The historiographical development of the concept "mfecane" and the writing of early Southern African history, from the 1820s to 1920s
- Authors: Richner, Jürg Emile
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2554 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002406 , South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Description: The mfecane was for most of the twentieth century regarded as a historical certainty for the South African public and the Apartheid government, as well as for historians here and world-wide. The mfecane had achieved the permanence of a paradigm and a dominant discourse, as it was accepted equally by settler, liberal, Afrikaner, Africanist and Neo-Marxist historians. This certainty was shaken when Cobbing’s mfecane critique appeared in 1988, with which I concur. This study examines how mfecane history was written from the first published articles in mid-1823 until Walker coined the concept mfecane in 1928. This thesis undertakes a journey through a host of published works, books, pamphlets and articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, from which a number of conclusions emerge. The mfecane narrative was developed over a period of a hundred years in the English language by almost exclusively white, English-speaking male amateur historians and ethnographers. Their occupations, age, ideology and level of education differed markedly, but they shared one European ideological value, the discourse of the European “Image of Africa”, which regarded Africans as the negative Other of their own positively perceived society. This was a culturallyshared view of Africans, which formed the baggage in the mind of all writers examined, and accounts for the mfecane narrative’s negative attitude towards Africans. Furthermore, mfecane history was influenced by racism and the use of literary devices such as the gothic novel and the romance. Authors writing in the 1823 to 1846 period on events which had taken place in the “blank space” beyond the Cape Colony, which most of them had never visited, laid the basis for the mfecane narrative. It constituted a set of geographical or ethnically focused, separate accounts. These separate accounts focused on the themes of Shaka’s creation of the Zulu state, including his expulsion of several chiefdoms; his depopulation of Natal and the flight of the Fingo to the Transkei; the path of destruction of the Hlubi and Ngwane during their flight from Natal via the greater Caledon Valley area to the Transkei; the incorporation of the Kololo and other Sotho chiefdoms into the Mantatees - due to pressure from the invaders from Natal - who subsequently laid waste the Free State and Transvaal as far as Dithakong, where they were defeated; the further depopulation of the Transvaal by the Ndebele during their escape from Shaka; the flight of Moshoeshoe and his people to Thaba Bosiu where he built up the Sotho state, with Moshoeshoe being the only positive figure in this history. This multi-narrative was thereafter repeated without any critical thought by all authors examined until in 1885 Theal created a Zulu-centric, geographically integrated mfecane narrative whereby he integrated the previously separate accounts into one coherent whole - a whole which was so much more than the sum of its parts, but so far without a defining name. That was provided by Walker in 1928 when he coined the Xhosa neologism, mfecane. The Theal, Cory and Walker racist mfecane was thus bequeathed as the mfecane to the rest of the twentieth century.
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- Date Issued: 2005
A political history of the Bhacas from earliest times to 1910
- Authors: Makaula, Anderson Mhlauli
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Bhaca (African people) , South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2548 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002400 , Bhaca (African people) , South Africa -- History
- Description: The Bhacas are people whose history has not yet been clearly written. Unlike the Mpondo, Xhosa and Thempu chiefdoms, the Bhacas are comparatively recent immigrants into the Cape area. The first chapter deals with origins of the Bhacas and introduces the reader to Bhaca affairs. The chiefdom is said to have been a victim of the disruptive Tshakan wars of the early 19th century, and Madzikane, who later on assumed the reputation of being the architect of the Bhaca nation, left Natal seeking a place where to establish his independence. He collected a large number of fugitives scattered in the southern part of Natal and migrated to the Embondzeni Great Place in Mount Frere. The second chapter concentrates on the habits and customs of the Bhacas. The Bhacas of Mount Frere district are divided into two autonomous chiefdoms according to the descendants of Sonyangwe and Ncapayi, sons of the renowned Great Bhaca chief, Madzikane. Bhaca customs are characterised by their First Fruit Festival dialect.(ingcubhe) and their distinctive Thsefula Then comes the era of Ncapayi who had been renowned for his warlike propensities, and the controversial Voortrekker attack of 1840. It was however, during his reign that mission work started amongst the Bhacas. This left an indelible impression among the Bhacas because Osborn Mission Station was established in 1858 during Mamjucu's reign, the widow of Ncapayi, many years after his death . The influence of missionaries coupled with the problems encountered by Makaula, Ncapayi's son from the surrounding chiefdoms, led to the acceptance of colonial rule. This leads us to chapters 6, 7 and 8 where the colonial government interfers in the Bhaca traditional administrative system especially in matters relating to the allocation of land, appointment of headmen, relations between Makaula and Nomtsheketshe and relations between the Bhacas and the Mpondo. It was during Makaula's regime that many denominations were established in the Mount Frere district. A great measure of credit should be given to these churches for placing systematically before the Bhacas the higher standards of belief and conduct. The history of Bhacas from the 1860's was characterised by change and modification due to the increasing contact with the white man's culture.
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- Date Issued: 1989