Anda di halaman 1dari 3

Board of Trustees, Boston University

Of Revelation and Revolution: The Dialectics of Modernity on a South African Frontier by


Jean Comaroff; John L. Comaroff
Review by: Alinah Kelo Segobye
The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2/3 (1999), pp. 624-625
Published by: Boston University African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/220472 .
Accessed: 13/11/2014 06:44
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Boston University African Studies Center and Board of Trustees, Boston University are collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The International Journal of African Historical Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 216.159.168.131 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:44:31 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

624

BOOK REVIEWS

communities.Nevertheless,the monographintroducesthe readerto an extensive


body of scholarshipon the postcolonial African state and is a rewarding-if at
times difficult-read.
JOAN VINCENT
Barnard College

OF REVELATIONAND REVOLUTION:THE DIALECTICSOF MODERNITY ON A SOUTHAFRICANFRONTIER.Volume 2. By JohnL. and Jean


Comaroff.Chicago:The Universityof ChicagoPress, 1997. Pp. xxiv, 588; 35
illustrations.$70.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Historianshave tended to dominate the debate over the colonial experience in
southernAfrica with accountsof the impactof the colonial encounteron different
groups.The accountof colonialismas lived experienceaffectingpeoples'cultures
has been by and large documentedby anthropologists,who began working in
southernAfrica from the 1930s. It is to the Comaroffs' credit that they have
workedhardin the last two decadesto bridgethe gap between anthropologyand
history.They have producedtwo volumes of historicalanthropologythat document in an unprecedentedway, the Tswanaway of life in the specific historical
contextof the colonial encounter.
John and Jean Comaroffare a rare breed of researchersin the landscapeof
southernAfrican studies. They have forged a multidisciplinaryapproachthat
mergeshistory,anthropology,ethnography,and studiesof materialculture.In the
secondvolume of Of Revelationand Revolution,they aim "tocapturethe broadest
possiblespectrumof signifyingpracticesin any lived world"(p. 52).
The subjectof this second volume is the colonial encounterbetweenmissionaries and southernTswana throughoutthe nineteenthcentury(1820-1920). It is
richly presented with details of the daily lives of people, both European and
Tswana.They explore how this encounterbetween men and women from different culturesstarteda process thatsaw eventualcolonial domination.This book is
thus an expose of how one society was transformedby missionariesas agents of
colonialism.However, it also shows how people resistedmissionarydomination,
makingthemactive agentsin this processof change.
Chapter1 reviews the Comaroffs'first volume (Chicago, 1991) and reactsto
criticismsagainstit, puttingreadersunfamiliarwith Volume 1 at a disadvantage.
Chapter2 outlines the manner in which the London Missionary Society and
Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society operated.Their "missionaryimperialism" included underminingchiefly authority,drastic changes to the tenets of
Tswanaculturalidentity,and occasionallyresortingto the bruteforce of the colonial governmentto enforceEuropeanculture.

This content downloaded from 216.159.168.131 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:44:31 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BOOK REVIEWS

625

Chapters3 to 7 probe differentdimensionsof Tswana identity, focusing on


the missionarydesire to changeTswanapatternsof subsistence(replacingherding
with cultivation), exchange (introducing a cash economy), material culture
(especially clothing), architectureand the use of space, extendedfamily systems,
and medicine. Missionary abhorrencefor Tswana culturalpractices meant that
theirquest for refashioningthe people undertheirevangelizinginfluencewent far
beyondspreadingthe gospel.
The resultanthybridTswanaperson,the subjectof so many sociological and
other studies, is widely representedas a neocolonial caricature.For example,
within the Comaroffs'Mafikeng study areauntil recently lived the formerpresidentof the Republicof Bophuthatswana,
LucasMangope,who was also a Tswana
"chief' now turnedChristianDemocratpolitician.
An interestingsubthemeof these chaptersis the reconfigurationof gender
relations.It is ironic thatcuiTentlyfavored"traditional"
Tswananormsof gender
relationscan apparentlybe tracedback to VictorianEngland.SouthernAfrican
archaeologistsare also unpackingthe presentmyth of Tswanawomanhood,demonstratinghow genderrelationswere differentlyconstitutedin precolonialsouthern Africansocieties.I The Comaroffsdemonstratehow missionarydisempowerment was often resisted by groups such as women. World War I and increasing
migrationto the diamondand gold industriesof South Africa permanentlydislocated the Tswanaworldview. The Comaroffsgive furthersubstanceto the study
of the peasantizationof African societies. By creating a dependency on cash
exchange, missioraries were instrumentalin the creation of the migrant labor
system,which remainsa dominantfeatureof southernAfricansocieties.
Chapter8 summarizesthe personalimpactof colonial evangelismon Tswana
people. Using case studies, the authorsdemonstratehow colonialism "promised
equality but sustainedinequality"(p. 396). The "subjectother"createdthrough
missionaryevangelismcould be a challengeto the colonial state,however, as was
demonstratedby Kgosi Tshekedi Khama,who used his knowledge of European
cultureto resistcolonial rule.
Chapter9 summarizesthe key themes raised in this book, particularlythe
dialectical nature of missionary/Tswanaencounters. The Tswana indigenized
Europeanculture and Christianityas much as they were changed by these new
experiences. This is a highly commendable work, invaluable to the scholarly
readerof southernAfricanstudies,Tswanahistory,andculturalstudies.It will be
an excellentresearchcompanionfor futurescholars.Volume 3 is eagerlyawaited.
ALINAHKELOSEGOBYE
University of Botswana

See for example S. Kent, ed., Gender in African Prehistory(New York, 1998); L. Wadley,
ed., OurGendered
Past (Johannesburg,1997).

This content downloaded from 216.159.168.131 on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:44:31 AM


All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Anda mungkin juga menyukai