Preachers, Peasants and Politics in South East Africa, 1835-1880: African communities in Natal, Pondoland & Zululand (Royal Historical Society Studies in History)

by Norman Etherington

This study focuses on the response to Christianity in southeast Africa which witnessed the greatest missionary activity and seeks to answer a few simple questions. Why did some Africans choose Christianity? Why did most Africans reject it? What kinds of people went to live at mission stations? How did life in African Christian communities differ from life in heathen communities?
These and other issues are addressed through a comparative biographical study of the lives oftwo Qwabe cousins, Musi and Nembula, whose names and exploits were first recorded in the 1840s. Musi remained a heathen, established himself as a chief of the Qwabe, and was succeeded by his son who was deposed by white authorities in the aftermath of the Bambatha rebellion. Nembula was baptised; he became manager of a sugar mill and an ordained Congregational minister. Later, while Musi's son awaited the mantle of Qwabe chieftainship, Nembula's son was completing studies at Chicago Medical College, eventually to return to Natal.

241 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Norman Etherington is Professor of History at the University of Western Australia and a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Geographical Society. A Past-President of the Australian Historical Association, he is the author of more than a hundred scholarly articles and book chapters.