Benevolent Funds: Philanthropic Practices of the South African Diaspora in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Diaspora-led philanthropy is a new and less understood phenomenon in the debate on the diaspora-development nexus. This chapter critically interrogates the logic underpinning the assumption of clear-cut, assured relationships between diasporas and their countries of origin through a case study of the South African diaspora in Ontario. It chronicles the convoluted conditions involved in the “making” and “unmaking” of the South African diaspora that have profoundly affected the creation and longevity of diaspora-based groups and, in turn, determined the philanthropic practices of groups and individuals. Through this analysis, a case is advanced for a deeper, more nuanced, engagement with the unacknowledged background and powerful social, political and economic relationships involved in the diaspora-development bond. The chapter shows how fraught relations with South Africa and other South Africans have divided the location and beneficiaries of charitable giving, with some of the largest, most conspicuous donations by the wealthiest South African immigrants being directed to Canadian institutions and social causes. The dominant character of charitable work in South Africa therefore tends to reproduce the traditional format of philanthropy in which key dedicated individuals, rather than social groups, are the main drivers of altruism and social giving.