Browsing by Author "Le Cordeur, B A"
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- ItemOpen AccessAfrican perceptions of the missionaries and their message : Wesleyans at Mount Coke and Butterworth, 1825-35(1991) Fast, Hildegarde Helene; Le Cordeur, B AMissionary endeavours in the Eastern Cape were characterized by African resistance to the Christian Gospel during the first half of the nineteenth century. Current explanations for this rejection point to the opposition of the chiefs, the association that the listeners made between the missionaries and their white oppressors, and the threat to communal solidarity. This thesis aims to see if these explanations fully reveal the reasons for Xhosa resistance to Christianity by examining African perceptions of the missionaries and their message at the Wesleyan mission stations of Mount Coke and Butterworth for the period 1825-35. The research is based upon the Wesleyan Missionary Society correspondence and missionary journals and is corroborated and supplemented by travellers' records and later studies in African religion and social anthropology. The economic, social, and religious background of the Wesleyans is described to show how the Christian message was limited to their culture and system of thought. Concepts of divinity, morality, and the afterlife are compared to demonstrate the vast differences between Wesleyan and African worldviews and the inability of the missionaries to overcome these obstacles and to show the relevance of Christianity to African material and spiritual needs. Various types of perceptions are surveyed to show that, though the missionaries were respected for their spiritual role, their character and lifestyle presented an unappealing model of the Christian life. The threat that the missionary message posed to the structure and functioning of African communities is examined as well as African perceptions of these implications. A theory of conversion is advanced which reveals a consistent pattern of association with the missionaries for reasons of self-interest, exposure to the Gospel over a lengthy period of time, and finally conversion. The missionary-African contact of this period is thus characterized as the encounter between two systems of thought which did not engage.
- ItemOpen AccessAspects of the history of organised pharmacy in South Africa, 1885-1946(1983) Ryan, Michael Granger; Le Cordeur, B AThe medical practitioner, nurse, midwife, dentist and pharmacist have played significant roles in the history of South Africa. Various histories have dealt with their expansion into separate, clearly identifiable, professions. Nothing of a scholarly nature has been written about pharmacy in South Africa, and this work attempts to fill a part of the gap. The thesis concentrates on the major issues which affected the development of the profession and attempts to establish the reasons for the creation of the first professional society in the Eastern Cape in 1885.
- ItemOpen AccessBeyond the city limits : people and property at Wynberg 1795-1927(1996) Robinson, Enid Helen; Le Cordeur, B A; Phillips, HowardThis study of peri-urban development in the Western Cape examines the acquisition and exploitation of property as an important feature in attaining economic power and high social status by upwardly-mobile people in a colonial setting. The choice of Wynberg in the southern Cape Peninsula as a focal point in this process is predicated upon its rapid growth during the nineteenth century in response to the need for a service centre in this comparatively undeveloped area, and the vigorous marketing which followed its recognition as a desirable and convenient place of residence. Its establishment owed much to the presence and requirements of the British military camp at Wynberg, but its continued growth and expansion can be attributed to the activities of the property developers, the efforts of a lively commercial sector and the construction of the Wynberg Railway. This process of residential and economic development is the main theme of the first five chapters of this thesis and is based, inter alia, on intensive primary research in the Cape Town Deeds Office. By 1880 Wynberg had become the centre of a new surge of growth beyond the city limits of Cape Town, eventually achieving smalltown status with its own independent municipality. There were substantial demographic changes in the area and this thesis contends that the multi-faceted development at Wynberg was facilitated both by particular individuals and interest groups. The inequalities in its evolving social formation which included not only landed proprietors but also many landless people, was not unique and was informed by the pervasive colonial belief in the dominance of European organising principles and capitalist market forces in relation to the exploitation of land. Historically, Wynberg resisted incorporation into the metropolitan area because it had achieved a high level of self-sufficiency by the end of the century. The institution of its municipal council and the defence of its independence prior to and after 1913 when the other Peninsula municipalities were amalgamated with Cape Town, forms the second major theme which is examined in Chapters 6 to 9 of this thesis. Its determined struggle to retain its autonomy ended in 1127 when it yielded to financial and other pressures, whereupon it was formally incorporated within the city limits of Cape Town.
- ItemOpen AccessBlack October : the impact of the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 on South Africa(1984) Phillips, Howard, 1949-; Le Cordeur, B AThis is the first serious study of the worst natural disaster in South African' history and of the impact of this disaster on the country and its people. utilising both published and unpublished official and unofficial sources, newspapers, periodicals and the recollections of over 200 'flu survivors, it traces the course of the epidemic in five main areas where its severity paralysed everyday life, viz. the Witwatersrand gold mines, Cape Town, Kimberley, Bloemfontein and the Transkei. Each of these five chapters concludes with an examination of the results which the epidemic produced locally, in spheres such as housing, sanitation, welfare schemes, the provision of medical facilities and racial segregation. Part 2 of the study surveys the makeshift efforts of the small sub-department of Public Health to combat the epidemic and makes clear how its inadequate performance brought about wide-scale agreement as to the urgent need for the creation of a fully-fledged Ministry of Public Health. Part 3 focusses on fundamental medical and aetiological issues which the epidemic raised and discusses the range of answers offered by contemporaries to questions relating to the identity, treatment and cause of the Spanish 'flu. Both medical and lay opinion on these matters are investigated and it is suggested that in 1918 most South Africans found 'scientific' answers to these questions foreign to their thinking. The attempts of the lay public to explain why the disaster occurred provide sharp insights into the prevailing world-view of much of the population. Part 4 concentrates on the results of the epidemic at a national level, both in the short and in the long term. Chapter 9 deals with its demographic impact and concludes that the Spanish 'flu epidemic was the single most important episode in South Africa's demographic history. Chapters 10 and 11 examine its more creative results - from the provision of facilities for the thousands of 'flu orphans and the rush for life insurance to the passing of the Public Health Act of 1919 and the establishment of an autonomous Ministry of Public Health. Less obvious consequences are noted too: Central Government recognition of the importance of the social welfare of (White) citizens and an enhanced anxiety about the dangers of infection across racial and class barriers and the measures taken to reduce this threat. The Conclusion argues that the Spanish 'flu epidemic was a landmark in South African social, medical and administrative history. Coming at a time when features of the new state were still being moulded, the epidemic impressed its mark on, the country in a number of fundamental ways. In addition, a study of the episode highlights aspects of contemporary South African life and thought usually hidden from the historian. The glimpses which it affords of prevailing attitudes, anxieties and assumptions at a popular level in 1918 are invaluable. Finally, the Conclusion considers why the devastating 'flu epidemic has been ignored by historians and forgotten by the majority of the people of South Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessJohn Bardwell Ebden : his business and political career at the Cape 1806-1849(1980) George, Marian; Le Cordeur, B AAlthough John Bardwell Ebden was actively involved in almost every branch of colonial life during the period 1806 - 1849, this is the first detailed study of his role in and contribution to the development of the Cape Colony during that long period. In addition to a wide range of secondary sources which gave a general indication of Ebden's activities, primary sources in the Cape Archives Depot, Cape Town, such as the archives of the Governor, Colonial Office,Legislative Council, Wine Taster, Notarial Deeds and papers of the Cape Town Commercial Exchange and Chamber of Commerce and of the Anti-Convict Association, supplied the necessary details which enabled a full-scale reconstruction to be made of his contributions in a variety of fields. All archival sources mentioned in this thesis are housed in the Cape Archives Depot except where otherwise indicated.
- ItemOpen AccessMerchants, commissioners and wardmasters : municipal politics in Cape Town, 1840-1854(1986) Warren, Digby; Le Cordeur, B AMerchants,Commissioners and Wardmasters: Municipal Politics in Cape Town, 1840-854 explores the social, political and economic changes and conflicts that helped to determine Cape Town's evolution in the mid nineteenth century. The focus lies on the dominant classes who were involved in municipal and colonial affairs. This study critically examines the thesis, first propounded by Tony Kirk, of class rivalry between Cape Town's 'aristocracy', the mercantile elite, and the rising commercial middle class which dominated the municipal executive. It also investigates the intra-institutional relations between the municipal commissioners (the executive) and wardmasters (members of the junior board of the municipality), and the role played by the municipality in Cape politics. In filling a gap that exists in the growing body of academic research on the history of Cape Town, this dissertation aims to make an original contribution to the field of South African urban history.
- ItemOpen AccessThe National Catholic Federation of Students : a study of political ideas and activities within a Christian student movement, 1960-1987(1990) Egan, Anthony; Le Cordeur, B AThis is a study of the National Catholic Federation of Students (NCFS), an organisation that sought to bring together Catholic students on South African university campuses, examining specifically NCFS' political ideas and activities from 1960 to 1987. The underlying supposition of this thesis is that church history ought to be an integral part of the discipline of history, and that there is a need to write church history from "below" from the perspectives of the "people's church", the church that comprises the religious experience of the majority of its members rather than its hierarchy.
- ItemOpen AccessThe political career of Richard Stuttaford, 1924-1942(1977) Cuthbertson, Gregor Craig; Le Cordeur, B A
- ItemOpen AccessWalter Stanford as an apprentice in politics, 1908-1910 : a study in the representation of the interests of the black peoples of the Cape Colony(1984) Stoch, Felicia Ann; Webb, C de B; Le Cordeur, B AThis dissertation is a study of Walter Stanford's work in the representation of the interests of the black peoples of the Cape Colony while he was a member of the Cape Legislative Assembly from 1908 to 1910. It is not shaped by any conscious ideology of the writer. The principal sources of primary information are the Sir W.E.M. Stanford Papers, volumes of correspondence and letterbooks relating to the establishment of the Inter-State Native College at Fort Hare, the volumes of the Cape Legislative Assembly debates for 1908 and 1909, the report of the Cape Legislative Assembly select committee appointed to investigate the state of African and Coloured education (1908), and the interim and final reports of the 1910 Cape Native Affairs Commission. I also use Stanford's printed magisterial reports contained in the Cape Native Affairs Blue-Books from 1877 to 1903. In addition, I cull material on Stanford from newspapers and periodicals. The most informative of these are The Tembuland News, The Territorial News and The Transkeian Gazette. I supplement material from these primary sources with information from a wide range of modern works on Cape and South African history and native affairs, and from a number of unpublished theses and seminar papers on these subjects. The dissertation begins with a chapter which describes Stanford's background and the context and content of his native affairs philosophy before his entry into politics in 1908. The second chapter outlines the circumstances of Stanford's decision to enter politics and his election to the Cape Legislative Assembly. The third chapter describes the major economic and political features of the context within which Stanford operated as a politician and the circumstances of the black peoples of the Cape Colony. The fourth, fifth and sixth chapters deal with Stanford's work in the spheres of black material development, black education, and on the Cape Native Affairs Commission of 1910 respectively. The seventh and eighth chapters discuss Stanford's work in the creation of a union of the southern African colonies. The final chapter summarises the events of Stanford's career after 1910 and evaluates Stanford's work in relation to the debate regarding the motives of Cape liberals. The first eight chapters of the dissertation are empirical in their approach; seeking only to describe Stanford's behaviour within the context of the circumstances in which he operated. Assessment of Stanford's behaviour in relation to models of Cape liberal thinking, constructed by scholars such as Phyllis Lewsen, Stanley Trapido, Colin Bundy and Martin Legassick is confined to the concluding chapter. I adopt this approach in order to allow Stanford's utterances and actions to speak for themselves before I assess whether or not he was a Cape liberal in the sense that the term has been used by scholars in this field of South African history. I conclude that revisionist paradigms of Cape liberal behaviour do not admit of the place that principle and humanity occupied in Stanford's philosophy and actions during the 1908 to 1910 period.