The Seeds of Separate Development: Origins of Bantu Education

How was it that so many people, who thought of themselves as just and decent citizens, subscribed to the ideas of apartheid and believed that it was the only way in which South Africa's many diverse 'communities' could live in harmony? This study tracks the intellectual development of one of apartheid's deftest ideologues, W. W. M. Eiselen, exploring how the seeds of separate development were sown in at least one quarter of apartheid's toxic fields. The Seeds of Separate Development opens within the literature on apartheid and Bantu Education, and goes on to examine the shaping of Eiselen's discourse over several stages of his career before he entered politics. Later chapters explore the world of the 1940s, emphasizing both the upheavals and the sense of possibilities that were its defining characteristics. The study concludes with an examination of the context, procedures, and finally the Report of the Eiselen Commission. In her work with black students, author Cynthia Kros has noted that - more than a decade after the system, set in motion by Eiselen, has been set aside - many of the students battle "to overcome the treacherous legacy of Bantu Education..."