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

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than he hitherto believed’, 89 and to make other modifications in the light of new research, but he and many others maintain that there was nonetheless an mfecane and that it was essentially about positive, African-initiated, state- building based on African institutions. 90 The debate led to an increased interest by scholars of, and research in, early nineteenth century history, with its zenith being the “'Mfecane' Aftermath" conference at Wits in 1991. Although the conference adopted a motion that the mfecane was dead and should be buried, the selection of conference papers, eventually published by Hamilton, contained many pro- and only a few anti-mfecane papers. 91 Missing in particular was Cobbing’s contribution, which he withdrew as he felt the changes demanded by the editor would have distorted his arguments. 92 Morton described it as a ‘rather jumbled volume, reflecting an array of outlooks and methodologies’. 93 He then concluded that ‘various contributors in this volume examine aspects of Cobbing’s arguments in great detail. Generally, they refute his positions, but at the end of it all a lot of what he has to say stands up’. 94 It is Wylie’s opinion that ‘the prickly defensiveness with which Cobbing’s thesis has been greeted 89 Morton, ‘Agonising', 111. 90 Ibid., 111. 91 Hamilton, Mfecane Aftermath. 92 For the strong pro-mfecane contributions see: Hamilton, Saunders, Eldredge, Peires, Omer- Cooper, Hartley, Kinsman. For the strong anti-mfecane contributions see: Wright, Wylie, Webster, Gewald. Regarding Cobbing’s non-contribution, personal communication from Cobbing, 1992. 93 Morton, ‘Agonising', 100. 94 Ibid., 105. See also D. Van Heerden, ‘First There is History’. C.C. Saunders, ‘Conference Report: Mfecane Afterthoughts’, Social Dynamics, 17 (1991), 171-177. Etherington, ‘Aftermath of Aftermath’. ‘Mfecane Never Existed?’. G. Dominy, ‘Myths, Manipulation and Nettles: Historians and the Shaping of the Mfecane Controversy: A Critical Introduction’, in Edgecombe et al., Debate on Zulu Origins. 'Too Black and White for Fiction', The Guardian Weekly, 19 - 25 June, 1992, 24. Kros, ‘Zulu-Centric Difeqane', 56-58. J.D. Omer-Cooper, ‘Has the Mfecane a Future? A Response to the Cobbing Critique’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 19 (June 1993), 273-94. J.B. Peires, ‘Paradigm Deleted: The Materialist Interpretation of the Mfecane’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 19 (June 1993), 295-313. H.J. Van Aswegen, ‘Die Mfecane: Werklikheid of Mite?’, Historia, 39 (Mei 1994), 19-32. K. Breckenridge, ‘On the Mfecane Aftermath’, Alternation, 4 (1997), 247-49. 27
illustrates, in part, the weddedness of historians to certain narrative modes and methodological dispositions, that is to their literary antecedents’. 95 Subsequent to that conference, four significant publications appeared. Eldredge and Morton’s edited volume, based on Cobbing’s 1988 article, dealt with the enslavement of indigenous peoples in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century South African history. In a chapter on the Transgariep Eldredge reversed her earlier stance, based on evidence presented by Cobbing and above all myself, and accepts now that slave raiding by mounted and armed Griqua, Bastaard and Kora raiders was sufficiently formidable and extensive to have been the cause of much of the dislocation reported in the greater Caledon Valley area, the Free State and the Transvaal. 96 Hamilton’s Terrific Majesty, published in 1998, was a ‘historical-political’ 97 work, which explores Zulu identity through her study of the construction over time of the image of Shaka. Her main innovation is her view of oral traditions. Wylie, who published his Ph.D. thesis as Savage Delight in 2000, presented a post-modern, literary analysis of the treatment of Shaka at the hands of white writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. 98 He brings out clearly that the production of the modern image of Shaka is tied to both the literary devices employed in the texts, and also how inconsistent and problematic these texts are. Wylie made it clear that, in order to research mfecane history, texts have to be subjected to methodical examinations just as oral history is. Etherington’s The Great Treks of 2001 99 takes a fresh look at both the mfecane and the Great Trek. He considers what has hitherto been regarded as separate historical “events” as one southern African history. He incorporates many aspects of the anti-mfecane critique but his innovations are connected with a longer chronology which extends from 1815 to 1854. He postulates that large states existed in southern Africa at various times before the early nineteenth century, that their structures were 95 Wylie , Savage Delight, 214. 96 F. Morton, 'Slavery and South African Historiography', in Eldredge et al., Slavery in South Africa, 4-5. Cobbing, ‘Mfecane as Alibi'. For Richner see Footnote no. 14. 97 Wylie , Savage Delight, 8. 98 Ibid. 99 Etherington, Great Treks. 28
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
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: While Cobbing and the historians in
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
Page 67 and 68: ecently abandoned mission station a
Page 69 and 70: travelled to Britain where he becam
Page 71 and 72: Make them [Zulu] out as blood thirs
Page 73 and 74: hand, to gather geographical, biolo
Page 75 and 76: despondency bordering on despair, o
Page 77 and 78: state at their various locations on
Page 79 and 80: cruel monster’ 127 along with oth
Page 81 and 82: Map 4 - mfecane in the 1839 to 1876
Page 83 and 84: depopulating all areas within their
Page 85 and 86: The writing of African history in t
Page 87 and 88: 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
Page 253 and 254:
Kennedy, R.F. 'Historical Accuracy'
Page 255 and 256:
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
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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
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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
Page 281 and 282:
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
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
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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
Page 331:
Wright, J. 'Political Transformatio
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