Formal history, in talking about South Africa before the 19th century, relies heavily on archaeological forms of evidence to construct its narratives. While this may be justified by the paucity of testimony from autochthonous Africans that points a resolute finger into past epistemic, ontological, cosmologic, political-ethical philosophical positions, it remains inadequate in capturing a more synthesised conception of southern African life. The 17th- and 18th-century Dutch colony has been characterised by Hamilton et al. as being minimally interested in the extent to which the colony could hav ..read more

The history of South African literature is so multidimensional that sometimes to speak of a South African literature feels like a contradiction of sorts. This is also not surprising, given the full extent of violence, segregation, greed and white supremacy that lies at the instance of confrontation between the hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and the agro-pastoralist communities of this landscape and invading Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries of South African history. We have, however, been fortunate enough to have different scholars on the different literary traditions come expand on the ..read more

The past episodes of formal history have proven to us that the approach of social history is sometimes unable to go beyond its broad categories, to reach down to what I can call the human heart. I suppose this could be partly because there would be so many human hearts to consider such that the task would simply become impossible because people die with their thoughts and words, that is the nature of life. Every generation of humanity however has their fair share of artists, however, people who dare to raise a giant mirror to the society in which they find themselves, to depict it for what it ..read more

The past episodes of formal history have proven to us that the approach of social history is sometimes not able to go beyond its broad categories, to reach down to what I can call the human heart. I suppose this could be partly because there would be so many human hearts to consider such that the task would simply become impossible because people die with their thoughts and words, that is the nature of life. Every generation of humanity however has their fair share of artists, however, people who dare to raise a giant mirror to the society in which they find themselves, to depict it for what i ..read more

Over the last nine episodes we have been joined by a variation of disciplinary experts who have taken us through a length of time through which it would be impossible for us to travel if we were to try to repeat exercise physically. We now know that there is more deep time than we have been able to explore about the people who have come before us, in their entirety. But perhaps the point of our exercise was, from the point of view of this podcast, to suggest to the non-specialist listener that there is more to South African history than what meets the eye, that there remains buried a lot of de ..read more

Last week we were joined by Robert Ross who to a large extent helped us understand with more sincerity what the annexation of the Cape colony by the British meant for people living in what would later be called South Africa. The content of that episode was extensive, and thus cannot be repeated whole in this introduction. Where Robert left off was in the 1850s with the struggle in settler society for representative government. On today’s episode we are interested in picking up where Robert left off and continue the discussion,to span the rest of the period that is today broadly referred to as ..read more

The colonial past of South Africa, heralded most pointedly, by the set-up of mercantile commerce and its attendant support-services in present day Cape Town, is said to be the first leg in the double colonisation of this part of the continent. In the ninth episode of Goodnight Azania I explore the second leg of this history of colonisation and its role in the protected spread of colonial society along what is today popularly referred to as The Garden Route in the Eastern Cape and into the heart of the country, past the Orange River. In the effort of exploring this topic I am rejoined by the no ..read more

On this episode I sit down with John Wright, a historian at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We discuss the origin of the term difaqane/mfecane and what it has meant within the context of South African history over the centuries. We also use this as an opportunity to understand the nature of South African life in the interior to the north easterly coastal boundaries over the course covered by this period.   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/goodnightazania/message ..read more

The seventeenth century heralds many transformations within many different societies across the globe. The famed establishment of a Dutch India Company outpost on Table Bay, Cape Town is one case in point in the overall tapestry. To review this period, prod it at the interpersonal, social, political levels I am joined by Robert Ross, a historian at the University of Leiden.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/goodnightazania/message ..read more

In this episode Mzamo is joined by KwaZulu-Natal Museum's Chief Curator, Gavin Whitelaw, to speak about the earliest appearances of food production in South Africa. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/goodnightazania/message ..read more