Krikler, J (2017) The micro-history of a South African murder. Journal of Southern African Studies, 43 (6). pp. 1255-1272. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2017.1381908
Krikler, J (2017) The micro-history of a South African murder. Journal of Southern African Studies, 43 (6). pp. 1255-1272. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2017.1381908
Krikler, J (2017) The micro-history of a South African murder. Journal of Southern African Studies, 43 (6). pp. 1255-1272. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2017.1381908
Abstract
This article explores a murder that took place on a Transvaal farm in the early 20th century. By subjecting it to the techniques of micro-history, it demonstrates that the killing, far from having merely a narrow personal or criminal significance, casts a powerful if lurid light on important historical processes and phenomena. Central among these are the following: the social power of Boer landowners over an impoverished white tenantry; the intimacy and violence of master- servant relations between the races in the countryside; the new mode of policing in the wake of the South African War; and the fact that black action in that conflict continued to affright Boer/Afrikaner consciousness. In short, the article offers a study of how a wider history is embedded in, and illuminated by, a single criminal case. The startling evidence of the trial is also used to convey the relationships of power on a particular agrarian estate, and how these were challenged as the state enlisted servants as witnesses against their masters.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > DT Africa |
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jan 2018 13:41 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2024 19:06 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/21206 |
Available files
Filename: J_Krikler_JSAS_43(6).pdf