The Griqua Past and the Limits of South African History, 1902-1994

The Griqua people are commonly misunderstood. Today, they do not figure in the South African imagination as other peoples do, nor have they for over a century. This book argues that their comparative invisibility is a result of their place in the national narrative. In this revisionist analysis of South African historiography, the author analyses over a century's worth of historical studies and identifies a number of narrative frameworks that have proven resilient to change over this time. The Griqua, in particular, have fared poorly compared to other peoples. They appear in, and disappear from, this body of work in a number of consistent ways, almost as though scholars have avoided re-imagining their history in ways relevant to the present. This book questions why that might be the case.

Auteur

Edward Cavanagh has studied various aspects of the history of settler colonialism in Australia, Canada and South Africa. He is the co-founder of the journal settler colonial studies and he has published work in several other journals. His postgraduate career has brought him to Johannesburg, where he currently shares the NRF Chair in Local Histories, Present Realities with a number of students and post-doctoral researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Résumé
«The author has presented a nuanced and well-written analysis of the changing image of the Griqua in South African historiography against the background of the many shifts and turns in the country's eventful history. [...] The value of this book lies [...] in its succinct and focused analysis of a complex field of study, which should also provide important insights for international scholars who work in a comparative or transnational context on colonial history and academic discourses on race.» (Tilman Dedering, Postcolonial Studies 16, 2013/3)

Contenu

Contents: Outline of Griqua History, and introduction to South African historiography Historical writing placed in context, 1902-1961 1961 as turning point Eric M. S. Le Fleur; the writing of a Griqua Historian Historical writing placed in context, 1961-1994 Comparing and contextualising the Griqua The Griqua in History after 1994: A Bibliographical Note.