About: Sanitation Syndrome

Sanitation Syndrome is a way of describing a trend in segregationist thought in South Africa. The theory of sanitation syndrome was first advanced by Maynard Swanson in his frequently-cited 1977 paper, "The Sanitation Syndrome: Bubonic Plague and Urban Native Policy in the Cape Colony, 1900-1909." In his paper, Swanson argued that in pre-union South Africa, public officials became influenced by an imagery of infectious disease as a societal metaphor, and that this mirrored and influenced developments in segregation. He also asserted that his theory may be applicable to situations outside of his study, and it has since been applied to numerous other instances of segregation.