The Number of the South African War (1899-1902) Concentration Camp Dead

Standard Stories, Superior Stories and a Forgotten Proto-Nationalist Research Investigation

Bibliographic Data

ID2642534
AuthorsLiz Stanley (0000-0001-7831-3283, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author), Helen Dampier (0000-0001-6934-8978, Leeds Beckett University)
Year2009
Volume14
Issue5
Pages161-174
Publication date2009-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5153/sro.2034
OpenAlexW2154339924
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

Tilly extols the power and compass of 'superior stories' compared with 'standard stories'. However, things are not always so clear cut, as the case study discussed here shows. A 1906 - 1914 research investigation headed by P. L. A. Goldman, which has initially concerned with the enumeration and commemoration of the deaths of Boer combatants during the South African War (1899-1902), and later with the deaths of people in the concentration camps established in the commando phase of this war, is explored in detail using archived documents. Now largely forgotten, the investigation was part of a commemorative project which sought to replace competing stories about wartime events with one superior version, as seen from a proto-nationalist viewpoint. Goldman, the official in charge, responded to a range of methodological and practical difficulties in dealing with a huge amount of data received from a wide variety of sources, and eventually produced 'the number' as politically and organisationally required. However, another number of the South African War concentration camp dead - different from Goldman's, and also added up incorrectly - concurrently appeared on a national women's memorial, the Vrouemonument, and it is this which has resounded subsequently. The reasons are traced to the character of stories and their power, and the visibility of stories about the concentration camp deaths on the face of the Vrouemonument, but their anonymity within Goldman's production of 'the number'. Tilly's idea of an 'in-between' approach to analysing stories by historical sociology is drawn on in exploring this

Archaeology · Art · Genealogy · Literature · Media studies · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law · South African History and Culture

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