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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Recapturing captives and conversations with 'cannibals': in pursuit of a neglected stratum in South African history
Author:Delius, Peter
Year:2010
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies (ISSN 1465-3893)
Volume:36
Issue:1
Pages:7-23
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:prisoners of war
female slaves
children
cannibalism
history
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057071003607295
Abstract:South Africa's history is littered with references to captives taken in battle. In most instances these individuals were African women and children. The central argument of this article is that the role of captives in African society has been neglected despite there being sufficient evidence to explore the issue in some depth. This omission has limited the understanding of important dimensions of the historical experiences of women and children, and of vital power dynamics in decisive phases of social transformation. This perspective also allows for a re-analysis of the 'cannibal narratives', which have thus far proved to be a tantalizing yet intractable form of evidence. These narratives are included in some life histories collected by missionaries in the eastern Transvaal after their arrival in the 1860s, which have the potential to yield major insights. However, some of them have a built-in obstacle that researchers have struggled to overcome. This impediment is the missionary obsession with cannibalism. The article concludes by suggesting that the silences within oral traditions, Africanist sensibilities, structuralist approaches to slavery, and the particular form of the 'mfecane' debate have all contributed to the failure to engage with the topic of women and children captives effectively. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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