Identity and Political Centralisation in the Western Regions of Highveld, c.1770–c.1830

An Archaeological Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID20163754
AuthorsHall (0009-0005-1959-7868, University of Cape Town, corresponding author), Simon Hall (0000-0002-5080-6008)
Year2012
Volume38
Issue2
Pages301-318
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057070.2012.682839
OpenAlexW2119062421
LanguageEN
Citations received15

Political centralisation in the area of present-day North West Province in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries has conventionally been associated with a broad identity, homogenised as 'Tswana'. This article reviews the archaeological and oral evidence of identity from about ad 1500 through to the 1820s and elaborates a discussion of identity that focuses upon the cumulative accretion of at least two layers of people whose cultural and historical affiliations are traced to 'Nguni'-speakers east of the escarpment. In the early nineteenth century attributes of these prior identities were still materially expressed. Consequently, political centralisation did not take place within a singular homogenous 'Tswana' identity, but with reference to complex historical layering in the region. It is argued that the retention of elements of an earlier 'Nguni-ness' among the Tlokwa, for example, was due to their role as specialist metal producers in the regional economy. Notes 1 C.A. Hamilton, 'Ideology, Oral Traditions and the Struggle for Power in the Early Zulu Kingdom' (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1986). C.A. Hamilton & J.B. Wright, 'The Making of the AmaLala: Ethnicity, Ideology and Relations of Subordination in a Precolonial Context', South African Historical Journal, 22 (1990), pp. 3–23. 2 For an overall review see T.N. Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age: The Archaeology of Pre-Colonial Farming Societies in Southern Africa (KwaZulu Natal, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007). 3 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. For an earlier review, see S. Hall, M. Anderson, J. Boeyens & F. Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography, Historical Identity and Political Economy of the Late Precolonial Tswana in the Rustenburg', in A. Esterhuysen, N. Swanepoel and P. Bonner (eds), 500 Years Rediscovered: Proceedings of the Inaugural Meeting of the 500 Year Conference (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 2008), pp. 55–86. 4 P.L. Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts', Ethnological Publications, 28 (Pretoria, Government Printer, 1953); P.L. Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Marico District', Ethnological Publications, 30 (Pretoria, Government Printer, 1953). 5 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts'; Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Marico District'; V. Ellenberger, 'History of the Batlokwa of Gaberones (Bechuanaland Protectorate)', African Studies, 13, 3 (1939), pp. 165–98; I. Schapera, Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes (London, London School of Economics, 1952). 6 Schapera, Ethnic Composition. 7 Schapera, Ethnic Composition See also I. Kopytoff, The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1989). P. Landau, Popular Politics in the History of South Africa, 1400–1948 (University of Maryland, College Park, 2010). 8 Schapera, Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes; I. Schapera, A Handbook of Tswana Law and Custom (Frank Cass, London, 1970); I. Schapera & D.F. van der Merwe, Notes on the Tribal Groupings, History, and Customs of the Bakgalagadi (Communications from the School of African Studies, University of Cape Town, 1945). 9 Kopytoff, The African Frontier. 10 Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography. 11 M. Hall, 'Pots and Politics: Ceramic Interpretations in Southern Africa', World Archaeology, 15, 3 (1984), pp. 262–73, p. 269. 12 T.M. Evers, 'The Recognition of Groups in the Iron Age of Southern Africa' (PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1988). 13 T.M. Evers, 'The Recognition of Groups in the Iron Age of Southern Africa' (PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1988) T.M. Evers, '"Oori" or "Moloko"? The Origins of the Sotho/ Tswana on the Evidence of the Iron Age of the Transvaal', South African Journal of Science, 79, 7 (1983), pp. 261–64; T.M. Evers, 'Sotho–Tswana and Moloko Settlement Patterns and the Bantu Cattle Pattern', in G. Avery et al. (eds), Frontiers: Southern African Archaeology Today (Oxford, BAR International Series 207, 1984); T.N. Huffman, 'Ceramics, Classification and Iron Age Entities', African Studies, 39, 2 (1980), pp. 123–74; and see Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, for a summary. 14 Despite Martin Hall's critique that South African stylistic types perpetuate tribal and bound identities in the past, this challenge is widely recognised and discussed in archaeology without recourse to the tribal critique. See S. Croucher & S. Wynne-Jones, 'People, not Pots: Locally Produced Ceramics and Identity on the Nineteenth-Century East African Coast', International Journal of African Historical Studies, 39 (2006), pp. 107–24; O.P. Gosselain, 'Materialising Identities: an African Perspective', Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 7, 2 (2000), pp. 187–217; S. Wynne-Jones & B.B. Mapunda, '"This is What Pots Look Like Here": Ceramics, Tradition and Consumption on Mafia Island, Tanzania', Azania, 43 (2008), pp. 1–17. 15 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 108. 16 J.N. Loubser, 'Archaeology and Early Venda History', The South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series, 6 (1989), pp. 54–61; J.N. Loubser, 'The Ethnoarchaeology of Venda-Speakers in Southern Africa', Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum, Bloemfontein, 7, 8 (1991), pp. 145–164. 17 See J.A. Calabrese, 'Interregional Interaction in Southern Africa: Zhizo and Leopard's Kopje Relations in Northern South Africa, Southwestern Zimbabwe, and Eastern Botswana, ad 1000 to 1200', African Archaeological Review, 17, 4 (2000), pp. 183–210; J.A. Calabrese, 'Ethnicity, Class, and Polity: The Emergence of Social and Political Complexity in the Shashi-Limpopo Valley of Southern Africa, AD 900 to 1300' (PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 2005); Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 108. 18 Kopytoff, The African Frontier. 19 See M.H. Schoeman, 'Excavating Ndundza Ndebele Identity at KwaMaza', Southern African Field Archaeology 7, 1 (1998), pp. 42–52; M.H. Schoeman, 'Material Culture 'under the animal skin': Excavations at Esikhunjini an Mfecane Period Ndundza Ndebele Site', Southern African Field Archaeology, 7 (1998), pp. 72–81; P. Delius & M.H. Schoeman, 'Revisiting Bokoni: Populating the Stone Ruins of the Mpumalanga Escarpment', in Esterhuysen, Swanepoel and Bonner (eds), 500 Years Rediscovered. Proceedings of the Inaugural Meeting of the 500 Year Conference (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 2008), pp. 135–67; T.M. Maggs, 'The 2009 FYI Workshop and Excursion: Valuable Lessons from Eastern Africa', African Studies, 69, 2 (2010), pp. 213–17; J.B. Wright, 'Putting the Bokoni on the Historian's Map', African Studies, 69, 2 (2010), pp. 229–33. 20 T.M. Maggs, Iron Age Communities of the Southern Highveld (Pietermaritzburg, Natal Museum, 1976). 21 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. 22 Arbousset 1846, from Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 142. 23 Evers, '"Oori" or "Moloko"? The Origins of the Sotho/Tswana on the Evidence of the Iron Age of the Transvaal'. 24 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. 25 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 43. 26 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age 27 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts'. 28 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts' 29 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 437. 30 M. Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi: Towards an Understanding of Space, Identity and the Organisation of Production at an Early 19th century Tswana Capital in the Pilanesberg Region of South Africa' (PhD thesis, University of Cape Town, 2008); Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography. 31 A. Manson, 'Conflict in the Western Highveld/Southern Kalahari, c.1750–1820', in C.A. Hamilton (ed.), The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History (Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg, Witwatersrand University Press and University of Natal Press, 1995), pp. 351–61. 32 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts'. Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Marico District'. 33 R.J. Mason, 'Iron Age settlement in the Transvaal and Natal Revealed by Aerial Photography and Excavation', African Studies, 27, 4 (1968), pp. 1–14; J.D. Seddon, 'An Aerial Survey of Settlement and Living Patterns in the Transvaal Iron Age: Preliminary Report', African Studies, 27, 4 (1968), pp. 189–94; Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi; Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography'. 34 Manson, 'Conflict in the Western Highveld/Southern Kalahari, c.1750–1820'; S. Hall, 'A Consideration of Gender Relations in the Late Iron Age "Sotho" Sequence of the Western Highveld, South Africa', in S. Kent (ed.), Gender in African Prehistory (Walnut Creek, London, New Delhi, Altamira Press, 1998), pp. 235–58; Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 456. 35 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography'. 36 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 437; Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography'; Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 37 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, pp. 433 & 437. 38 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 437. 39 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'; Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography'. 40 D. Drake Rosenstein, 'Ceramic Production as a Reflection of Technological and Social Complexity in the Late Iron Age of South Africa: an Ethnographic and Petrographic Study' (Special Honours thesis, George Washington University, 2002), p. 28. 41 D. Drake Rosenstein, 'Ceramic Production as a Reflection of Technological and Social Complexity in the Late Iron Age of South Africa: an Ethnographic and Petrographic Study' (Special Honours thesis, George Washington University, 2002), p. 32. 42 Gosselain, 'Materializing Ethnicity: an African Perspective', p. 189. 43 O.P. Gosselain, 'Materializing Ethnicity: an African Perspective', p. 200. 44 O.P. Gosselain, 'Materializing Ethnicity: an African Perspective', p. 200 45 P. Lemonier, Elements for an Anthropology of Technology (Ann Arbor, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1992); Gosselain, 'Materializing Ethnicity', pp. 187–217; N. David & C. Kramer, Ethnoarchaeology in Action (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001). 46 R.J. Mason, Origins of Black People of Johannesburg and the Southern Western Central Transvaal AD 350–1880. (Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand Archaeological Research Unit, Occasional Paper 16), pp. 354–56). 47 Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography', p. 75. 48 Mason, 'Iron Age Settlement in the Transvaal and Natal Revealed by Aerial Photography and Excavation'; Seddon, 'An Aerial Survey of Settlement and Living Patterns in the Transvaal Iron Age: Preliminary Report'. 49 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 38, 431–37. 50 A detailed consideration of homestead variability is in preparation. 51 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 52 O. Raum, The Social Function of Avoidances and Taboo Among the Zulu (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1973), p. 146. 53 See, for example, Raum, The Social Function of Avoidances and Taboo Among the Zulu, pp. 186 & 188. 54 J.C.C. Pistorius, Molokwane: An Iron Age Bakwena Village (Johannesburg, Perskor, 1992). 55 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age, p. 40. 56 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 57 T.N. Huffman & R.H. Steel, 'Salvage Excavations at Planknek, Potgietersrus, Northern Province', South African Field Archaeology, 5 (1996), pp. 45–56. 58 Schoeman, 'Excavating Ndundza Ndebele Identity at KwaMaza'; Schoeman, 'Material Culture 'Under the Animal Skin': Excavations at Esikhunjini an Mfecane Period Ndundza Ndebele Site'. 59 Pistorius, Molokwane: an Iron Age Bakwena Village; Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. 60 J.C.A. Boeyens, 'In Search of Kaditshwene', South African Archaeological Bulletin, 55 (2000), pp. 3–17; J.C.A. Boeyens, 'The Late Iron Age Sequence in the Marico and Early Tswana History', South African Archaeological Bulletin, 58 (2003), pp. 63–78. 61 Schoeman, 'Excavating Ndundza Ndebele Identity at KwaMaza'; Schoeman, 'Material Culture 'Under the Animal Skin': Excavations at Esikhunjini an Mfecane Period Ndundza Ndebele Site'. 62 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts'; Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Marico District'. 63 See B.J. Boeyens and S. Hall, 'Tlokwa Oral Traditions and the Interface between History and Archaeology at Marothodi', South African Historical Journal, 61, 3 (September 2009), pp. 457–81, for the oral history of succession at Marothodi that accounts for two kgosing. 64 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi; Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, 'Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography'. 65 Boeyens and Hall, 'Tlokwa Oral Traditions and the Interface between History and Archaeology at Marothodi', pp. 457–81. 66 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 67 Breutz, 'The Tribes of the Rustenburg and Pilanesberg Districts'. 68 Manson, 'Conflict in the Western Highveld/Southern Kalahari, c.1750–1820'. 69 Anderson, 'The Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 70 V. Ellenberger, 'History of the Ba-ga-Malete of Ramoutsa (Bechuanaland Protectorate)', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 25, 1 (1937–38), pp. 1–72; N. Parsons, 'On the Origins of the BamaNgwato', Botswana Notes and Records, 5 (1973), pp. 82–103; N. Parsons, 'Prelude to the Difaqane in the Interior of Southern Africa c.1600–c.1822', in Hamilton (ed.), The Mfecane Aftermath, p. 334. 71 H. Stayt, The Bavenda (London, Oxford University Press, 1931). 72 Anderson, 'Historical Archaeology of Marothodi'. 73 Hall, Anderson, Boeyens & Coetzee, Towards an Outline of the Oral Geography. 74 Huffman, Handbook to the Iron Age. 75 Schapera, Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. 76 Kopytoff, The African Frontier, p. 40. 77 Carolyn Hamilton's partial solution to this issue is to replace the word identity with affiliation

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