Die Armblanke-Vraagstuk in Suid-Afrika (Deel 1, 2, 3 en 4) - Verslag van die Carnegie-Kommissie van Ondersoek oor die Armblanke-Vraagstuk
Die Armblanke-Vraagstuk in Suid-Afrika (Deel 1, 2, 3 en 4)
Verslag van die Carnegie-Kommissie van Ondersoek oor die Armblanke-Vraagstuk
Bibliographic Specifications
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Title: Die Armblanke-Vraagstuk in Suid-Afrika: Verslag van die Carnegie-Kommissie (Deel 1–4)
- Deel I: Ekonomiese Verslag: Plattelandsverarming en Plaasverlating (J.F.W. Grosskopf)
- Deel II: Psigologiese Verslag: Die Armblanke (R.W. Wilcocks)
- Deel III: Onderwysverslag: Onderwys en die Armblanke (E.G. Malherbe)
- Deel IV: Gesondheidsverslag: Die Moeder en Dogter in die Armblanke-Huisgesin (W.A. Murray)
- Author / Commission: Carnegie Commission of Investigation on the Poor White Question in South Africa
- Publisher: Pro Ecclesia-Drukkery, Stellenbosch
- Publication Date: 1932
- ISBN: Not issued (Pre-dates the ISBN system)
- Edition Details: First Edition, Standard Academic Binding (4 of 5 Volumes)
- Binding: Original publisher's cloth-bound hardcovers
Official Condition Report
The Books: Very Good (VG) Interior / Good (G) Exterior
- Interior: Remarkably clean and well-preserved. Text blocks are sound, solid, and square. Paper stocks display only very mild, natural age-browning on the preliminary pages, which is typical for South African publications of the 1930s. A neat, small previous ownership signature is inscribed on the front free endpaper (ffep) of all four volumes. Free of text underlining, margin notes, or heavy finger-soiling.
- Exterior / Spines: Issued without dust jackets. The heavy cloth boards remain clean and flat, though the exposed spines exhibit distinct handling-related shelf wear. The crown and foot of each spine are frayed with small structural tears consistent with traditional "shelf-pull" removal wear.
The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Sociopolitical Significance
Published in 1932, the Verslag van die Carnegie-Kommissie is arguably the most influential sociopolitical and economic research document of twentieth-century South Africa.
Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, this cross-disciplinary investigation targeted the structural poverty gripping over 300,000 white citizens—primarily rural Afrikaners displaced by the Anglo-Boer War, the rinderpest epidemic, and the Great Depression. Spanning economics, deep psychology, segregated education, and maternal healthcare, these four volumes offered unparalleled, data-driven analysis of urban migration and agricultural decline. Historically, the commission’s conclusions heavily redirected state welfare policies, altered labor dynamics, and laid down early ideological footprints that would later contour the South African landscape.
Historical Background: The Carnegie Commission
The commission was a elite collective of South Africa’s finest academic minds, mobilized alongside researchers from the United States. Notable contributors featured in this set include Dr. E.G. Malherbe (famed educationist and future principal of Natal University) and Dr. J.F.W. Grosskopf. Supported heavily by the Nederduitse Gereformeerde (NG) Church, their unprecedented five-year field study established the foundations for organized social work and state-directed economic intervention across Southern Africa.
This specific set is missing Deel V (The Sociological Report by J.R. Albertyn)
