Race Relations and Racism in a Racially Diverse Inner City Neighbourhood: a Case...

Hillbrow, a high-rise, inner city suburb in Johannesburg was one of the first neighbourhoods to become racially diverse in spite of the Group Areas Act of 1950. From the late 1970s, its whites-only policy started crumbling and by 1993 when the data for this study were collected, under 20 per cent of its population was white. The central questions that are addressed in this paper are: how did racial propinquity impact on race relations and interracial interaction in the neighbourhood in the early 1990s? Did it increase racism amongst residents or did it lead to its diminution? Related questions are: how were the respective racial categories and other 'races' constructed, and what traits were assigned to the various racial categories? In order to establish the extent to which an integrated, rather than a merely mixed neighbourhood emerged, this study explores the range and limits of interracial friendships and socializing. Data for the study were obtained mainly through a household survey and in-depth interviews with apartment-dwellers. The study found that racial propinquity had a mixed impact. Almost all respondents felt that racial barriers had declined, overt acts of racism were minimal, and there was evidence of signficant racial tolerance, interracial contact and mutual assistance. On the other hand, many of the residents in the face-to-face interview situation voiced racist sentiments. White residents were most likely to express racist views. Another significant finding was that racial clustering was a dominant trend. Most apartment blocks were occupied solely or mainly by one particular racial category. The neighbourhood was certainly racially diverse but not significantly integrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]