A missionary life among the amaXhosa : the Eastern Cape journals of James Laing, 1830-1836
Master Thesis
2006
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
This thesis is a critical edition of a section of the journals of the Reverend James Laing of the Glasgow Missionary Society. The first scholarly study of the Laing journals, this thesis seeks to contribute towards a new understanding of the early days of transcultural interchange on the Eastern Cape frontier. The only previous published work on Laing is William Govan's hagiographical Memorials of the Missionary Career of the Rev. James Laing, Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland in Kaffi'aria published in Glasgow by David Bryce and Son in 1875. This thesis attempts to make Laing's text as accessible to today's readers as possible. To this end, the text is a faithful transcription of the original, augmented by a contextual introduction, detailed footnotes and a comprehensive index. James Laing was born on 6 September 1803 and was raised in the Scottish Lowlands. He read classics, philosophy, theology and a range of medical subjects at Edinburgh University where he enrolled in 1822. The Glasgow Missionary Society assigned Laing to Burnshill Mission on the Eastern Cape frontier. He sailed for the Cape on 11 October 1830. From that day, he kept a journal almost without break, until a week before his death. Laing's journals comprise four bound volumes and more than two thousand pages in toto. These are housed in the Cory Library for Historical Research, Rhodes University as part of the Lovedale Institution Collection. Laing's journal constitutes a major element in the small body of extant Glasgow Missionary Society records. It was decided to edit, for this thesis, the first portion of the journals only.
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Includes bibliographical references (leaves 491-507).
Includes index (leaves 508-546).
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Reference:
Shell, S. 2006. A missionary life among the amaXhosa : the Eastern Cape journals of James Laing, 1830-1836. University of Cape Town.