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Imagining the Cape Colony: History, Literature, and the South African Nation
Contributor(s): Johnson, David (Author)
ISBN: 0748664890     ISBN-13: 9780748664894
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
OUR PRICE:   $28.45  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: September 2013
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
- History | Africa - General
- Literary Criticism | African
Dewey: 820
Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (0.95 lbs) 232 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - African
- Cultural Region - Southern Africa
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

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 history
  • Materialist/historicist approach to postcolonial literature
  • Critical engagement with dominant theories of colonial nationalism