Slave emancipation and racial attitudes in nineteenth-century South Africa / R.L. Watson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watson, R. L. (Richard Lyness), 1945- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--South Africa--Cape of Good Hope--History.

Slavery.

Enslaved persons--Emancipation--South Africa--Cape of Good Hope--History.

Enslaved persons.

Race discrimination--South Africa--Cape of Good Hope--History.

Race discrimination.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 318 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Slave Emancipation & Racial Attitudes in Nineteenth-Century South Africa

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book examines the social transformation wrought by the abolition of slavery in 1834 in South Africa's Cape Colony. It pays particular attention to the effects of socioeconomic and cultural changes in the way both freed slaves and dominant whites adjusted to the new world. It compares South Africa's relatively peaceful transition from a slave to a non-slave society to the bloody experience of the US South after abolition, analyzing rape hysteria in both places as well as the significance of changing concepts of honor in the Cape. Finally, the book examines the early development of South Africa's particular brand of racism, arguing that abolition, not slavery itself, was a causative factor; although racist attitudes were largely absent while slavery persisted, they grew incrementally but steadily after abolition, driven primarily by whites' need for secure, exploitable labor.

Contents:

Part I. The Foundations of Racial Order: 1. The passing of the slave system; 2. Labor and the economy

Part II. Cultural and Political Factors: 3. Missions; 4. Respectability; 5. The frontier; 6. The trek; 7. Plagues

Part III. Rape, Race and Violence: 8. Violence; 9. Rape and other crimes; 10. Honor

Part IV. A Racial Order: 11. Sediment at the bottom of the mind; 12. An aristocracy of skin

Appendix: The newspapers.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-23164-7

1-139-23466-8

1-280-48577-9

1-139-23320-3

9786613580757

1-139-23099-9

1-139-22953-2

1-139-13514-7

1-139-23243-6

1-139-23398-X

OCLC:

780425854