The Bottom Line
An excellent and scholarly text which opens up the whole concept of the 'Mfecane' to reinterpretation and analysis.
Pros
- Varied viewpoints and analyses.
- Overwhelming wealth of information.
Cons
- No input from Julian Cobbing (his decision).
- No input from Black South African historians.
Description
- Paperback: 493 pages.
- Publisher: Witwatersrand University Press, ©1995
- ISBN: 1-86814-252-3.
Guide Review - 'The Mfecane Aftermath' by Carolyn Hamilton (Editor)
In 1983 Julian Cobbing proposed the contentious idea that the traditional view of the 'Mfecane' was false, that the Zulu explosion under Shaka was a 'settler myth', and the real reason for population depredation in Zululand was slave trading centred around the Cape and Delagoa Bay. This book is the product of a colloquium held in 1991 at the University of the Witwatersrand, which addressed this idea as well as investigating the very nature of historical study and the bias of primary sources. Not only is the impact of slavery on the northern Nguni-speaking population assessed, but the expanded influences of population migrations across southern Africa are considered, plus a reinterpretation of the traditional view of the 'Mfecane'.
