The study of languages was crucial to the development and maintenance of colonial power in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century South Africa. Grammars of Colonialism provides an overview of colonial linguistics in the region from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, before proceeding to a detailed study of representations of the Bantu languages Xhosa and Zulu from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1870s. Offering historically, socially, and politically contextualized readings of a wide range of linguistic materials including travellers' wordlists, grammars, dictionaries, and reading books, Rachael Gilmour reveals the diversity and complexity of these materials, as well as their common distinctive features. In particular, she illustrates the ways in which colonial representations of languages were contingent upon, and bound up with, the shifting relationships between speakers of those languages and the British colonial regime. She exposes ways in which colonial linguistics contributed to the making of the colonial order, but also the instabilities at the heart of this project to 'make sense' of South Africa.
'G[ilmour] has a good command of the source material; her style is lucid and readable; and she deftly weaves linguistic and sociopolitical threads together, from the critical perspective of postcolonial studies.' - Paul T. Roberge, Historiographia Linguistica
'Gilmour knows how languages work and she has provided an excellent foundation for the study of their history.' - Patrick Harries, Journal of Southern African Studies
Introduction
Language in the Land of the 'Hottentots' and 'Caffres': European Travellers in the Eastern Cape, 1652-1806
Of Translation and Transformations: The Beginnings of Missionary Linguistics in South Africa
Studying Language in the 'Moral Wilderness': Methodist Missionaries on the Eastern Cape Frontier
Language, Culture, and 'The Native Mind': Missionary Language Study in Natal and the Zulu Kingdom
From Languages to Language: The Comparative Philologist in South Africa
Conclusion
Index
RACHAEL GILMOUR is Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies in the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
Description
The study of languages was crucial to the development and maintenance of colonial power in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century South Africa. Grammars of Colonialism provides an overview of colonial linguistics in the region from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, before proceeding to a detailed study of representations of the Bantu languages Xhosa and Zulu from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1870s. Offering historically, socially, and politically contextualized readings of a wide range of linguistic materials including travellers' wordlists, grammars, dictionaries, and reading books, Rachael Gilmour reveals the diversity and complexity of these materials, as well as their common distinctive features. In particular, she illustrates the ways in which colonial representations of languages were contingent upon, and bound up with, the shifting relationships between speakers of those languages and the British colonial regime. She exposes ways in which colonial linguistics contributed to the making of the colonial order, but also the instabilities at the heart of this project to 'make sense' of South Africa.
Reviews
'G[ilmour] has a good command of the source material; her style is lucid and readable; and she deftly weaves linguistic and sociopolitical threads together, from the critical perspective of postcolonial studies.' - Paul T. Roberge, Historiographia Linguistica
'Gilmour knows how languages work and she has provided an excellent foundation for the study of their history.' - Patrick Harries, Journal of Southern African Studies
Contents
Introduction
Language in the Land of the 'Hottentots' and 'Caffres': European Travellers in the Eastern Cape, 1652-1806
Of Translation and Transformations: The Beginnings of Missionary Linguistics in South Africa
Studying Language in the 'Moral Wilderness': Methodist Missionaries on the Eastern Cape Frontier
Language, Culture, and 'The Native Mind': Missionary Language Study in Natal and the Zulu Kingdom
From Languages to Language: The Comparative Philologist in South Africa
Conclusion
Index
Authors
RACHAEL GILMOUR is Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies in the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
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