much of the material in this section appears in Horrell, Muriel et al. , A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa (Johannesburg, 1977).Google Scholar

^{page 127 note 1} See du Toit, ‘Involuntary Migration and Government Policy’.

^{page 127 note 2} The Sunday Express (Johannesburg), 30 05 1976.Google Scholar

^{page 127 note 3} See Caplan, , Principles of Preventive Psychiatry, p. 53.Google Scholar

^{page 129 note 1} Khoapa, Bennie A., ‘The New Black’, in Biko, B. S. (ed.), Black Viewpoint (Johannesburg, 1972), p. 64.Google Scholar

^{page 129 note 2} B. S. Biko, ‘Introduction’, in ibid. p. 7.

^{page 129 note 3} Quoted by Laurence, Patrick in The Star, 16 02 1972.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 1} According to the international airmail edition of The Star, 22 October 1977, the Government banned the following 18 organisations: Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of the African People of South Africa, Black Parents' Association, Black People's Convention, Black Women's Federation, Border Youth Organisation, Christian Institute of Southern Africa, Eastern Province Youth Organisation (also known as Eastern Cape Youth Organisation), Medupe Writers' Association, Natal Youth Organisation, National Youth Organisation, South African Students' Movement, South African Students' Organisation, Soweto Students' Representative Council, Black Community Programmes Ltd., Transvaal Youth Organisation, Union of Black Journalists, Western Cape Youth Organisation, and Zimele Trust Fund.

^{page 130 note 2} Horrell, Muriel et al. , A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa (Johannesburg, 1974), p. 344.Google Scholar

^{page 131 note 1} Kruger's unfortunate statement reminds me of Albert Camus who addressed Gabriel Marcel, a Christian who had questioned the reasons for locating his play State of Siege in Spain, as follows: ‘I shall consistently refuse you the right to question it so long as the murder of a man angers you only when that man shares your ideas.’ Resistence, Rebellion, and Death, translated by Justin O'Brien (New York, 1961), p. 83.Google Scholar

^{page 131 note 2} The full statement, as weLl as expressions of concern by others, appeared in The Argus (Cape Town), 16 09 1977,Google Scholar and other papers at the time.

^{page 132 note 1} See Ellis, George et al. , The Squatter Problem in the Western Cape (Johannesburg, 1977),Google Scholar Appendix C.

^{page 132 note 2} See Elphick, Richard, Kraal and Castle. Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa (New Haven, 1977).Google Scholar

^{page 133 note 1} Cf. Ellis et al., op. cit. p. 2.

^{page 133 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 133 note 3} Cape Times, 7 March 1977.

^{page 134 note 1} Die Kerkbode (Pretoria), 24 08 1977.Google Scholar

^{page 135 note 1} Fact sheet distributed by the Concerned Citizens Action Committee (Cape Town), 18 January 1978.

^{page 135 note 2} Cf. Ellis et al. op. cit. p. 42.

^{page 136 note 1} See The Cape Times, 17 Jaunary 1978.

^{page 136 note 2} See The Argus, 17 Jaunary 1978.

^{page 136 note 3} If these persons had destroyed all their belongings, and even injured themselves in the process, this could have been interpreted as an act of withdrawal. It will be recalled that Buddhist monks in Vietnam frequently responded to crisis by becoming a human torch.

^{page 137 note 1} According to the 1910 constitution of the Union of South Africa, English and Afrikaans are both official languages.

^{page 138 note 1} Many of my ultra liberal and ‘enlightened’ colleagues remind me of an old-timer I knew back on the farm. He had been to Church and his wife asked him what the sermon was about. His answer: ‘Sin!’ She asked: ‘What did the preacher say about it?’, and he replied: ‘He's against it’ So many people are ‘against’ apartheid…

^{page 138 note 2} Cf. The Star, 26 November 1977.

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