Imagining the Cape Colony: History, Literature, and the South African Nation - Softcover

Johnson, David

 
9780748664894: Imagining the Cape Colony: History, Literature, and the South African Nation

Inhaltsangabe

Examines literatures and histories of the Cape in relation to postcolonial debates about nationalism How the Cape Colony was imagined as a political community is examined by considering a variety of writers, from major European literati and intellectuals (Camões, Southey, Rousseau, Adam Smith), to well-known travel writers like François Levaillant and Lady Anne Barnard, to figures on the margins of colonial histories, like settler rebels, slaves, and early African nationalists. Complementing the analyses of these primary texts are discussions of the many subsequent literary works and histories of the Cape Colony. These diverse writings are discussed first in relation to current debates in postcolonial studies about settler nationalism, anti-colonial resistance, and the imprint of eighteenth-century colonial histories on contemporary neo-colonial politics. Secondly, the project of imagining the post-apartheid South African nation functions as a critical lens for reading the eighteenth-century history of the Cape Colony, with the extensive commentaries on literature and history associated with the Thabo Mbeki presidencies given particular attention. Key Features: Major European literary figures and philosophers read in the context of colonial historyMaterialist/historicist approach to postcolonial literatureCritical engagement with dominant theories of colonial nationalism

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David Johnson is Professor of Literature in the Department of English and Creative Writing at The Open University. He is the author of Shakespeare and South Africa (1996), Imagining the Cape Colony: History, Literature and the South African Nation (2012) and Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa: Literature between Critique and Utopia (2019); and the co-editor of A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English (2008); The Book in Africa: Critical Debates (2015); and Labour Struggles in Southern Africa (2023). He is the General Editor of the Edinburgh University Press series Key Texts in Anti-Colonial Thought.

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‘The excitement of reading this book is in its delivering more than the title indicates. Grounded in meticulous historical research, Johnson’s work engages with contemporary debates about the nation, offering the innovative argument that colonial forms of nationhood and nationalism, resisted/subverted/even ignored normative concepts developed in the northern hemisphere.’Benita Parry, Emerita Professor, University of Warwick‘This is an outstandingly insightful and innovative study. David Johnson singlehandedlyopens up new research terrains by challenging current orthodoxies about literary and historical representation and he brings the early Cape Colony into the centre of contemporary debates about identity, power and the pervasive presence of inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.’Nigel Worden, King George V Professor of History, University of Cape TownRelates the literatures and histories of the Cape to postcolonial debates about nationalismHow the Cape Colony was imagined as a political community is examined by considering a variety of writers, from major European literati and intellectuals (Camões, Southey, Rousseau, Adam Smith), to well-known travel writers like François Levaillant and Lady Anne Barnard, to figures on the margins of colonial histories, like settler rebels, slaves and early African nationalists. Complementing the analyses of these primary texts are discussions of the many subsequent literary works and histories of the Cape Colony.These diverse writings are discussed first in relation to current debates in postcolonial studies about settler nationalism, anti-colonial resistance, and the imprint of eighteenth-century colonial histories on contemporary neo-colonial politics. Secondly, the project of imagining the post-apartheid South African nation functions as a critical lens for reading the eighteenth-century history of the Cape Colony, with the extensive commentaries on literature and history associated with the Thabo Mbeki presidencies given particular attention.David Johnson is senior lecturer in English at The Open University. He is the author of Shakespeare and South Africa (1996), principal author of Jurisprudence: A South African Perspective (2001), and co-editor of A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English (2005). He is series editor with Ania Loomba of the Edinburgh University Press series Postcolonial Literary Studies.Cover image: Cape Town, Bertuch, 1816 © akg-images.Cover design: Michael Chatfield[EUP logo]www.euppublishing.com

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The excitement of reading this book is in its delivering more than the title indicates. Grounded in meticulous historical research, Johnson s work engages with contemporary debates about the nation, offering the innovative argument that colonial forms of nationhood and nationalism, resisted/subverted/even ignored normative concepts developed in the northern hemisphere. Benita Parry, Emerita Professor, University of Warwick This is an outstandingly insightful and innovative study. David Johnson singlehandedlyopens up new research terrains by challenging current orthodoxies about literary and historical representation and he brings the early Cape Colony into the centre of contemporary debates about identity, power and the pervasive presence of inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. Nigel Worden, King George V Professor of History, University of Cape TownRelates the literatures and histories of the Cape to postcolonial debates about nationalismHow the Cape Colony was imagined as a political community is examined by considering a variety of writers, from major European literati and intellectuals (Camões, Southey, Rousseau, Adam Smith), to well-known travel writers like François Levaillant and Lady Anne Barnard, to figures on the margins of colonial histories, like settler rebels, slaves and early African nationalists. Complementing the analyses of these primary texts are discussions of the many subsequent literary works and histories of the Cape Colony.These diverse writings are discussed first in relation to current debates in postcolonial studies about settler nationalism, anti-colonial resistance, and the imprint of eighteenth-century colonial histories on contemporary neo-colonial politics. Secondly, the project of imagining the post-apartheid South African nation functions as a critical lens for reading the eighteenth-century history of the Cape Colony, with the extensive commentaries on literature and history associated with the Thabo Mbeki presidencies given particular attention.David Johnson is senior lecturer in English at The Open University. He is the author of Shakespeare and South Africa (1996), principal author of Jurisprudence: A South African Perspective (2001), and co-editor of A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English (2005). He is series editor with Ania Loomba of the Edinburgh University Press series Postcolonial Literary Studies.Cover image: Cape Town, Bertuch, 1816 © akg-images.Cover design: Michael Chatfield[EUP logo]www.euppublishing.com

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9780748643080: Imagining the Cape Colony: History, Literature, and the South African Nation

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ISBN 10:  0748643087 ISBN 13:  9780748643080
Verlag: Edinburgh University Press, 2011
Hardcover