The study of languages was crucial to colonial power in 18th and 19th-century South Africa. This important book examines representations of the South African Bantu languages Xhosa and Zulu, revealing the ways in which colonial linguistics contributed to both the making of the colonial order and to instabilities at the heart of the project.

'G[ilmour] has a good command of the source material; her style is lucid and readable; and she deftly weaves linguistic and sociopolitical threads together, from the critical perspective of postcolonial studies.' - Paul T. Roberge, Historiographia Linguistica

'Gilmour knows how languages work and she has provided an excellent foundation for the study of their history.' - Patrick Harries, Journal of Southern African Studies

Autorentext

RACHAEL GILMOUR is Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies in the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.

Inhalt
Introduction Language in the Land of the 'Hottentots' and 'Caffres': European Travellers in the Eastern Cape, 1652-1806 Of Translation and Transformations: The Beginnings of Missionary Linguistics in South Africa Studying Language in the 'Moral Wilderness': Methodist Missionaries on the Eastern Cape Frontier Language, Culture, and 'The Native Mind': Missionary Language Study in Natal and the Zulu Kingdom From Languages to Language: The Comparative Philologist in South Africa Conclusion Index