Page 16 - uct_press_catalogue_201819

14
forthcoming titles
2018
180 pages
Soft cover
Print: 978 1 77582 225 7 Web pdf: 978 1 77582 238 7 World rights available R285.00
$31.50
£22.95
BISAC: HIS001040
BIC: HBG
THEMA: NHH, 1HFMS
House of Tshatshu, The
Power, politics and chiefs north west of the Great Kei River, c 1818-2018
A Mager & J Velelo
In 1852, the colonial governor ‘disestablished’ the chieftainship of the amaTshatshu, the leading group of Xhosa speakers north-west of the Kei River and north of the colonial border. It was only in 2003 that the amaTshatshu were recognised once again, by the democratic government. This book explores what it means for a people to be without recognition for over 170 years. It asks why the name of Tshatshu matters and to whom. It follows the people to whom the name was significant, and examines the meaning of ‘belonging’, or identity, and how this played out — among the descendants of Maphasa’s following scattered across the eastern Cape, and between them, their neighbours, local authorities and the national state.
This book is timely, since there are signs of a resurgence of the concept of chieftaincy in South Africa. Some critics view chiefly authority as patriarchal, authoritarian, anti-poor and undemocratic, and others see the institution as tainted by western attempts to amend it. None have adequately explained the resilience of chieftaincy nor have they come to grips with the complexities of rural society in South Africa, particularly with regard to the oppressive effects of traditional power on women and gender relations. This book will open up these critical areas for scrutiny and reflection. In so doing, it aims to shed light on the failure of land reform and development strategies in rural eastern Cape.
Recommended for
Undergraduates in African Studies, History and Gender Studies, and development practitioners interested in land and gender.
About the authors
Anne Mager is Emerita Professor of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town, and the author of Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: a social history of the Ciskei (1995) and Beer, Sociability and Masculinity in South Africa (2012). She grew up on the land from which the amaTshatshu were forcibly removed in 1852 following the eighth frontier war.
Jeff Phiko Velelo is an agricultural officer, Anglican priest and amateur historian, and a counsellor to the heir of Maphasa’s chieftaincy.