The use of ‘local colour’ and history in promoting the identity of port cities: The case of Durban, c.1890s-1950s

Abstract

Distinct city identities have been promoted in both literary and visual media, normally through a combination of the two. This chapter argues that those who seek to convey a port town’s distinctiveness have done so through describing not only its particular topography, architecture, history, and functions but also by describing its ‘local colour’: the supposedly unique customs, manner of speech, dress, or other special features of its inhabitants. In the case of Durban, doing so partly obscured the place’s functions as major port and industrial centre in favour of promoting the town as a national and international tourist destination. This was accomplished by portraying black working-class inhabitants as nonindustrial and unthreatening, the ‘popular in its place’, notably as cheerful, dramatically adorned rickshaw pullers.