Leo Kuper Papers, 1952-1966

Citation:
MF-4318 Neg. MF-at lab
Kuper, Leo, 1908-
Leo Kuper papers, 1952-1966. [microform]
Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago, Photoduplication Dept., [19---?]
10 microfilm reels. negative. 35 mm.
Reel index on reel 1.
South African sociologist. One folder of correspondence and 21 boxes of materials relating to the research conducted between 1957 and 1963 for Kuper's study of An African Bourgeoisie.
OCLC# = 24148595

LEO KUPER (1908- ), PAPERS, 1952-1966
21 BOXES
SERIES 4

BIOGRAPHY

Leo Kuper was born November 24, 1908, in Johannesburg, South Africa. After receiving his law degree from Witwatersrand University in 1931, Kuper practiced law until 1940, when he joined the South African Army. He served in the military in Kenya, Egypt and Italy until 1946, when he returned to South Africa to organize the National War Memorial Health Foundation. This foundation helped to provide health services initially for Africans, Coloureds and Indians, and was expanded later to serve whites as well.

In 1947 Kuper attended the University of North Carolina, from which he received an M.A. in sociology. After returning briefly to South Africa, he was appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Birmingham in England. While in Birmingham, Kuper also directed a research project, the purpose of which was to help the city of Coventry recover from the destructive bombing of World War II. This research resulted in the publication of "Living in Towns" (1953), which Kuper edited. After completing his doctorate in sociology at the University or Birmingham in 1952, Kuper returned to South Africa as Professor of Sociology at the University of Natal, where he remained until 1961.

An active member of South Africa's Liberal Party, Kuper published extensively in the field of race relations while at the University of Natal. In addition to a satirical novel on the newly segregated universities, "College Brew" (1960), Kuper published "Passive Resistance in South Africa" (1956), and "Durban; A Study of Racial Ecology" (1958), with Hilstan Watts and Ronald Davies, while teaching at the university.

In 1961 Kuper was appointed Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he remained until his retirement in 1976. While at UCLA, he served for four years as the Director of the African Studies Center and also as a member of the Board of Directors of the African Studies Association. In 1965 Kuper published "An African Bourgeoisie" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965). Based on research and interviews conducted in South Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this study of the black professional and mercantile classes won the Melville Herskovits Award. More recently, Kuper edited "Pluralism in Africa." (1969) and has written "Race, Class, and Power" (1974) and "The Pity of it All" (1977).

DESCRIPTION:

The collection is composed of one folder of correspondence and 21 boxes of materials relating to the research conducted between 1957 and 1963 for Leo Kuper's study of "An African Bourgeoisie" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965). Kuper, assisted by two research assistants at the University of Natal, Anthony Ngubo and Bernard Magubane, conducted interviews with more than one hundred members of South Africa's black professional class, including doctors, lawyers, civil servants, teachers, ministers, nurses and businessmen, whom Kuper identifies as "traders." These interviews, and the more general reading notes and newspaper files, comprise the basic document collection upon which Kuper's sociological analysis of South Africa's black middle class rested. The transcriptions of the interviews suggest that Kuper was primarily interested in the issues of mobility, freedom and perceived social status, and the relation of these concepts to South Africa's aparthied racial system. These interviews comprise the most valuable component of the collection.

The collection is arranged primarily by subject, categories which reflect the organization of Kuper's book. Most categories, such as the various occupational groups, contain two basic components: the primary source documentation and the analysis upon which the narrative of his study is based. The primary sources include transcriptions of interviews, reading notes, statistics and questionnaire responses. The analyses consist of interpretations written primarily by Kuper, although his research assistants examined several topics carefully and provided Kuper with written interpretations for his book. In addition, six boxes of newspaper clippings, dated almost exclusively 1959-1962, on many aspects of South African life have been removed from the primary source materials and arranged alphabetically by subject in boxes 16 through 21. A number of printed pamphlets and other published material related to aparthied have been separated from the collection.

An online finding aid for the print archives of his papers (held at UCLA), which include his research materials, manuscripts, books, other printed materials, audio tapes, videotapes and microfilm, can be found at the "Online Archive of California," a project of the California Digital Library.

Container List:

[Reel 1]

Box 1

1. Folders:
   1. Biographical
   2. Correspondence, 1954-1966
   3. Lectures
   4. Traders: Interviews I
   5. Traders: Interviews II
   6. Traders: African Traders Course, 1959 [Durban]
   7. Traders: Report on the African Journal, 1957-1959
   8. "Control of Trade" Report and Analysis, 1959

Box 2

Folders:
  1. "The Cape Trading Report," 1955
  2. Traders: General Files I
  3. Traders: General Files II

  4. Traders: Analysis
  5. Students: Graduate Student Interviews
  6. Students: Undergraduates and Life Histories Interviews

Box 3

Folders:
  1. Students: Medical School Interviews I
  2. Students: Medical School Interviews and Notes II
  3. Students: Medical School Interviews and Notes III
  4. Students: Interviews by Anthony Ngubo
  5. Students: Notes by Anthony Ngubo I

  6. Students: Notes by Anthony Ngubo II
  7. Problems of the Educated: Notes and Analysis

Box 4

Folders:
  1. University Education Bill, 1959
  2. Students: Misc. Notes and Interviews
  3. Anthony Ngubo, "University Students," I
  4. Anthony Ngubo, "University Students," II
  5. Students: History of the Marian Buildings I
  6. Students: History of the Marian Buildings II
  7. University Aparthied: Analysis
  8. Students: General Analysis

Box 5

Folders:
  1. Students: Analysis
  2. Students: Analysis
  3. Students: Analysis
  4. Students: Analysis
  5. Teachers Union Materials
  6. Teachers: Natal African Teachers Union Materials
  7. Teachers: Notes on Race Relations
  8. Teachers: Attitudes and Religion
  9. History of Adams College
  10. Interview with Selby Ngubo
  11. Teachers: Misc. Notes

Box 6

Folders:
  1. Teachers: Analysis I
  2. Teachers: Analysis II
  3. Teachers: Analysis III (Files, Notes, Statistics]
  4. Teachers: Analysis IV [Social Class, Political Attitudes]
  5. Teachers: Analysis V [Statistics, Social Composition]
  6. Teachers: Analysis VI [Statistics]
  7. Teachers: Analysis VII (Statistics]

  8. Nurses: King Edward [Questionnaire]
  9. Nurses: Clairwood

Box 7

Folders:
  1. Nurses: Interviews
  2. Nurses: Backgrounds
  3. Nurses: Analysis
  4. Ministers: Notes and Interviews I
  5. Ministers: Notes and Interviews II
  6. Doctors: Interviews, Notes, Research Materials

Box 8

Folders:
  1. Lawyers and Articled Clerks
  2. Clerks
  3. Civil Servants: Interviews

  4. Journalists and Social Workers: Interviews and Notes
  5. Authors and Health Educators
  6. Professions [General]: Interviews
  7. Lamont and Cato Manor: Interviews
  8. Lamont and Cato Manor: Field Notes

Box 9

Folders:
  1. Subjective Aspects of Social Class: Interviews and Notes
  2. "Who's Who" Biographical Information
  3. Occupations [General]: Interviews and Notes
  4. Professions: General Analysis
  5. Religion: Notes
  6. South African Religion: Notes
  7. American Board Material

  8. Protestants: Notes
  9. Roman Catholics: Notes

Box 10

Folders:
  1. Race Relations: Indians
  2. Race Relations: General
  3. Disturbances I
  4. Disturbances II
  5. Disturbances III
  6. Powers of Control: Notes
  7. Pan African Conference, 1959-1961: Notes
  8. Politics: Notes

Box 11

Folders:
  1. Advisory Boards: Interviews and Notes
  2. Advisory Boards: Notes and Analysis
  3. Advisory Boards: Lamontville
  4. Advisory Boards: Chesterville
  5. Advisory Boards: Tomster
  6. Advisory Boards: Jacobs
  7. Advisory Boards: Dalton Road
  8. Advisory Boards: S.T. Smith
  9. Advisory Boards: Baumannville

  10. Advisory Boards: Views of Members
  11. Advisory Boards: Regulations and Minutes
  12. Advisory Boards: Reports on Trading File

Box 12

Folders:
  1. African National Congress: Notes
  2. African National Congress: Youth League, 1959
  3. African National Congress: Minutes, 1960
  4. African National Congress: Background of Leaders
  5. African National Congress: Conference on Tomlinson Commission
  6. Tribalism: interviews
  7. Tribalism: Analysis
  8. Bantu Laws
  9. Bantu Education and Misc.
  10. Voluntary Associations [Sports]: Interviews
  11. Sports: Associations

Box 13

Folders:
  1. Sports: Durban and District African Football Association
  2. Sports: International Olympic Committee Memo, 1961
  3. Sports: Other Sports
  4. Sports: Notes
  5. Sports: Analysis I
  6. Sports: Analysis II

Box 14

Folders:
  1. Status of Women: Notes
  2. Development of South African Personality
  3. Conspicuous Consumption: Notes and Analysis
  4. Urban Africa
  5. Urban Administration
  6. Scotch-Gampel Project
  7. Colour Bar: Analysis
  8. Durban International Club: General Materials
  9. South African Native Affairs Commission
  10. Conferences: Misc. Notes

  11. Economic, Social and Political Background Materials

Box 15

Folders:
  1. Hilda Kuper: Natives Mine Wages Commission Summary
  2. Bernard Magubane: Bachelor's Thesis
  3. Bernard Magubane: Master's Thesis

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