African Apocalypse
The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a Twentieth-Century South African Prophet
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3912384 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clifton Crais, Robert R Edgar, Robert Edgar (0009-0002-2837-2335), Hilary Sapire |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 382 |
| Publication date | 2000-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International Journal of African Historical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0361-7882 • E-ISSN: 2326-3016 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/220663 |
| OpenAlex | W2037216140 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
Book synopsis: The devastating influenza epidemic of 1918 ripped through southern Africa. In its aftermath, revivalist and millenarian movements sprouted. Prophets appeared bearing messages of resistance, redemption, and renewal. African Apocalypse: The Story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, A Twentieth-Century Prophet is the remarkable story of one such prophet, a middle-aged Xhosa woman named Nontetha. After surviving the deadly virus, Nontetha proclaimed that a series of dreams revealed to her that the influenza had been a punishment from God. Consequently, she embarked on a mission to reform her society. She imposed numerous prohibitions and rules on her followers. In a parallel movement, in 1919, millenarian Israelites congregated in the holy village of Ntabelanga, 100 miles north of Nontetha's area, to await the end of the world. In May 1921, police killed nearly 200 Israelites near Queenstown in a showdown over attempts to expel the settlers. Accused of sedition by an alarmed government, Nontetha was committed to Fort Beaufort Mental Hospital in 1922. On Nontetha's death in 1935, officials buried her in an unmarked pauper's grave. In 1997, Edgar and Sapire located Nontetha's grave. Of Edgar's efforts to return Nontetha to her home, the New York Times said, “One would not expect, perhaps, that a mild-mannered professor from Howard University would turn out to be the Indiana Jones of South Africa.” African Apocalypse touches on a variety of themes, including African Christianity, gender, protest, the social history of madness, and the engagement of professional historians in contemporary issues
Ancient history · African cultural and philosophical studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · South African History and Culture
Madness, the Psychopolitical, and the Vernacular
Sobukwe's children
Diálogos da Igreja Universal com outras práticas religiosas no sul de Moçambique
Currents and Cross-Currents on the Black and African Theology Landscape Today
Public mental health care in colonial Lesotho
South African Music in the History of Epidemics
A Good West Indian, a Good African, and, in Short, a Good Britisher’
Let Me Come to Tell You
‘A German Whore and no Money at that’
Sachs, Chavafambira, Maggie
South African end times
The Forgotten Compass of Death
Maybe Freedom Will Come from You
Women as Diviners and as Christian Converts in Rural South Africa, C . 1880–1963
Time for Self-Sacrifice
Prosecuting a Prophet
African Women's Movements in the Twentieth Century
The Woman Who Was More Than a Man
| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,75 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2024 (23) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |