Els, Willie, December, 1985 - APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY AND LOW INCOME HOUSING IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF THE EAST CAPE ADMINISTRATION BOARD SELF-HELP HOUSING PROJECT IN TANTYI, GRAHAMSTOWN Abstract: The purpose of the research on which this thesis is based was to investigate for the East Cape Administration Board the possibility of developing a self-help housing project in the Tantyi Black township in Grahamstown, and to develop detailed proposals on how such a project should be implemented. The reasons for developing the proposed self-help project were twofold. First, it was to be developed as a means of dealing with the serious lack of housing for Blacks in the Grahamstown Townships. Second, it was to act as a demonstration project to prove to the South African Government that the self-help approach can be successfully implemented in urban black communities and as such, provides an important means of getting the private sector and especially the people themselves involved in the housing process. The research focussed on the following aspects: (1) the establishment of a socio-economic profile of the Grahamstown townships, (2) the role played by housing policy in the black housing problem, especially in Grahamstown, (3) the significance of citizen participation in the self-help approach, (4) the use of traditional technologies and materials in implementing the self-help approach, and (5) the ancillary effects which the self-help approach has on the local economy. The methodology of the research involved a detailed literature study, site visits to other self-help projects in South Africa, and first hand anthropological research in Grahamstown. Specific techniques included participant observation and unstructured interviewing of informants, more structured interviewing of informants using open-ended questions, standard social survey techniques involving structured questionnaires, and the use of aerial photography. The research resulted in the development and implementation of a self-help housing project in Tantyi, Grahamstown which has had a considerable influence on low income housing policy on a regional and national level in the Republic of South Africa. As regards policy, the study shows clearly that the most appropriate policy orientation as regards low income housing in South Africa is one which emphasizes self-help strategies and in which social scientists have an important role to play in its implementation. .