rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - Implications of Anglo-Zulu War

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:28 pm

Martin:

I was intrigued by your post regarding the teaching of history in KwaZulu Natal. Regarding those "distortion" noted by the king , so then who writes the textbook history for the schools? Is it done by expatriate Zulus who live somewhere else or non native Zulu or a combination of educated Zulu natives with those of the former colonial powers??? I find it pretty striking that Zulu "contributions" appear to be a problem today when discussing KwaZulu Natal's turbulent history.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:48 pm

I think I was more intrigued by the fact that the King wanted it completed by July - which does not give much time to do a quality and well-balanced job. Perhaps, he was judging the period needed by the pace that some of the 'historians' over here produce new books on the AZW.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:59 pm

heh heh..yeah that date got me too! That's throwing down the gauntlet! Anyway, you have to say he adoes appear to be up on "current scholarship"!.....

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:27 am

The general consensus in this part of the world is that precicely nothing will materialise and it is possible that the King may well be disappointed that local historians have not answered his call.
Zulu history as taught in schools in rural areas is sketchy to say the least. This is to a large extent due to lack of books published in isiZulu.
Amafa confirm that in appointment interviews, general knowlege on Zulu history is sketchy. For example hardly anyone could name the succession of Zulu Kings or any names for that matter, from Chaka onwards.
Apart from the locals living adjacent to RD and Isandlwana, few Zulus that I have spoken to knew anything about the battle of RD. and only the faintest idea on Isandlwana. Many had never heard of Cetshwayo.
On a recent recce of the area of Fort Nolela (Camp Umfolozi) where the British assembled prior to crossing the Umfolozi to do battle at Ululudi, (oNdini) an Agricultural College has been erected called the James Nxumalo College. Entrance is restricted and with the permission of the Principal ( a Zulu) who accompanied us, we were able to have a close look at the ground. On asking the Principal if he knew the historical significance of the area, the response was that he knew a battle of sorts was fought in the area but he had no idea when or who was involved.
The education department is apparently involved in a complete current reassessment and restructuring of the historical syllabus where hopefully books in isiZulu will be made available.
To confirm general lack of interest in Zulu history, it is worth checking on how many books on the subject are purchased by Zulus; very few. Possibly because they perceive the subject to be tainted with Apartheid and Colonialism thereby questioning its historical reliability. But this is only supposition on my part.

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:42 pm

Peter,

'How many books are purchased by Zulus...'

Well I know of at least three who own copies of ZV1! So that's a start for you. By-the-way, two of three will be attending the Rorke's Drift Dinner at the Royal Engineers W.O.'s & Sgt.'s Mess at Brompton Barracks, along with about twenty other Zulus & red-coated guests this Saturday evening - only a month late! But who cares!

Regards,

John Y.

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 2:13 pm

Thanks very much Peter for that overview of the state of "history" in KwaZulu Natal. For me, it was very informative since I have no experience of living in South African or native societies. I guess I'm just a bit stunned that the Zulu do take that tack with respect to their historical predecessors and achievements. Perhaps such is the way of focusing on oral tradition? From the current state of affairs, it would appear that there is great potential inherent in the Zulu doing more examination of their history while trying to overcome the legacies of apartheid etc which affected their culture and society. From the looks of things, only the surface has been scatched with respect to their history. Now to learn and prepare for what the future holds, uncovering the past can help them to understand how to move ahead.

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:46 am

... in my culture (S.E.Asian/American) is appaling. While there are a good number of people who are interested still usually the broad masses know either a highly propagandized, bare-bones version or nothing at all. Many are just too busy with monetary or social pursuits. There also seems to be a trend in 'dumbing down' things for the 'general public' at least thats the impression I get as an indie film maker (perhaps another reason that the Zulu Dawn remake is a dicey proposition). A case in point is my effort to get a cinema club started in our church where we will discuss movies in a Christian context - I thought I'd have to be fending them off with a stick but I find myself going cap in hand to dredge up a few followers. The impression I get is people are encouraging and like the idea but don't want to make the extra effort to learn.

However I'd also postulate that perhaps we really don't know - maybe those blanket statements that 'history is bunk' or 'messages are for delivery by Western Union' or 'nobody cares about historic accuracy' are just maxims of the industry leaders who want to hold to the status quo. Truth be told it may be frightening to try and dig deeper into history to find the truth. A case in point is my late grandfather who I always held to be a heroic soldier in WW2. After researching a bit I discovered his unit was ordered to surrender with virtually no fighting and he went into a Japanese prison camp for several years. No Medal of Honour, band of brothers, blood and guts story - just a college professor who got drafted and did his duty even when that meant surrendering. It sure surprised me.

Another thing that kind of frightens me about the Zulu king's demand for history is maybe he does not want history at all but mere propaganda. I don't know the score so I don't want to accuse but I see this in my own culture. I know that the colonizers of my country did horrible things but historical honesty demands that we look at people as people, that maybe even Bartle-Frere, Chelmsford, et al had their reasons which in their own eyes were entirely logical, however deadly they were in the long run. We should be brave enough to present history without TOO MUCH romanticism or jingoism and with a fair shake to our fellow human beings on the other side of the hill.

I was once involved in a project, a play about a horrible atrocity during the revolution against the colonial power which invaded my country - it was virtually similar to Isandhlwana where a military force was ambushed and 'massacred', the aftershock being the locals who perpetuated it were hunted down like animals and boys ten years old and up who could carry rifles were shot by firing squad. Anyway - as barbaric as the aftershocks were - the reasons for each side doing what it did (defense of hearth and home for the natives, the 'massacre' for the invaders) were never given much air-time. Only the horrific acts of the invaders were given recognition.

I teach Koreans how to speak American English and one big ticket issue is Japan's colonial legacy - and Japan's current attitude toward history, particularly their controversial textbooks. Many textbooks, written by more right-wing historians, state that nations like Korea or China should be darn grateful that Japan came and pulled them out of the 16th century or wherever they were in their savage history, and introduced them to modern civilization. At the same time they minimize the very horrific atrocities committed by the Japanese military administration including military brothels, rapes and murders, etc. It's not confined to Japan either -virtually ALL nations I would think, minimize their past 'crimes' whether deliberate or as a consequence of war (here I mean deliberate policy - Nazi Germany in WW2 being an extreme example - or things like rape and summary execution being a consequence of the state of war) or they dismiss it with a few lines, usually 'atrocities were committed by both sides'.

I'm sure people generally would want to learn but are not given the opportunity due to lack of education or worse, miseducation. I recently lectured a bunch of middle-low income graduating college kids on a local historic topic (they were working on their thesis) and there certainly is SOME degree of interest. 'History', as a South American movie once said, 'is the memory of a people' - and a people should be the first to write their own history, darn all what the rest of the world says. But at the same time they should be honest - about their enemies and about themselves. Perhaps that's the only way we can avoid the Santayana-esque curse of repeating history's hard lessons.

Just my two cents,

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:21 pm

I do actually teach the Anglo-Zulu War at A2 Level and would be happy to help. If anyone out there would like to come and talk to my students I would be very grateful.

Any information that you have on Bartle Frere would be gratefully received.

Damian O'Connor

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:02 pm

Andrew,
I can certainly help you here if you let me know what you are thinking of. I teach the AZW, have written a biography of Frere and am currently submitting my doctoral thesis on this subject.
Damian O'Connor

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:54 pm

Damian,

As well as "The Zulu and the Raj", would that be your paper in the RUSI Journal Vol. 149 Issue 5 entitled "Who Killed Cetshwayo? A Case Study of Ethical Foreign Policy"? I haven't downloaded it yet from Amazon but it looks interesting and I plan to when I finish up on the road. (Hope you get part of the 10 bucks they charge for the service!)

Are you planning to publish your doctoral thesis? (Now there's a service that Amazon should look into, with such a great amount of ideas and information in theses languishing in various university libraries!)

Best

Michael

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:22 pm

Dear Michael,
Yes, that's me. You might also be interested in another couple of articles I wrote for the RUSI entitled "Privateers, Cruisers and Colliers" and "The Political Uses of Lawlessness" both of which touch on South Africa in this period. As to publishing the thesis - any takers out there? Anyway, I'd be happy to hear your comments.
Damian

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:07 am

The late Shelby Foote, author of a definitive 3-volume history of the American Civil War, was quoted as saying that he could have re-written his series forty-odd years later using completely new reference sources and come to completely new conclusions. Strange as it seems, we can seldom pin down exactly what happened, to say nothing of how or why.

Few things are written in stone, and in many cases the stone itself has been repositioned. I think that this is the fascinating part of studying history.

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:55 pm

Dear DT,
Shelby Foote was absolutely right. Historical accounts are always provisional and new sources are always being opened up and new connections being made. There are plenty of sources for the causes of the AZW that I've used that haven't made it into the mainstream. In the case of the overall Imperial aspects of the AZW this is because Lord Kimberley weeded the Colonial Office files extensively at Gladstone's behest to discredit Carnarvon and Frere's argument that the AZW was fought as a pre-emptive strike to defeat one potential enemy in case of a war with Russia in 1876-79 that would result in the Russian navy burning Cape Town and Durban. If this sounds wild....why is there an Afrikaaner folk song called "Here comes the Alabama"? And you may have eaten at the restaurant of the same name at Cape Town waterfront.
Damian

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:10 am

Well Damien you've certainly put forth a compelling scenario there. If the weeding was to remove traces of prior Colonial Office agreement with the ultimate fate of the Zulus, for instance through Lord Wolseley's contention when he had been there as Special Commisioner in 1875, then the weeding would seem to have been less than effective. But then I'm probably missing something here (as usual)! I was trying to get my mind wrapped around the Russian question in a topic in the old forum but all I came up with was a Russian ship having visited nearby and thought that a bit tenuous to build a paranoia around. (Would that Alabama be the Confederate ship sunk by the Union off France during the ACW? I'm missing something else here too!)

["The Political Uses of Lawlessness" sounds particularly intriguing especially if it deals with the way Britain used the raids by the Boers and amaZulu against each other for years as a power tool only to have the 'confederation' of the Transvaal result in going to war with each of them in two succeeding years. (Providing an early example of the need to be careful what one wishes for!)]

Best

Michael

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:46 am

Michael

The Alabama, according to the story, was a Conferderate ship that visited Cape Town.

For the story see:

http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/confederate/songs/alibama-exp.html

Dawn