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

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Though some articles had already appeared during the 1979 to 1983 period, 82 Cobbing’s Journal of African History article, ‘The Mfecane as Alibi’ in 1988, was ‘the most original, most hard-hitting, most controversial, most revisionist, and most challenging work of southern African history’, according to Morton. 83 Cobbing questioned the validity of the term mfecane itself, as well as the whole integrated, Zulu-centric narrative. ‘What he [Cobbing] said was that the whole “Mfecane” story was a sham which had been used to cover up slave raiding and white aggression in the 1820’s – the actual cause behind the violence of the time’. 84 This contention shattered the hitherto paradigmatic certainty of the mfecane. Very soon a fierce debate raged, with historians aligning themselves in anti- and pro- mfecane “camps”, while others sat on the proverbial fence. 85 82 See Footnote no. 7. Saunders thought that Jaffe first introduced the alternative idea that the mfecane was a legend and that it served as a cover-up of the colonial encroachment of African land by the Portuguese from the north and by the British from the south. Mnguni (Jaffe, H.) Three Hundred Years: A History of South Africa, 3 Vols. (Cape Town, 1952), II, 90-91. Saunders, ‘Pre-Cobbing Mfecane', 32. 83 B. Morton, ‘Agonising Over the Mfecane’, Journal of Natal and Zulu History, 17 (1997), 99. Cobbing, ‘Mfecane as Alibi'. 84 Morton, ‘Agonising', 104. 85 Wright, ‘Political Mythology'. J. Wright and C. Hamilton, 'Traditions and Transformations: The Phongolo-Mzimkhulu Region in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries', in A.H. Duminy and B. Guest (eds), Natal and Zululand from Earliest Times to 1910: A New History (Pietermaritzburg, 1989). J. Wright, ‘A.T. Bryant and the Wars of Shaka’, Paper - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, October 1990, 1-17. Carlean, ‘Myths of the Mfecane'. A.C. Webster, 'An Examination of the Fingo Emancipation of 1835', Seminar Paper - University of Cape Town, April 1990. C. Hamilton, 'An Appetite for the Past: The Re-Creation of Shaka and the Crisis of Popular Consciousness’, South African Historical Journal, 22 (November 1990). D. Van Heerden, ‘First There is History - Then Came the Facts’, The Sunday Times, 8 July 1990. N. Etherington, 'The Great Trek in Relation to the Mfecane: A Re-Assessment', South African Historical Journal, 25 (1991). ‘Mfecane Never Existed?’, Weekend Gazette, Harare, 1991. Wylie, ‘Autobiography as Alibi'. Wylie, ‘Who's Afraid of Shaka'. Webster, ‘Land Expropriation'. N. Etherington, ‘The Aftermath of the Aftermath’, South African Historical Journal, 25 (1991), 154- 176. Kros, C. ‘Slaying the Zulu-Centric Difeqane Monster', Matlahasedi, 2 (July 1992). W.R.L. Gebhard, 'The Mfecane and the Great Trek: Conflicting Interpretations and Their Ideological Significance', in E. Lehmann and E. Reckwitz (eds), Mfecane to Boer War: Versions of South African History (Essen, 1992). E.A. Eldredge, 'Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa, ca 1800- 30, the Mfecane Reconsidered', Journal of African History, 33 (1992). C. Hamilton, 'The 25
While Cobbing and the historians in the anti-mfecane camp, such as Wright, Webster and Etherington, did not agree on all issues, they did agree on two fundamental changes from the previous orthodoxy. 86 Firstly, Etherington wrote, ‘Cobbing’s critique made it impossible to sustain the idea of the mfecane as a “Zulu aftermath”’ as he ‘mercilessly exposed the flaws in logic and evidence used by historians to blame (or credit) the rise of the Zulu kingdom for setting off a “chain reaction” of violence’. 87 Secondly, they rejected the existing mfecane narrative, which encapsulated the idea that the Zulu were at the centre of a sub- continent wide chain of violent wars, dislocations, migrations, depopulation and cannibalism which lasted for about thirteen years. In its place they posited a history which integrated the actions of African and colonial peoples in the sub- continent during the period from the 1770’s to the 1850’s. 88 While Cobbing and most of his students maintained that the slave trade, centred on Delagoa Bay, was the major cause for the wars, migrations and formation of larger, defensive states in Natal and Zululand and also the cause for chiefdoms leaving Zululand and Natal for the highveld, most others were rather wary of this conclusion, citing lack of evidence for the exporting of large numbers of slaves before about 1825. Those of the pro-mfecane camp likewise used this same argument to reject not only one aspect of his alternative explanations, but Cobbing’s critique as a whole. The pro-mfecane camp too contains different opinions. For example, Morton noted that Omer-Cooper ‘is willing to accept Wright and Cobbing’s point that the Zulu were less involved in the creation of the Mfecane’ Character and Objects of Chaka: A Reconstruction of the Making of Shaka as a Mfecane Motor’, Journal of African History, 33 (1992). Wylie, ‘Textual Incest'. A.C. Webster, 'Demystifying Shaka: Making a Man of the Monster', Daily Dispatch, 1993. The contributions to Hamilton, Mfecane Aftermath. Wylie, ‘Proprietor of Natal'. Hamilton, Terrific Majesty. N. Etherington, ‘Zulu Kings’, 228-235. E.A. Eldredge and F. Morton (eds), Slavery in South Africa: Captive Labour on the Dutch Frontier (Pietermaritzburg, 1999). Wylie, Savage Delight. Etherington, Great Treks. 86 Wright, ‘Zulu Explosion'. A.C. Webster, 'Unmasking the Fingo: The War of 1835 Revisited', in Hamilton, Mfecane Aftermath. N. Etherington, 'Putting the Mfecane Controversy into Historiographical Context', in Hamilton, Mfecane Aftermath. N. Etherington, ‘Old Wine in New Bottles: The Persistence of Narrative Structures in the Historiography fo the Mfecane and the Great Trek', in Hamilton, Mfecane Aftermath. 87 Etherington, Great Treks, 338. 88 Kros, ‘Zulu-Centric Difeqane'. 26
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 and 16: century was caused by the “mfecan
Page 17 and 18: produce a tradition, or what Michel
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
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Page 31 and 32: history’. 63 Consequently, libera
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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
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Page 49 and 50: However, this contradiction was not
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Page 55 and 56: Map 3 - Thompson’s Map, 1827 This
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Page 61 and 62: also applied to refugees from north
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Page 81 and 82: Map 4 - mfecane in the 1839 to 1876
Page 83 and 84: depopulating all areas within their
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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
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Ellenberger, D.F. 'History of the B
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Hamilton, C. 'An Appetite for the P
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Hyam, R. 'African Interests and the
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Kennedy, R.F. 'Historical Accuracy'
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Lewis, L. ‘Book Review of: An Acc
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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
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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
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Beloff, M. Britain's liberal empire
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Bourne, H.R.F. Blacks and Whites in
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Bryant, A.T. Olden Times in Zululan
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Carlyle, J.E. South Africa and its
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Churchill, W.S. The River War ([ori
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Cory, G.E. The Rise of South Africa
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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
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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
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Thompson, G. Travels and Adventures
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Vail, L. ‘Ethnicity in Southern A
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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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