Browsing by Subject "historical studies"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Cape Town at war: the city, lived experiences and loyalties, 1914-1919
    (2020) Walton, Sarah-Jane; Bickford-Smith, John
    This thesis explores ways in which the First World War affected Cape Town. It addresses the absence of research on urban histories in South Africa and non-European urban histories of the war. It tells of the history in Cape Town and the history of Cape Town during the war. By drawing on a variety of primary sources – government and city records, organisational archives, print media - it demonstrates some of the infrastructural, economic and social consequences of the war on the city. The thesis is structured in three main parts. The first considers the city on the advent of the war and Capetonians' responses to its declaration. This related to the Anglo-Boer War and the 1910 formation of Union, and Cape Town's particular history of Anglicisation. It also explores how war changed the experience of daily life, imbuing the city with war-related sights, sounds and symbols. The second part of the thesis emphasises that the war was a period of considerable infrastructural and demographic change. The city's work-force, too was affected by the war, whilst a rise in living-expenses, and a wartime spread of socialist ideas, led to intensified strike action. This was notable for increased cross-racial co-operation, as well as the marked presence of semi- and unskilled workers organising en-mass for the first time. The third part of the thesis speaks to subjective depictions of Cape Town. It considers three main discourses about the city – ‘slum city,' ‘sin city' and ‘destination city' - indicating the co-existence of multiple and sometimes contrasting representations of wartime Cape Town. Lastly, the war was a period of heightened identifications with Britain, which cut across race, gender and class lines. Nevertheless wartime patriotism was inconsistently sustained, with certain events fuelling feelings of loyalty towards Empire and animosity towards those deemed as ‘disloyal.' Overall it is concluded that although the war has faded in Cape Town's popular memory, it was important to how many Capetonians identified themselves. Moreover it was a significant catalyst for change, informing debates and subsequent policies about health, segregation and the future of South African cities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Casting off the old Kaross: the Little Namaqualand missions, 1805-1848
    (2022) Rawson, Kathryn; Penn, Nigel
    This thesis is a history of the development of missionary activity in the Little Namaqualand region of southern Africa during the first half of the nineteenth century. Through a rich analysis of the archival documents of the various missionary societies who worked in the region, it attempts to fill in the wide gaps present in the historical narrative. Little Namaqualand, an area north of the Olifants River and south of the Orange River, during the nineteenth century was the epicentre of the north-western frontier zone of the Cape Colony. It had long been home to the Little Namaqua, a Khoikhoi group, who occupied the central and mountainous region of the Kamiesberg, the San, who moved between the Kamiesberg and Bushmanland to the east, and ‘baster' (mixed race) groups who migrated from the Cape in the eighteenth century. It has since been a relatively under-studied area despite it being the hub of missionary activity in the north-west in the nineteenth century. An environmentally harsh and politically turbulent region, home to a nomadic people, it presented a unique and trying set of circumstances for the incoming missionaries. The European missionaries of the London Missionary Society (LMS), Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMMS) and later the Rhenish Missionary Society (RMS) moved through the region in waves during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Their intended destination, however, was not Little Namaqualand, but Great Namaqualand across the Orange River. For the first fifteen years of the century the missionaries moved between Little and Great Namaqualand, unable to establish a permanent and successful settlement. They faced many difficulties – the colonial government's changing attitudes and legislation towards missionary activities in and outside of the colony's borders, the mounting financial strain of maintaining a mission station in such a barren, desolate and sweltering region and existing inter-group tensions between those amongst whom they ministered. From their first arrival in the region in 1805, the early German missionaries of the LMS relied on local and powerful mixed-race groups to facilitate their stay, both financially and logistically. These groups had long been desirous of a missionary in the region for both their spiritual and temporal benefits. On the north-western frontier, access to trading networks and firearms was pivotal to the survival of many groups who relied almost solely on hunting and ivory trading. Many missionaries, themselves struggling to survive under such trying environmental conditions, themselves resorted to hunting and trading to supplement their pitiful income. By 1811, after a devastating attack on their Great Namaqualand mission, the LMS retreated into Little Namaqualand where they paid more attention to establishing themselves on a more permanent basis. A fresh wave of young and enthusiastic German missionaries greatly aided this effort. The Wesleyans joined shortly after in 1816. Both missionary societies were still understaffed and, due to unique regional circumstances, relied heavily on Namaqua and baster translators and teachers. Many of these would become missionaries in their own right. The northerly stations of Little Namaqualand, Steinkopf and Pella, utilised these African evangelists to run the various outposts or satellite stations (necessitated by the people's nomadic habits). The same took place at the southern stations of Leliefontein and Komaggas. From Leliefontein, several Namaqua converts were sent out. Many of them ministered to Sotho-Tswana and Coranna groups in the east. These African evangelists, and the pivotal role they played in facilitating and sustaining the Little Namaqualand missions, form the core of this thesis. Their names have been excavated from the archival records and the often limited anecdotes of their lives have been brought to life. This thesis shows that the spread of Christianity in the region pre-dated the formal arrival of the European missionaries. After their arrival, it was through African mouths that the message of Christianity took on a new form and was more successfully prorogated through the region. The majority of those who heard the gospel message responded emotionally. Most negotiated with what they heard, rejecting some tenets of the message while accepting others. They thus embraced and created a wholly new rendition of Christianity, one which saw to their immediate needs and offered both a remedy and an explanation for their suffering.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Sport, space and segregation Pietermaritzburg, 1900-1980
    (2006) Merrett, Christopher; Saunders, Christopher
    Sport is located historically within its political, economic, cultural and social context in order to assess its role in human and spatial relations; and its meaning for various communities. This study aims to measure the impact of dominant ideology (imperialism, segregation and apartheid), the degree to which sport was used instrumentally by the authorities, and the extent to which it was seen as a site of struggle by the oppressed. The main sources for this thesis were archival and published material emanating from the municipality. Before apartheid matured and became more secretive, they were remarkably candid about official aims and objectives. A wide variety of secondary sources was consulted; and interviews conducted. The conclusion is that sport is an appropriate lens through which to view urban history and the relationships that shape it. Driven by a consistent ideological desire for White separateness, sport reflected social hegemony and assumptions about relative competence and ability. Instrumental use of sport by the local authority, apart from a skewed use of economic resources to unite whites and maintain their distance from other communities, was poorly regarded. This was because of the availability of other, coercive means of control and the dispensability of the individuals targeted. Black sportspersons were in effect squatters at impermanent facilities. Black recreation was a challenge to White ideas about the use of urban space. For Africans, the controlled area preferred by the authorities was the beerhall, not the sports field. Effective resistance organised around sport emerged only when the authorities needed Asian and Coloured cooperation to implement group areas and at this point sport became a notable site of struggle. Ultimately sports facilities, originally a symbol of White civilisation and authority, became a potent emblem of the spatial conflict that characterised apartheid. They also reflected the fact that South African urban geography had always been an evolving saga of insiders and outsiders. Sport provided the proponents of White dominance with a theatre for propaganda; while at the same time offering its protagonists a stage upon which to demonstrate their opposition. In this scenario hegemony was in a state of periodic flux. For a more descriptive abstract of this thesis, see the section 'Final overview' on pages 353-356.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    “To the black women we all know”: three women's contemporary mobilizations of history in relation to questions of status, belonging, and identity in Mpolweni Mission, KwaZulu-Natal
    (2023) Mahlaba, Ayanda Mlungisi Godgive; Hamilton, Carolyn; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has a long history of individuals and groups mobilizing the past to make claims in the present. A notable phenomenon that has captured the attention of scholars of contemporary KZN is how formations such as Ubumbano – that center around the paternal clan and its ancestry – have been invoking ‘pre-Zulu’ pasts to claim resources in the form of land, and even recognition of kingship status by the state. Individuals in former mission stations in turn have referenced the prominence of their families’ histories in the establishment of mission stations. Clearly, the past has potent usability for numerous actors in this province. Rarely have scholars focused on how different generations of Black women in this province, who have not aligned themselves with any formal structure such as Ubumbano, mobilize their families’ histories and for what reasons. Inspired in part to address this gap, this thesis explores the oral historical narrations of three women of three different generations from my maternal family, namely Gogo MaHlubi, Mamkhulu Ntombenhle, and Mam Phindile, who are based in Mpolweni Mission. These women are descendants of amakholwa and were socialized in a mission context albeit at different times. My analysis of these women’s narratives reveals that they mobilize the past to strategically position themselves to lay claims to status, belonging, and identity in Mpolweni Mission. This happens at a time of growing tensions between first-comer descendants (such as the three women) and newcomers, and their contending claims of belonging to Mpolweni. In the process of grappling with their narrations, we learn more about Mpolweni Mission and its complex history from the perspectives of these women. The result of 3 this is that the history of the area is rendered visible. The oral narratives of these women are not relayed ‘oral tradition’: they are fluid, imaginative and not patrilineal in nature. This is in stark contrast to the oral sources that are conventionally treated as ‘oral tradition’ and considered to be passed down from one generation to the other. Moreover, the fluidity of the women’s narratives also means that the narrators are aware of the kinds of work the content of their stories can do for them in different contexts. Individually and collectively, these narratives contribute in crafting what we might call a matri-archive. This matri-archive is constantly being made and remade by the women. The thesis shows how women of different generations are producers of history, and that historical production is not only the preserve of a certain generation of women or of men.