The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

South Africans to protest against the country’s racial policies at the United Nations. 68 In
addition to cataloguing Xuma’s achievements, Gish’s biography also wished to record the
formative influence of African American political thought on the evolution of a South
African political career. 69
At another level, Gish sought to document how Xuma’s achievements and struggles
reflected wider issues of political leadership, nationalism, ideology and community in
South Africa. He also wished to record what Xuma’s political career illuminated about
tensions in the development of African nationalism, and submerged conflicts between
African nationalists and white liberals. Indeed, Xuma’s life was utilised as a vehicle, which
“sheds light on white liberalism, Pan Africanism, and the world of the educated African
elite”. 70 Gish argued that, far from being politically conservative and elitist, the African
petty bourgeoisie, which Xuma represented, felt a keen sense of responsibility towards the
African masses, and attempted to voice the concerns of the African population as a
whole. 71
In Gish’s research, explanations for political history were sought through recourse to the
qualities of the individual initiative and personality. And individual personalities were
taken to operate within a ‘context’, which, in the case of Gish’s work, was a self‐evident
African nationalism and protest politics, whose course Xuma was seen as having
68 Steven D Gish, ‘Alfred B Xuma, 1893‐1962’, pp 6‐8.
69 In this regard, Gish’s work followed in the footsteps of a series of conventional political biographies
produced by American scholars during the 1970s, which sought to trace American influences on South
African political careers. See Richard D Ralston ‘American Episodes in the Making of an African
Leader: A Case Study of Alfred B Xuma (1893‐1962)’, International Journal of African Historical Studies,
vol 6, No 1, 1973 and R Hunt Davis, ‘John L Dube: A South African Exponent of Booker T
Washington’, Journal of African Studies, Vol 2, No 4 (Winter 1975/76). Here, in conventional fashion,
Hunt Davis tried to show the consistency of Dube’s approach through the years, arising out of the
conscious adoption of Washington’s strategy and tactics, and philosophy. See also Manning Marable,
‘African Nationalist: The Life of John Langalibalele Dube’, Ph.D dissertation, University of Maryland,
1976.
70 Steven D Gish, ‘Alfred B Xuma, 1893‐1962’, pp iv.
71 See Steven D Gish, ‘Dr Alfred B Xuma and the Black Petty Bourgeoisie in South Africa, 1928‐1940’,
Paper presented at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, 20‐23 November 1992. In
attempting to rescue the political careers of remarkable men from the historiographical effects of social
history in South Africa, Gish’s work downplayed issues of class and sought to challenge research that
stressed class differences between Africans.
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