Browsing Research articles (Dept of History) by Title
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Now showing items 21-26 of 26
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Segobye, A.K. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis) www.routledge.com, NaN, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: The colonial and postcolonial experiences of Africans reflect the myriad changes which African societies have undergone over the last few centuries. These include cultural, political and economic transformations mainly carried through formal education and the entrenching of western knowledge and technologies. The material and ideological changes were facilitated by a number of factors which varied over time and place. Formal education via religious missions became one of the tools for accelerated cultural transformation. It instilled new values and cultural aspirations for Africans caught in the complexities of colonial life. Education became the main vehicle for many forms of liberation from poverty, oppression and the inequities oflife. It offered an escape from what was perceived as the inadequacies of African knowledge systems creating new classes and voices within African societies. University education, as and when it became accessible to Africans, was invariably laden with multiple expectations for those who gained entry from their families and the wider communities within which they lived. The university thus became a complex landscape steeped in often contradictory aspirations including the transformation of individual and collective ideas. For some, it marked the attainment of a position of superiority, elite status, and often new forms of power, whilst for others it was a place of learning and enlightenment, associated with the creation of new liberties, and tools for realising broader freedoms. The idea of transformation in the university in Africa can thus be situated in the contradictions and opportunities that university education in Africa has come to represent. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/741 Files in this item: 1
Segobye_SD_2007.pdf (995.1Kb) -
Makgala, C.J. (Oxford university press/www.oup.com, NaN, 2005)[more][less]
Abstract: This article assesses the weaknesses of opposition in Botswana through the case of Kenneth Koma, the influential President of the Botswana National Front (BNF) from 1977 to 2001. This is done by examining the perception that from 1997 Koma’s relationship with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) destabilized and weakened the opposition in the country. The article challenges a view, held by some of his detractors in the opposition, that his leadership style was out of tune with global trends. It also argues that what some people have viewed as ‘tribalism’ — the domination of the BDP leadership by members of the Bangwato tribe (of which Koma is also a member) — seems to be primarily a matter of expediency. This alleged tribalism is used by Koma’s critics as a smear. The article analyzes the relationship between Koma and the BDP at both political and personal levels. At the political level, Koma’s failure to keep the BNF united has been capitalized on by the BDP to tighten its grip on power. At the personal level, Koma has used his connections in the BDP to advantage in his business dealings. Koma’s cult status and his personal and political choices have therefore significantly contributed to de facto one-party rule in Botswana. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/505 Files in this item: 1
Makgala_AA_2005.pdf (2.367Mb) -
Morapedi, Wazha G. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis) http://www.routledge.com, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: This article analyses the colonial government’s intervention in crop production in Botswana through the ‘progressive farmer’ scheme, from 1946 to independence in 1966. Crop production was not a highly remunerative venture in colonial Botswana because of persistent droughts, inadequate markets and lack of sufficient draught power and farming implements. Although cattle constituted the basis of wealth and, hence, their ownership led to social differentiation from pre-colonial times, the introduction of the ‘progressive farmer’ scheme accentuated the existing social stratification by favouring the well-to-do producers. While only a few farmers benefited from state assistance, this development marked a departure from the period before 1947 when the colonial state did almost nothing to bolster crop production in the country. By utilising statistics and case histories of farmers who joined the scheme, the article argues that the support extended to a few selected farmers in only some reserves accentuated intra-peasant differentiation and differentiation between regions of the country. The article begins by briefly presenting a survey of the concept of peasant differentiation, then focuses on the nature and organisation of progressive farmer schemes and their impact on peasant differentiation. It then discusses the position of farmers in the various categories of the scheme and finally presents and analyses case studies of three progressive farmers from three different reserves. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/485 Files in this item: 1
Morapedi_JSAS_2006.pdf (1.945Mb) -
Makgala, C.J. (Cambridge University Press, NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: This essay examines, through taxation, the relationship between British colonial administrators, Tswana Dikgosi (chiefs) and their subjects in the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1899 to 1957. It argues that since Bechuanaland became a British territory through negotiations the Tswana rulers were able to protect their interests aggressively but with little risk of being deposed. Moreover, the Tswana succession system by primogeniture worked to their advantage whenever the British sought to replace them. Taxation was one arena where this was demonstrated. Although consultation between the Dikgosi, their subjects and the British was common, subordinate tribes sometimes fared badly under Tswana rule. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/512 Files in this item: 1
makgala_JAH_2004.pdf (198.6Kb) -
Bolaane, Maitseo M.M. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis) http://www.routledge.com, NaN, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: The aim of this article is to examine the historical relationship between tsetse fly control, the cattle industry and game policy in northern Botswana. The article will locate the Botswana case in the context of contemporary tsetse and trypanosomes research in sub-Saharan Africa and illustrate some of the major factors influencing tsetse and trypanosomosis control policy in the Okavango Delta. It will also provide an overview of the development of Western scientific thinking about tsetse control in Botswana. It analyses the complex epistemologies employed in Western scientific accounts of the history of the area and emphasises the exceptionality of the Botswana context where tsetse and trypanosomosis control proceeded down a bumpy road of trial and error until late into the twentieth century. Although there seems to have been little attempt to incorporate indigenous knowledge about tsetse fly on the part of the colonial authorities, it is also interesting to note that, in the Botswana context, Africans also made sustained efforts to observe the fly environment and to experiment with its control. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/487 Files in this item: 1
Bolaane_SAHJ_2007.pdf (2.785Mb) -
Mokopakgosi, B.T. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis)/www.routledge.com, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: This article documents key aspects of the role played by university students in Botswana in the liberation struggle, from the early years of the University in the mid-1960s to the year of Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. Three demonstrations by University students are analysed, and the article concludes that, contrary to the received literature, the University contributed to the liberation struggle in a meaningful way. Although students at the University continued to play a part in the liberation struggle after 1980, this period is not discussed as the liberation struggle became just one of the key agenda items in a broadened political programme that focussed on local concerns of the students such as fees, allowances, institutional governance and democratisation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/551 Files in this item: 1
Mokopakgosi_SD_2008.pdf (1.453Mb)
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Now showing items 21-26 of 26