Knowledge and Colonialism

by Huigen, Siegfried

• ISBN13: 9789004177437
• ISBN10: 9004177434
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-15
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

The establishment of a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in the seventeenth century and an expansion of the sphere of colonial influence in the eighteenth century made South Africa the only part of sub-Saharan Africa where Europeans could travel with relative ease deep into the interior. As a result individuals with scientific interests in Africa came to the Cape. This book examines writings and drawings of scientifically educated travellers, particularly in the field of ethnography, against the background of commercial and administrative discourses on the Cape. It is argued that the scientific travellers benefited more from their relationship with the colonial order than the other way around.

Author Biography

Siegfried Huigen is Associate Professor of Dutch Literature and Cultural History at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He publishes regularly on early modern representations of the extra-European world.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
List of Illustrations	p. ix
Wagon Routes: An Introduction	p. 1
Peter Kolb's Defence of the "Hottentots" (1719)	p. 33
Expeditions from Fort Lijdsaamheijd: The voc and the Geography of Southern Africa in the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century	p. 59
Trade and Science: Reports of the voc Expedition by Hendrik Hop from 1761-1762	p. 75
Xhosa and Khoikhoi "Households": Representations of Inhabitants of Southern Africa in the Gordon Atlas	p. 93
The Adventures of a Surinamese Frenchman in South Africa: The Travel Accounts of Fran&ccidle;ois le Vaillant	p. 119
A 'Black Legend' of Dutch Colonialism in the Travels (1801-1804) of John Barrow	p. 147
Batavian Colonial Politics and Travel Accounts About South Africa	p. 169
The First Ethnographic Monograph: De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika (1810) by Lodewyk Alberti	p. 191
Conclusion: Knowledge and Colonialism	p. 209
Independent Editions and Translations of Peter Kolb's Capvt Bonae Spei Hodiernum in the Eighteenth Century	p. 241
Structure of the Nieuwste en Beknope Beschryving van de Kaap der Goede-Hope	p. 245
Sources and Bibliography	p. 247
Index	p. 265
Illustration Section
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