ABSTRACT
Memories of the proclamation in 1967 of the fishing village of Kalk Bay, situated on the False Bay coast of the Cape peninsula, as a ‘white group area’ provide insights into precisely such a complex and manifold history. While the more overt and readily observable consequences of forced removals under the Group Area Act (GAA) in South Africa have been explored through extensive media coverage, museum exhibitions and popular and academic literature, less is known about how the GAA subtly, and silently, affected communities in ways that cannot easily be fitted into generalized tropes of struggle and resistance. Members of the fishing community are either Christians or Muslims. Some of the white residents are also fishermen, but most are employed outside of Kalk Bay. White residents generally belonged to a social and economic elite, employing women from the economically disadvantaged fishing community as domestic aides.
