Popular Politics in the History of South Africa, 1400–1948

Popular Politics in the History of South Africa, 1400–1948 offers an inclusive vision of South Africa's past. Drawing largely from original sources, Paul Landau presents a history of the politics of the country's people, from the time of their early settlements in the elevated heartlands, through the colonial era, to the dawn of Apartheid. A practical tradition of mobilization, alliance, and amalgamation persisted, mutated, and occasionally vanished from view; it survived against the odds in several forms, in tribalisms, Christian assemblies, and other, seemingly hybrid movements; and it continues today. Landau treats southern Africa broadly, concentrating increasingly on the southern Highveld and ultimately focusing on a transnational movement called the 'Samuelites'. He shows how people's politics in South Africa were suppressed and transformed, but never entirely eliminated.

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'Paul Landau's masterful work opens up fresh lines of research by ambitiously narrating the history of South Africa's southern Highveld, beginning with its peopling and earliest settlements and carrying the story through to African social movements in the early twentieth century. He challenges scholars to rethink how they write the history of southern Africa.' Robert R. Edgar, Howard University

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Product details

• Date Published: September 2013
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781107614413
• length: 318 pages

• dimensions: 234 x 156 x 18 mm
• weight: 0.49kg
• contains: 2 b/w illus. 7 maps
• availability: Available