THE STATE OF THE FIELD OF PRECOLONIAL SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY - The Cambridge History of South Africa, Volume 1: From Early Times to 1885. Edited by Carolyn Hamilton, Bernard Mbenga and Robert Ross. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. xviii+467. $120, hardback (ISBN 978-0-521-51794-2).

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-251
Author(s):  
DANIEL R. MAGAZINER
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New York ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
African History ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Of The Field

scholarly journals GLOBAL SCIENCE, NATIONAL HORIZONS: SOUTH AFRICA IN DEEP TIME AND SPACE

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1079-1106
Author(s):  
SAUL DUBOW
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Global Science ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Antarctic Research

AbstractIn his inaugural lecture, Saul Dubow, Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History at Cambridge University, discusses the modern history of science in South Africa in terms of ‘deep time’ and space, drawing links between developments in astronomy, palaeontology, and Antarctic research. He argues that Jan Smuts's synthetic discussion of South African science in 1925, followed by J. H. Hofmeyr's discussion of the ‘South Africanization’ of science in 1929, has parallels in post-apartheid conceptions of scientific-led nation-building, for example in Thabo Mbeki's elaboration of the ‘African Renaissance’. Yet, whereas the vision of science elaborated by Smuts was geared exclusively to white unity, Mbeki's Africanist vision of South African science was ostensibly more inclusive. The lecture concludes by considering South Africa as one of several middle order countries which have used national science and scientific patriotism to address experiences of colonialism and relations of inequality and to assert their influence in regional contexts.

THE GREAT DEBATE AND THE ORIGINS OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

1997 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW BANK
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
African History ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Great Debate ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Late Nineteenth

The fundamental preoccupation with race in later historical writing in South Africa has its origins in the Great Debate between liberals and their enemies in the early nineteenth century. Standard overviews of South African historiography date the emergence of racially structured histories to the second half of the nineteenth century. For Saunders, the making of the South African past and its thematic ordering in terms of race only began in the 1870s ‘when the first major historian [G. M. Theal] began to write his history’. Prior to Theal's monumental efforts, ‘only a few amateur historians had turned their hands to the writing of the history of particular areas or topics’. Likewise, in Smith's analysis, also published in 1988, the construction of South African history in terms of race is seen almost exclusively as the product of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In a very brief introductory section, Smith suggests that what little historical writing there was before the middle of the nineteenth century is scarcely to be taken seriously, and his study offers no more than a bare outline of historiographical developments before Theal and his heirs.

South Africa's Brittle Peace: The Problem of Post-Settlement Violence. By Pierre du Toit. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 222p. $65.00. Then I Was Black: South African Political Identities in Transition. By Courtney Jung. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 320p. $35.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 656-657
Author(s):  
Allison Drew
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence

These two books deal with the legacy of apartheid for South Africa's democracy, approaching the problems posed by this legacy from differing perspectives about the role of the state. Pierre du Toit, in a thoughtful and well-researched book, addresses the problem of violence in post-apartheid South Africa. Peace in a society with a history of violence needs to be nurtured, he contends, and the state must play a central role.

scholarly journals The SACC since 1994: Ecumenism in Democratic South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Michael Womack ◽  
Jerry Pillay
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The State ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Council ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Three Stages

Prior to 1994, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) was a major role-player both globally and within South Africa, fulfilling a vital role in the struggle for justice in South Africa. Yet, since 1994 the SACC has all but disappeared from both the global as well as the popular South African ecumenical scene. The history of the SACC since 1994 is relatively unknown and sparsely documented. This article attempts to fill in some of that missing detail and to explore what has happened to the SACC since 1994. Working predominantly from news articles and documents from the SACC, the authors have endeavoured to piece together the state of the SACC since 1994. This article shows how the SACC emerged from the brink of closure and has once more started to function as a prophetic voice in South Africa. This movement from almost extinction to a rejuvenated function has been designated into three stages, namely survival, discernment and regeneration. However, the challenges are not over and this article concludes by highlighting two main challenges that the SACC is currently facing.

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