Afrikaans text / Hierdie verhandeling is 'n historiografiese studie oor die geskiedskrywing wat in Die Huisgenoot verskyn het in die tydperk 1923 - 1949. J.M.H. Viljoen, self 'n opgeleide historikus, het as redakteur doelbewas persone tot geskied- skrywing aangemoedig en hom ook vir die plasing daarvan in Die Huisgenoot„ beywer* In die verhandeling moes egter selektief te werk gegaan word, deurdat hoofsaaklik op die bydraes van opgeleide historici gekonsentreer is* Uiteraard moes baie van die bydraes deur amateurs dus buite rekening gelaat word. Die geskiedskrywing word ten aansien van die onderskeie tyd- perke en onderwerpe bespreek en evalueer. Veral die boek- besprekings wat in dié tydperk 'n onderskeidende kenmerk van die geskiedskrywing was, word deeglik in oënskou genoem* S6 ook die briewe wat in reaksie op sekere geplaasde artikels verskyn het. Met alles in ag geneem kan Die Huisgenoot van daardie tyd ongetwyfeld met reg aanspraak maak op die status van 'n his- tories-wetenskaplike tydskrif* / This dissertation is an historic study of the historiography which appeared in Die Huisgenoot during the period 1923 - 1949. The editor, J.M.H. Viljoen, himself a formally trained historian, purposefully promoted historiography, which he published in Die Huisgenoot. This dissertation is however, primarily concerned with the contributions of formally trained historians. Consequently many contributions by amateur historians were not considered. Historiography relating to specific periods and subjects is discussed and evaluated. In particular book reviews which were an outstanding feature of this historiography, are evaluated thoroughly. Similarly, letters of reaction to specific articles were also evaluated. In conclusion, it is evident that Die Huiagenoot which was published in the years 1923 - 1949, qualifies as an histori- cally-scientific periodical. / History / M.A. (History)

Afrikaans text / Hierdie verhandeling is 'n historiografiese studie oor die geskiedskrywing wat in Die Huisgenoot verskyn het in die tydperk 1923 - 1949. J.M.H. Viljoen, self 'n opgeleide historikus, het as redakteur doelbewas persone tot geskied- skrywing aangemoedig en hom ook vir die plasing daarvan in Die Huisgenoot„ beywer* In die verhandeling moes egter selektief te werk gegaan word, deurdat hoofsaaklik op die bydraes van opgeleide historici gekonsentreer is* Uiteraard moes baie van die bydraes deur amateurs dus buite rekening gelaat word. Die geskiedskrywing word ten aansien van die onderskeie tyd- perke en onderwerpe bespreek en evalueer. Veral die boek- besprekings wat in dié tydperk 'n onderskeidende kenmerk van die geskiedskrywing was, word deeglik in oënskou genoem* S6 ook die briewe wat in reaksie op sekere geplaasde artikels verskyn het. Met alles in ag geneem kan Die Huisgenoot van daardie tyd ongetwyfeld met reg aanspraak maak op die status van 'n his- tories-wetenskaplike tydskrif* / This dissertation is an historic study of the historiography which appeared in Die Huisgenoot during the period 1923 - 1949. The editor, J.M.H. Viljoen, himself a formally trained historian, purposefully promoted historiography, which he published in Die Huisgenoot. This dissertation is however, primarily concerned with the contributions of formally trained historians. Consequently many contributions by amateur historians were not considered. Historiography relating to specific periods and subjects is discussed and evaluated. In particular book reviews which were an outstanding feature of this historiography, are evaluated thoroughly. Similarly, letters of reaction to specific articles were also evaluated. In conclusion, it is evident that Die Huiagenoot which was published in the years 1923 - 1949, qualifies as an histori- cally-scientific periodical. / History / M.A. (History)

This thesis investigates the role that African indigenous value systems, Ubuntu in particular, could play in building a reconciled South Africa. In doing so a discourse analysis on Ubuntu is conducted and its potential in facilitating social cohesion in the quest for nation building. Specific focus is drawn on higher education an important task if we are to consider the accusation that higher education like its society, is still undergoing transformation and is under pressure to provide quality education for all people whilst also considering the large numbers of cultures that exist. For much needs to be done in redressing the imbalances caused by the apartheid education system which was organized according to racial lines. In doing so, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is utilised as a case study with narrative presentations of how students perceive this traditional African value and its applicability to reconciliation in a post conflict society. For seemingly, there is something inherently important about this value in that it has been invoked and referred to in many important instances in South African history.

The mfecane was for most of the twentieth century regarded as a historical certainty for the South African public and the Apartheid government, as well as for historians here and world-wide. The mfecane had achieved the permanence of a paradigm and a dominant discourse, as it was accepted equally by settler, liberal, Afrikaner, Africanist and Neo-Marxist historians. This certainty was shaken when Cobbing’s mfecane critique appeared in 1988, with which I concur. This study examines how mfecane history was written from the first published articles in mid-1823 until Walker coined the concept mfecane in 1928. This thesis undertakes a journey through a host of published works, books, pamphlets and articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, from which a number of conclusions emerge. The mfecane narrative was developed over a period of a hundred years in the English language by almost exclusively white, English-speaking male amateur historians and ethnographers. Their occupations, age, ideology and level of education differed markedly, but they shared one European ideological value, the discourse of the European “Image of Africa”, which regarded Africans as the negative Other of their own positively perceived society. This was a culturallyshared view of Africans, which formed the baggage in the mind of all writers examined, and accounts for the mfecane narrative’s negative attitude towards Africans. Furthermore, mfecane history was influenced by racism and the use of literary devices such as the gothic novel and the romance. Authors writing in the 1823 to 1846 period on events which had taken place in the “blank space” beyond the Cape Colony, which most of them had never visited, laid the basis for the mfecane narrative. It constituted a set of geographical or ethnically focused, separate accounts. These separate accounts focused on the themes of Shaka’s creation of the Zulu state, including his expulsion of several chiefdoms; his depopulation of Natal and the flight of the Fingo to the Transkei; the path of destruction of the Hlubi and Ngwane during their flight from Natal via the greater Caledon Valley area to the Transkei; the incorporation of the Kololo and other Sotho chiefdoms into the Mantatees - due to pressure from the invaders from Natal - who subsequently laid waste the Free State and Transvaal as far as Dithakong, where they were defeated; the further depopulation of the Transvaal by the Ndebele during their escape from Shaka; the flight of Moshoeshoe and his people to Thaba Bosiu where he built up the Sotho state, with Moshoeshoe being the only positive figure in this history. This multi-narrative was thereafter repeated without any critical thought by all authors examined until in 1885 Theal created a Zulu-centric, geographically integrated mfecane narrative whereby he integrated the previously separate accounts into one coherent whole - a whole which was so much more than the sum of its parts, but so far without a defining name. That was provided by Walker in 1928 when he coined the Xhosa neologism, mfecane. The Theal, Cory and Walker racist mfecane was thus bequeathed as the mfecane to the rest of the twentieth century.