The Historiographical Development of the Concept “mfecane” and ...

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mfecane themes in my B.A. Honours year and in this Masters thesis. 14 While I agree with Cobbing’s view that the mfecane is not tenable as a historical explanation, I regard his alternative explanations more as a vitalising research agenda for studies into the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries rather than as a fully-fledged, all-encompassing new orthodoxy. This thesis is thus firmly positioned in the anti-mfecane camp, with the term being used with a small “m” in order to demonstrate the view that it should be regarded as a myth and not accorded legitimacy as a historical concept. The question that is posed in this thesis is, what was the process which created the Zulu-centric, geographically-integrated mfecane narrative which Walker was able to name “Mfecane” in 1928? Methodology The methodology employed is best described as eclectic, pragmatic, non- ideological and similar to that taken by Tisani in her Ph.D. thesis, where she writes, ‘this work is open to influences from a number of paradigms. The analysis of texts in this study has been influenced by postmodernist thinking which has raised questions about discourses and how they exist within power relations’. 15 A number of ideas and approaches have been borrowed from post- modernism. First, there is the concept of the dominant discourse, which is a useful device to describe how mfecane orthodoxy developed. The contradictory sub-discourse likewise is useful in describing the published ideas which contradicted the dominant discourse, but were never able to threaten it. The reason for the latter is that ‘such texts can create not only knowledge but also the very reality they appear to describe. In time such knowledge and reality 14 J.E. Richner, 'The Withering Away of the Lifaqane: Or a Change of Paradigm', B.A. Hons. essay, Rhodes University, 1988. J.E. Richner, 'Eastern Frontier Slaving and its Extension Into the Transorangia and Natal, 1770-1843', Paper - University of the Witwatersrand, September 1991. J.E. Richner, 'The Sub-Continent Wide Expansion of Cape Frontier Slavery: The Enslaving of Indigenous People from the Eastern Cape to the Transorangia and Natal, 1770- 1843', Paper – Rhodes University, 1992. J. Richner, ’Looking Through a Dark Glass - The European “Image of Africa”‘, Paper - Rhodes University, 1992. 15 N. C. Tisani, 'Continuity and Change in Xhosa Historiography in the Nineteenth Century: An Exploration Through Textual Analysis', Ph.D. thesis, Rhodes University, 2000, vi. 5
produce a tradition, or what Michel Foucault calls a discourse, whose material presence or weight … is really responsible for the texts produced out of it’, as Said put it. 16 Secondly, there is the idea that all written pieces are primarily texts. Examination not only of the content, but also the author in his societal and intellectual situation is important for a full understanding of the text, or as Said maintained, ‘…it is true that no production of knowledge in the human sciences can ever ignore or disclaim its author’s involvement as a human subject in his own circumstances’. 17 Thirdly, the idea of “Othering”, whereby Europeans regarded their own society or a specific segment of it - such as the English Gentleman - as the absolute standard for values, attitude and behaviour, and thus conversely regarded African society as the negative opposite, has some value as long as it is not dogmatically applied to the texts. 18 Lastly, while the issues of language and the literary context of the works are of importance, only the most relevant linguistic and literary approaches to texts are used in this thesis. However, mfecane historiography could benefit from a thorough literary analysis as has already been done by Wylie on Shaka. 19 The above postmodernist tools are used without full acceptance of this somewhat flawed philosophy. This historiographical study aims in the first place to extract 16 E.W. Said, Orientalism (London, 1978), 94. 17 Ibid., 284. 18 V.Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge (London, 1988). V.Y. Mudimbe, The Idea of Africa (London, 1994), I am thankful to Tisani’s Ph.D. for these two references. Tisani, ‘Xhosa Historiography’, vi-vii. Said, Orientalism. M. Van Wyk Smith, ‘The Metadiscourses of Post-Colonialism', in History and Anthropology, 9 (1996), 267-91. 19 D. Wylie, Savage Delight: White Myths of Shaka (Pietermaritzburg, 2000). D. Wylie, ‘A.T. Bryant's "Inexplicable Swarms": Style in the Portrayal of Shaka', Paper – Rhodes University, July 1995, 1-23. D. Wylie, 'Autobiography as Alibi: History and Projection in Nathaniel Isaacs’, Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa, 1836', Current Writing, 3 (October 1991), 71-90. D. Wylie, 'Language and Assassination: Cultural Negations in White Writers' Portrayal of Shaka and the Zulu', in C. Hamilton (ed), The Mfecane Aftermath (Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg, 1995). D. Wylie, 'Proprietor of Natal: Henry Francis Fynn and the Mythology of Shaka', History in Africa, 22 (1995), 409-37. D. Wylie, 'Textual Incest: Nathaniel Isaacs and the Development of the Shaka Myth', History in Africa, 19 (1992), 411-33. D. Wylie, 'Utilizing Isaacs: One Thread in the Development of the Shaka Myth', Paper - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1989. D. Wylie, 'Who's Afraid of Shaka Zulu?', Southern African Review of Books (May/June 1991), 8-9. 6
Page 1 and 2: The Historiographical Development o
Page 3 and 4: General Histories 172 Chapter 6: Co
Page 5 and 6: his expulsion of several chiefdoms;
Page 7 and 8: The Graphics Services Unit, S. Abra
Page 9 and 10: The Library of the Rand Afrikaans U
Page 11 and 12: List of Maps Map 1 - Geographical R
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 1 Introduction Then you wil
Page 15: century was caused by the “mfecan
Page 19 and 20: which were to dominate Western thou
Page 21 and 22: was the "baggage" in the European w
Page 23 and 24: leader runs the risk of writing wit
Page 25 and 26: waged by nomadic tribes accompanied
Page 27 and 28: exaggerate in their talk, and we fe
Page 29 and 30: incorporated the remaining people i
Page 31 and 32: history’. 63 Consequently, libera
Page 33 and 34: Bantu settled in various blocks in
Page 35 and 36: ‘From the 1970s it was the radica
Page 37 and 38: While Cobbing and the historians in
Page 39 and 40: illustrates, in part, the weddednes
Page 41 and 42: Map 2 - mfecane in the 1823 to 1838
Page 43 and 44: during this period, as it took the
Page 45 and 46: concepts of a theoretical equality
Page 47 and 48: tortuous, but information regarding
Page 49 and 50: However, this contradiction was not
Page 51 and 52: were murky and secretive, but were
Page 53 and 54: first assault out onto the highveld
Page 55 and 56: Map 3 - Thompson’s Map, 1827 This
Page 57 and 58: major implications for the later de
Page 59 and 60: Association”, for the British ann
Page 61 and 62: also applied to refugees from north
Page 63 and 64: Godlonton had come to the eastern C
Page 65 and 66: and the gallant settlers from their
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ecently abandoned mission station a
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travelled to Britain where he becam
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Make them [Zulu] out as blood thirs
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hand, to gather geographical, biolo
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despondency bordering on despair, o
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state at their various locations on
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cruel monster’ 127 along with oth
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Map 4 - mfecane in the 1839 to 1876
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depopulating all areas within their
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The writing of African history in t
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Map 5 - Harris’s Map, 1839 Harris
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Arbousset began the convention of g
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prove to their pro-mission readers,
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were the depopulators of the highve
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people became cannibals, first by n
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exercise, and the commission’s re
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him to reorganise the Mthethwa mili
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eastern Free State. There they were
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these authors followed their consci
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The second author, Shaw, had introd
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D’Urban’s, Godlonton’s and Ay
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of eight chiefdoms which, fleeing f
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Zulu” and the Natal African chief
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which there was a preponderance of
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state. Authors who focused only on
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Map 6 - mfecane in the 1877 to 1904
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The concept ”imperial”, as in t
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Cape Colony back to Britain in 1884
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supposed mythological roots of race
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Late Victorian Authors Numerous boo
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treatment of the Fynn papers, a sel
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Aboriginal?, 33 had already betraye
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Articles on African history publish
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European editors. Thus, these texts
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State. 53 The aim of this article w
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Europeans as well as Dutch and Engl
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Babrow’s acknowledgment of Theal
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defeat and desperate escape from Zu
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approach to history in general and
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his use of some archival documents,
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initial shock of this assault fled
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etween fiction and fact. 98 An exam
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mfecane narrative. He regarded Shak
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The most important changes in the h
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Chapter 5 The South African Period:
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economically stable until the onset
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latest British methodology of a-his
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Natal and Zululand During this peri
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Both were imbued with Theal’s rac
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of Moshoeshoe and served to uphold
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fortress attracting many chiefdoms.
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[Moshoeshoe] consisted of the intro
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Macgregor was more the editor than
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doubtful whether at any time in the
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English Methodist minister who, whi
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the material differently or have em
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the War Office put it, by the boers
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Winter, he joined the Pioneer Colum
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impinged on the history of the Cape
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Walker’s contribution to the mfec
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Afrikaner history. The few European
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Ellenberger resuscitated Arbousset
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Chapter 6 Conclusion If the white m
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Hodgson, Broadbent, Thompson, Shaw,
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than Shaka. The only surprising exc
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year after slavery was finally abol
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from Natal directly, like the Qwabe
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and were also present at the battle
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Godlonton and Arbousset. 42 These w
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including their livestock and somet
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century under review there were wri
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Shepstone’s four-wave theory, 66
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discourse, which was never able to
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Interior - 1829: Shepstone to Col.
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A378 (D) G.E. Cory, A Short History
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1.6 Killie Campbell Library, Durban
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Frost, P.J. A Bibliography of Missi
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Seligman, R.A. and Johnson, A. (eds
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3.3 Orange Freestate (Republic) ‘
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Précis of Information Concerning S
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Bank, A. 'The Great Debate and the
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Eldredge, E.A. ‘Sources of Confli
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Maloka, E.T. 'Missionary Historiogr
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Stapleton, T.J. 'Oral Evidence in a
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Wylie, D. 'A.T. Bryant's Inexplicab
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'Instructions Addressed to the Dire
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'The Orange Freestate Forty Years A
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Atmore, A. and Marks, S. 'The Imper
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Brill, J. 'Een Gedenkskrift over de
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Cobbing, J. 'A Tainted Well: The Ob
Page 247 and 248:
Ellenberger, D.F. 'History of the B
Page 249 and 250:
Hamilton, C. 'An Appetite for the P
Page 251 and 252:
Hyam, R. 'African Interests and the
Page 253 and 254:
Kennedy, R.F. 'Historical Accuracy'
Page 255 and 256:
Lewis, L. ‘Book Review of: An Acc
Page 257 and 258:
Milne, J. 'Major Warden: Early Life
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Okoye, F.N.C. 'Tschaka and the Brit
Page 261 and 262:
Reyburn, H.A. 'Piet Retief to Dunca
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Scully, W.C. 'Fragments of Native H
Page 265 and 266:
Thompson, J.N. 'William Rowland Tho
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Vivian, 'Expedition Into Central Af
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Wylie, D. 'Proprietor of Natal: Hen
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Evangelical Missionary Society, on
Page 273 and 274:
Beloff, M. Britain's liberal empire
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Bourne, H.R.F. Blacks and Whites in
Page 277 and 278:
Bryant, A.T. Olden Times in Zululan
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Carlyle, J.E. South Africa and its
Page 281 and 282:
Churchill, W.S. The River War ([ori
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Cory, G.E. The Rise of South Africa
Page 285 and 286:
Dieterlen, H. Adolphe Mabille [1836
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Eldredge, E.A. 'Sources of Conflict
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Fraser, A. Boadicea's Chariot: The
Page 291 and 292:
Gledhill, E. and J. In the Steps of
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Haggard, H.R. Cetshwayo and His Whi
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Henige, D.P. Oral Historiography (L
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Ireland, W. Historical Sketch of th
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Kiernan, V.G. The Lords of Human Ki
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Lehmann, E. and Reckwitz, E. 'The D
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Lucas, L. 'Historical Geography of
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Malan, J.H. Die Opkomst van 'n Repu
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Moffat, R. A Life's Labours in Sout
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Murray, H., Prof. Jameson and Wilso
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Orpen, J.M. Some Principles of Nati
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Plaatje, S.T. Mhudi: An Epic of Sou
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Reynolds, E. Stand the Storm: A His
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Saunders, C.C. The Making of the So
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Smith, K.W. From Frontier to Midlan
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Tatlow, A.H. Natal Province: Descri
Page 323 and 324:
Thompson, G. Travels and Adventures
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Vail, L. ‘Ethnicity in Southern A
Page 327 and 328:
Visagie, J.C. Die Trek uit Oos-Riet
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Webb, C. de B. The Mfecane, Centre
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Wright, J. 'Political Transformatio
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