Hidden histories of Gordonia : land dispossesion and resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990 / Martin Legassick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Legassick, Martin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Government, Resistance to--South Africa.

Government, Resistance to.

South Africa--Politics and government--19th century.

South Africa.

South Africa--Politics and government--20th century.

Keimoes (South Africa)--History.

Keimoes (South Africa).

Northern Cape (South Africa)--History.

Northern Cape (South Africa).

Orange River--History.

Orange River.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxvi, 409 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg : Wits University Press, 2016.

Summary:

The Gordonia region of the Northern Cape province has received relatively little attention from historians. In Hidden Histories of Gordonia: Land dispossession and resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990, Martin Legassick explores aspects of the generally unknown 'brown' and 'black' history of the region. Emphasising the lives of ordinary people, his writing is also in part an exercise in 'applied history' - historical writing with a direct application to people's lives in the present. Tracing the indigenous history of Gordonia as well as the northward movement of Basters and whites from the western Cape through Bushmanland to the Orange River, the book presents accounts of family histories, episodes of indigenous resistance to colonisation, and studies of the ultimate imposition of racial segregation and land dispossession on the inhabitants of the region. A recurrent theme is the question of identity and how the extreme ethnic fluidity and social mixing apparent in earlier times crystallised in the colonial period into racial identities, until with final conquest came imposed racial classification.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Acronyms and abbreviations

Illustrations

Preface

Chapter 1: The prehistory of Gordonia

Oorlams, Basters and whites

The Oorlam and Griqua revolutions, 1780-1840

Mid-century social relations

The Korana wars of 1868-9 and 1879-80

Origins of the Vilander state

Notes

Chapter 2: The Baster settlement of Gordonia and its decline

The establishment of the Baster settlement

British annexation of Gordonia

Gordonia: from Baster settlement to magisterial district

Loss of land by Basters in Gordonia

Further developments

Chapter 3: The will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: a struggle for land in Gordonia, 1898-2014

Abraham September and the Baster settlement of Gordonia

The estate of Abraham September, 1898-1909

Contesting the ownership of Ouap, 1918-2015

Chapter 4: From prisoners to exhibits: representations of Bushmen of th enorthern Cape, 1880-1900

Representations of the Bushmen

Magistrate John Scott and punishment of the Bushmen

Magistrate John Scott, science, and the exhibition of Bushmen

Scott's successors in the northern Cape and the Bushmen: the 1890s

Chapter 5: South African human remains and the politics of repatriation: reconsidering the legacy of Rudolf Pöch

Pöch and Mehnarto's activities in South Africa

Contemporary museums, treatment of human remains and repatriation

Contesting Rudolf Pöch's legacy

Reburial of Mr and Mrs Pienaar

Chapter 6: The early history of the brown Afrikaners in Riemvasmaak

The Afrikaner family leaves the Cape Colony

The Afrikaners: resisters to colonialism?

The Afrikaners' neighbours

The 'Korana wars' and the Afrikaners

Gordonia and 'Afrikaner territory'

Colonial annexation.

The 1897 Afrikaner revolt

Chapter 7: The battle of Naroegas

The battle of Naroegas: context, historiography, sources and significance

The Boers in the north-west Cape during the South African War

The coloured counterforce in the north-west

The second rebellion

Accounts of the battle of Naroegas

Conroy's accusations

Martial law

Shooting of armed coloureds on sight

Conroy and the Border Scouts after Naroegas

Aftermath

The massacre at Leliefontein

Chapter 8: The Marengo rebellion and Riemvasmaak, 1903-1907

Riemvasmaak: a connection point

Marengo and the Nama-Herero revolt of 1903-7

The capture of Marengo in Riemvasmaak

Marengo's last stand

The death of Marengo

Chapter 9: The racial division of Gordonia, 1921-19

Segregation and the coloureds

Agriculturalists and pastoralists

Riemvasmaak: I

Ecksteenskuil

Mier

Riemvasmaak: II

The pre-history of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park

Chapter 10: Keidebees and Blikkies locations, Upington, 1894-1974

Post-Second World War developments

Policy under the National Party apartheid government

Conditions in the locations in the 1950s

The legal instrument used to effect the removals

The forced removals, 1960-1970

Chapter 11: 'All my powers have been swallowed by Upington': the life and times of Alfred Gubula

Early years in Upington

Upington in the 1950s

Politics

The hard years: South West Africa

The hard years: Upington again

Politics again: 1978-1983

The UDF and the trial

Afterword

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-395) and index.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 May 2018).

ISBN:

9781868149551

1868149552

9781868149575

1868149579

OCLC:

959609655