Karen Daniels interviews Minnie Desmond, an ex-resident of Harfield Village, Cape Town. These interviews provide a very rich source or oral history regarding social life in Harfield Village and Claremont, as well as forced removals and their after-effects. Harfield Village, before the Group Areas Act, was a small mixed area of African, coloured and white inhabitants and was also known as "die vlak" by the locals. The themes included in the interviews are: inter-racial mixing and romanticisation of racial harmony, community and family relationships, religion - both Christian (Anglican, Methodist, Dutch Reformed) and Muslim (Harvey Road, Stegman Road and Main Road Mosques) - and schooling, leisure activities such as the Coon Carnival, music and jazz, shebeens and drinking. Class issues are discussed with reference to crime, gangs, "skollies", home ownership, rentals, incomes and employment. The physical, emotional and economic hardships endured by Harfield residents during and after the forced removals and the Group Areas Act are also discussed. Each interview in this collection contains a useful summary of the interview dynamics and the date of the interview., Forced removals, Cwc6.25b.mp3: Part 2 of 2 ; 25:17 min; interview 25 of 39
