In the Company of Diamonds: De Beers, Kleinzee, and the Control of a Town

by Carstens, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780821413777
• ISBN10: 0821413775
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

After the 1925 discovery of diamonds in the semidesert of the northwest coast of South Africa, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. virtually proclaimed its dominion over the whole region. In the town of Kleinzee, the company owns all the real estate and infrastructure and controls and administers both the town and the industry.

Author Biography

Peter Carstens is a professor of social anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Figures	p. vii
List of Tables	p. ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
Note on Currency and Exchange Rates	p. xvii
Company Towns: An Introduction	p. 3
Early Years: From Prospector to Company
Prospecting and Mining: Diamond Discoveries in Namaqualand, 1925-1927	p. 15
The Struggle for Kleinzee and the Coastal Farms	p. 25
The Founding of Cape Coast	p. 35
Kleinzee Mining Town, 1928-1956	p. 42
The Manager and His Staff, 1928-1956	p. 63
White Man as Contract Worker	p. 75
The Owambo Contract Worker, 1943-1949	p. 88
The Coloured Namaqualand Worker	p. 110
Oppenheimer's New Empire
The Modernization of Kleinzee	p. 129
The Paterson System	p. 136
Church, Ritual, and Home Ties	p. 155
The Racial and Social Determinants of Income	p. 166
Obligation and Loyalty in a "Closed" World	p. 180
Total Institutions or Incomplete Communities?	p. 188
An Epilogue: Tumbler Ridge, 1994	p. 194
Dr. Hans Merensky and Alexander Bay	p. 203
Income Comparisons	p. 213
List of Abbreviations	p. 217
Notes	p. 219
Bibliography	p. 239
Index	p. 251
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