This thesis takes as its subject the millenarian movement of 1856-7, commonly known as the Xhosa Cattle-Killing. My project examines a range of literary representations of this seminal moment in South African history: novels, plays, and short stories in English or English translation. The period under consideration encompasses the earliest literary responses to the Cattle-Killing and includes critical historical-political moments such as: the incorporation of the last independent black territory into the Cape Colony, the creation of the Union of South Africa, the passing of the Land Act, the enfranchisement of white women and the enactment of Hertzog's 'native bills'. The project consists of close, contextual readings, and the approach is cross-cultural and interdisciplinary. In this dissertation I examine the meaning that has accrued to the Cattle-Killing, and the role that literary accounts have played in interpreting and defining this pivotal event in the historical consciousness of their sometimes considerable audiences. In some cases, these creative works have anticipated trends in formal historiography and suggested new ways to interrogate the evidence. But the accounts do more than creatively reconstruct the past. They are also implicated in their respective presents and use the Cattle-Killing to 'write out' contemporaneous concerns: be it female emancipation, 'native education' or Black Nationalism. The various manifestations of the Cattle-Killing story chart not only the shifting 'truth' of the event but also the ways in which it has been made relevant and useable for different communities at various points in South Africa's history. To read these accounts of the Cattle-Killing, I argue, is to 'read' the history of this period. While taking as its subject an event from 150 years ago, and literary responses from shortly after, my project contributes to wider, on-going conversations relating to history as a field of argument and literature as a social and historical force. A related aim is to contribute to the revaluation of early South African literature, which has been neglected or homogenized in recent years. My dissertation seeks to recuperate and complicate by representing a variety of subject positions and resuscitating voices discarded or forgotten.

<p>&nbsp / </p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">In my thesis entitled &lsquo / African Tradition and Modernity in Zakes Mda&rsquo / s <i><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Heart of Redness&rsquo / </font></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">, I analyze the way Western modernity and African traditions interact in Mda&rsquo / s novel. I suggest that both modernity and tradition interact to produce a hybrid culture. This will become apparent in my analysis of the way Mda depicts the cattlekilling episode and the effects of Nongqawuse&rsquo / s prophecy, and also in the novel&rsquo / s contemporary characters. Mda shows the development of an African modernity through the semi-autobiographical figure of Camagu who is not slavishly indebted to Western ideas of progress, but is a hybrid of African values and a modern identity.</font></font></i></p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p>

<p>&nbsp / </p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">In my thesis entitled &lsquo / African Tradition and Modernity in Zakes Mda&rsquo / s <i><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Heart of Redness&rsquo / </font></font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">, I analyze the way Western modernity and African traditions interact in Mda&rsquo / s novel. I suggest that both modernity and tradition interact to produce a hybrid culture. This will become apparent in my analysis of the way Mda depicts the cattlekilling episode and the effects of Nongqawuse&rsquo / s prophecy, and also in the novel&rsquo / s contemporary characters. Mda shows the development of an African modernity through the semi-autobiographical figure of Camagu who is not slavishly indebted to Western ideas of progress, but is a hybrid of African values and a modern identity.</font></font></i></p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p>

In 1843 a committee of the Colonial Bishroprics Fund appointed to investigate the state of the Church of England at the Cape of Good Hope, recommended the formation of a bishopric, and suggested that the bishop settle in the eastern districts of the colony, with an archdeacon in Cape Town. Three significant principles had been enunciated: the church was to grow under a bishop, the church would have a dual mission to blacks and whites, and the colony's eastern frontier, long a political and military headache, was seen as the focus of a new and spiritual battle. Contact between Nguni tribesmen and the eastward-moving European trekboer began in the region of the Fish River during the rule of the Dutch East India Company. Cattle and land were the main ingredients of the frontier conflict. From the point of view of the white settler, the growing cattle trade meant an increased need for pasture, but although the motive for expansion was economic, frontiersmen had come to regard large lands as their birthright. The semi-nomadic pastoral economy of the Nguni also required abundance of land, which was vested in the tribe. To the tribesmen, their cattle had a political, social and religious significance which transcended the economic. Cattle were sacrificed to the ancestors to propitiate the shades of the departed and to secure the prosperity of the tribe. The years of conflict, the constant threat to their herds and their land, undermined the basis of Nguni society, without providing it with a new foundation.

Masters of Art / In my thesis entitled ‘African Tradition and Modernity in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness’, I analyze the way Western modernity and African traditions interact in Mda’s novel. I suggest that both modernity and tradition interact to produce a hybrid culture. This will become apparent in my analysis of the way Mda depicts the cattlekilling episode and the effects of Nongqawuse’s prophecy, and also in the novel’s contemporary characters. Mda shows the development of an African modernity through the semi-autobiographical figure of Camagu who is not slavishly indebted to Western ideas of progress, but is a hybrid of African values and a modern identity. In my thesis I will look at the way Mda also addresses the issue of the oppression of the Xhosa in colonial history, and the way he demonstrates that the divisions of the past deeply influence post-apartheid South Africa. In this regard, I will show how The Heart of Redness is a critique not only of colonial oppression, but also of the newer injustices plaguing the post-apartheid South African society. The focus of Mda’s critique in this regard is the proposed casino that stands as a model of environmentally destructive, unsustainable and capitalist development. Instead, Mda’s novel shows an alternative modernization of rural South African society, one which is based on community upliftment and environmentally friendly development. Through an exploration of the above aspects of the novel, my thesis shows that Mda’s writing exemplifies a hybrid African modernity, one that incorporates Western ideas as well as African values.

Introductory: If the relations existing between the Native chiefs and the Colony which Sir George Grey found on his arrival are to be fully understood, a brief consideration of Cathcart’s policy and Frontier settlement is necessary. When Cathcart came out as Governor in 1852, he found the rebel chief Sandile, with associate chieftans’ and large bands of followers, still occupying their locations in the Amatola ranges. From this haunt no force had as yet been able to drive them. During the series of skirmishes known as the Eighth Kaffir War, their first crop of Indian corn was destroyed so early in the season as to allow of a second crop springing up. This unusual phenomenon inspired prophet Umlangeni to claim that he had worked a miracle. Fortunately later reverses and the expulsion of Sanailli from his mountain fastness discredited this thoughtful opportunist. Sandilli, as paramount chief of the Gaikas, might have held and influential position in the councils of the Kaffrarian chiefs, that he did not hold such a position, was due, in Charles Brownlee’s opinion, to his timid and suspicious nature and to the fact that his mental capacity was ‘hardly above mediocrity’. He was unable to fight owing to lameness, and he lacked ‘sufficient’ resciution and strength of mind to resist the evil influence of the bad advisers, nevertheless he could be obstinate and he never, to the end of his life, gave up on the idea of getting back to this old locations in the Amatolas. Macomo with some three thousand followers had likewise evaded all attempts to turn him out of this haunts in the mountain range. He, together with his associate the Tambookie chief Quesha, and diverse rebel Hotttentots, indulged in the frequent marauding forays into the surrounding country. Macomo was the eldest of Gaika’s sons and was “allowed by all to be the greatest politician and best warrior in Kaffraria’. During the minority of Sandilli Macomo had acted as his regent and had attained great influence over the tribe; this he afterwards lost for he moved to the neighbourhood of Fort Beaufort, where in a state of intoxication most of this time was passed. He had in Brownlee’s opinion, done more mischief in the war than any other chief. Great jealously was felt between Macomo and Sandilli, especially on the part of the former; this was shown through the cattle killing period in his efforts to involve Sandilli, while attempting to keep on the right side of the Government himself. Further south, indeed within the Colony itself, such petty chiefs as Seyolo and Botman, lurking in the Fish River bush, and the Keiskamma kloofs, rendered the main road dangerous, and even succeeded, for a time, in completely cutting the ling of communication between Kingwilliamstown and Grahamstown.

Few students of History understand the derivation and/or origin of the Gqunukhwebe oath "Ndifung' uChungw' efel' ennyameni: I swear by Chungwa who is lying dead at Mnyameni (Alexandria)." A desire to eludicate this point and other related facts inspired me to undertake a close examination of the history of the Gqunukhwebe people, selecting as my main theme the life-work of Chief Kama. In the first chapter I am discussing the creation of the Gqunukhwebe Chiefdom under Khwane by the Xhosa King, Tshiwo. The central theme here is the Black-White confrontation of the 17th - 18th centuries on the Cape Eastern Frontier. As a result of the collision the Gqunukhwebe people were forced to make a home on the banks of the Thwecu River along the east coast. It was here that Kama reached early manhood. The second chapter describes the establishment of Wesleyville Missionary Station by William Shaw in 1823, the first Methodist Missionary Institution in all Xhosaland. In chapter three the discussion centers on the significance of Kama's conversion. An unforeseen outcome of his public profession of the Christian faith was that it not only stigmatized the latter religion as a force destructive of the old order in Xhosa society, but it also reshaped Kama's political image for the good of his religious life. He not only fled from the neighbourhood of his relations and sojourned in a strange land, but also reinforced the Colonial forces in the contemporary frontier struggles. His integrity, self-sacrifice and pro-Colonial inclination eventually won him Middledrift. Chapter four opens with Kama's settling in Middledrift. The theme here is two-pronged. It presents the 'Cattle-Killing' delusion as a source of new trials for the 'priest-chief', and at the same time exposes the Colonial Government's efforts to gain ascendancy above the Xhosa chiefs. Kama's land was the first testing ground in this respect, and the Chief was initially agreeable to the scheme. Chapter five alludes to instances of Chief Kama's unco-operative attitude as signs that his compromising spirit had its limits. An atmosphere of disregard towards Kama pervades the period. But the adversities that threatened to dominate his later life did not by any means shake his Christian principles and convictions. The traces of his good works may to this day be seen in Middledrift, the traditional home of the Kamas.