Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History

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ISBN:

9781868142521

Publication Date:

1 Jan 1995

Language:

English

Publisher:

Wits University Press

Pages:

512 pages

Format:

Paperback

For delivery:

Estimated despatch 29 Apr - 7 May 2024

Description

Was the ""mfecane"" a figment of historians' imagination as Julian Cobbing contends? How large a responsibility do Shaka and the Zulu people bear for the social turbulence in South-central and South-east Africa in the early decades of the 19th century? These are some of the issues explored in this collection, which is designed as a response to the radical critique of Dr Cobbing and other scholars. The ""mfecane"", suggests Cobbing, must be seen as a myth lying at the root of a set of interlinked assumptions and distortions that have seriously twisted our understanding of the main historical processes of late 18th- and early 19th-century Southern Africa. Contributors to this collection assess the implications of this critique for scholars from a range of disciplines, notably history, anthropology, archaeology, history of art and African languages. But the book is not only about the debate over Cobbing's work; it is also an indicator of the state of current scholarship in Southern Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries and, because it raises questions about the nature of sources and, indeed, about the nature of historical debate itself, it is also about historiography. This book should provide a useful guide for students starting out in this field, as well as a resource for established scholars seeking their way through the textual intricacies of varied editions and secondary texts that become the primary sources for historiographical debate.

Preface Acknowledgements Notes on Orthography and Names Contributors Introduction Part One: Historiography and Methodology Putting the Mfecane Controversy into Historiographical Context Chapter 1. Pre-Cobbing Mfecane Historiography Chapter 2. Old Wine in New Bottles The Persistence of Narrative Structures in the Historiography of the Mfecane and the Great Trek Chapter 3. Hunter-Gatherers, Traders and Slaves The 'Mfecane' Impact on Bushmen, Their Ritual and Their Art Chapter 4. Language and Assassination Cutural Negationas in White Writers' Portrayal of Shaka and the Zulu Part Two: The South-Eastern Coastal Region Beyond the concept of the 'Zulu Explosion' Comments on the Current Debate Chapter 5. Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa c. 1800-1830 The 'Mfecane' Reconsidered Chapter 6. Political Transformations in the Thukela-Mzimkhulu Region in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries Chapter 7. 'The Character and Objects of Chaka' A Reconsideration of the Making of Shaka as Mfecane Motor Chapter 8. Matiwane's Road to Mbholompo A Reprieve for the Mfecane? Chapter 9. Unmasking the Fingo The War of 1835 Revisted Chapter 10. The Mfecane Survives its Critics Part Three: The Interior 'The time of troubles' Difaqane in the Interior Chapter 11. Archaeological Indicators of Stress in the Western Transvaal Region between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries Chapter 12. Prelude to Difaqane in the Interior of the Southern Africa c.1600-c. 1822 Chapter 13. Conflict in the Western Highveld/Southern Kalahari c.1750-1820 Chapter 14. 'Hungry Wolves' The Impact of Violence on Rolong Life, 1823-1836 Chapter 15. The Battle of Dithakong and 'Mfecane' Theory Chapter 16. Untapped Sources Slave Exports from Southern and Central Namibia up to c.1850 Glossary Abbreviations Bibliographer's Note Bibliography Complete List of Papers Presented at the Colloquium Index

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Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History

Paperback by Hamilton, Carolyn; Hamilton, Carolyn; Dowson, Thomas; Eldredge, Elizabeth; Etherington, Norman; Gewald, Jan-Bart; Hall, Simon; Hartley, Guy; Kinsman, Margaret; Manson, Andrew; Omer-Cooper, John; Parsons, Neil; Peires, Jeff; Saunders, Christopher; Webster, Alan; Wright, John; Wylie, Dan

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Contents