Sorcery and Sovereignty
Subtitle: Taxation, Power, and Rebellion in South Africa, 1880-1963
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: November 15, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780821417041
Subjects: African history: c 1500 to c 1900; African history: from c 1900 -; c 1800 to c 1900; History - General History; Africa - South - South Africa; History; South Africa; History: World; Republic of South Africa; Africa - South - Republic of South Africa; History / Africa; Africa - General; 19th century; 20th century; Blacks; Political aspects; Politics and government; Taxation
Description: Rebellions broke out in many areas of South Africa shortly after the institution of white rule in the late nineteenth century and continued into the next century. However, distrust of the colonial regime reached a new peak in the mid-twentieth century, when revolts erupted across a wide area of rural South Africa. All these uprisings were rooted in grievances over taxes. Rebels frequently invoked supernatural powers for assistance and accused government officials of using witchcraft to enrich themselves and to harm ordinary people. As Sean Redding observes in Sorcery and Sovereignty, beliefs in witchcraft and supernatural powers were part of the political rhetoric; the system of taxation - with all its prescribed interactions between ruler and ruled - was intimately connected to these supernatural beliefs. In this fascinating study, Redding examines how black South Africans' beliefs in supernatural powers, along with both economic and social change in the rural areas, resulted in specific rebellions and how gender relations in black South African rural families changed. Sorcery and Sovereignty explores the intersection of taxation, political attitudes, and supernatural beliefs among black South Africans, shedding light on some of the most significant issues in the history of colonized Africa.