ABSTRACT
Research on white workers in Southern Africa has generally focused on single countries. This chapter asks how different their history would look if considered in a transnational, Southern African framework? And what insights might be derived from focusing on the frequent and large scale movement of white workers across political boundaries in the region? The chapter examines the artificial processes of racial boundary-drawing and the mobility of racial categories. Strong class inequalities within the racially privileged groups persisted throughout the periods of both the apartheid regime and Portuguese colonialism. Varying working-class access to political power made for significant differences in political outcomes. Regional working-class politics was by no means parochial but was influenced by global ideologies. States were often held back from promoting immigration because of fears regarding the white working class. Struggles for cultural domination shaped working-class life, with authoritarian leaders attempting to impose policies of resistance to global cultural change on workers, but there was a significant export of British working-class culture and American-style consumerism to the region. The end of the period saw a move by the Rhodesian and South African states to abandon their previous protection of the white working class.
