Violence in Rural South Africa, 1880–1963

Sean Redding

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780299341206
• eBook ISBN:
  9780299341237
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: Social Sciences

Violence was endemic to rural South African society from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. But acts of violence were not inherent in African culture; rather, violence resulted from the ways in which Africans navigated the hazardous social and political landscape imposed by white rule. Focusing on the Eastern Cape province, Sean Redding investigates the rise of large-scale lethal fights among men, increasingly coercive abduction marriages, violent acts resulting from domestic troubles and witchcraft accusations within families and communities, and political violence against state policies and officials. 

Many violent acts attempted to reestablish and reinforce a moral, social, and political order among Africans. However, what constituted a moral order changed as white governance became more intrusive, land became scarcer, and people reconstructed their notions of "traditional" culture. State policies became obstacles around which Africans had to navigate by invoking the idea of tradition, using the state's court system, alleging the use of witchcraft, or engaging in violent threats and acts. Redding's use of multiple court cases and documents to discuss several types of violence provides a richer context for the scholarly conversation about the legitimation of violence in traditions, family life, and political protest.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction: A History of Violence, a Question of Tradition
• 1. Neighbors and Rivals: Faction Fighting and Traditional Violence in the Rural Transkei
• 2. “The Girl Is Not Consulted”: Abduction Marriages and Gendered Traditions of Violence
• 3. Deaths in the Family: Supernatural Harms and Violent Remedies
• 4. Sons and “Hooligans,” “World-Destroyers” and Rebels: Traditional Violence Takes a Nationalist Turn
• Conclusion: Rural Violence Reconsidered
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index