ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the construction of the subaltern subject became inscribed in the systematic formulation of segregation in the early twentieth century as a scientific, moral, and political knowledge/practice system. It presents an understanding of both Apartheid and segregationist political practices by locating them within dominating discourses, discourses of white supremacy that depended on the particular construction of its subaltern 'Other'. The chapter also shows how 'segregationist' praxis relied on the construction of the subaltern subject as the 'savage Other', 'ethnic Other', and 'class Other' to formulate the principles of a scientific knowledge/practice system of 'native' administration. It discusses the texts of some prominent segregationist theorists and the South African Native Affairs Commission Report. Finally, the chapter explores that at the time of Apartheid, non-white 'Otherness' was so deeply entrenched within the dominant discourse that it constituted the tradition of the country. It was out of this discursive context that specific strategies of classification and control emerged.
