Slave emancipation and racial attitudes in nineteenth-century South Africa

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Title:

Slave emancipation and racial attitudes in nineteenth-century South Africa

Author:

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

ISBN:

9781107022003

9781107689381

Personal Author:

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

Publication Information:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Physical Description:

xv, 318 p. : maps ; 24 cm.

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.

Abstract:

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

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

Slaves -- Emancipation -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope -- History.

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

HISTORY / Africa / General.

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Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	23168001678323	306.36209687 W341S 2012	1	Searching... Unknown

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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.