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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Of Mistresses and Concubines: Miscegenation and European 'Shame' in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1911-1950 |
Author: | Mgadla, P.T. |
Year: | 2004 |
Periodical: | South African Historical Journal |
Issue: | 51 |
Pages: | 47-66 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Botswana |
Subjects: | mixed marriage sexuality cohabitation colonialism History and Exploration Women's Issues Law, Human Rights and Violence Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Historical/Biographical Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights Cultural Roles |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582470409464829 |
Abstract: | Focusing on the period 1911-1950, this article argues that the inherently negative attitudes towards sexual relations across the colour line in southern Africa, and the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) in particular, contributed to concubinage and miscegenation. It also contends that the legislation designed to curb sex between the members of the sparse population of Europeans and Africans and prevent miscegenation failed due to the complex nature of the issue. Furthermore, children of miscegenation rarely had the support of European parentage, resulting in poverty, social degradation and stigma. Finally, the article argues that African leadership was not hugely in favour of legislation against concubinage and its results, as the practice was not entirely new to the Tswana. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |