Week 4

Bogadi
This reading provides letters that argue about the bogadi. From the beginning of the reading it is clear that the British have started to spread Christianity to South Africa. This reading begins with an example of Adam and Eve, which suggested that these people were familiar with main ideas and themes of Christianity. Essentially this is a back and forth argument based on many aspects of the bogadi. With the introduction of Christianity many of the people of this region are starting to critically look at their own cultures and customs. The point is that there were people on both sides of this argument. As the bogadi is a crucial part of the marriage ceremony for these people, many argue that regardless what Christianity tells them it should continue to be of that importance to these people. I think this reading really shows the kind of influence that the British had over the people of southern Africa, especially with regards to the ways in which they view religion.

Intro words of Batswana

It is quite interesting that within the last twenty years people of southern Africa are just becoming interested in studying personal experiences of colonialism. I wonder what types of political changes occurred to spike an increase in this subject. I wonder why it took so long for people to want to understand the history of the area and what kinds of information can be learned from understand and studying these stories. I found it interesting that the London Missionaries translated the Bible into Setswana, yet another indication that Christianity is spreading rapidly into this part of the world.

Kgabo Letter

I thought this letter showed the importance of language to a culture. In many cases people of a group are identified by the language they speak, it is a means part of their identity. I think that they consider their own language to be not only a means of communication, but also that it is part of themselves. I also think that the people the letter talks about, while they strongly appose losing their own language, I think they begin to see the advantages of learning new languages, thus allowing them to be more informed and able to understand the people around them.

Letter from March 1890

In this letter the author is talking about the obligation that parents have to teach their children about Christianity. It seems like many people at this time did not really include their children in religious events. The author says that while many adults attend church services many children are being left in the dark. I really don’t quite understand why that would be.

Pass Laws

The whole concept of these laws to me seems really strange. It doesn’t seem right to pass a law and not inform the population about it, then arrest people for breaking a law they did not even knew existed. These laws really just seem like a really good way for these big companies to get free labor, which in turn leads them to be much more profitable. And these compounds that people were forced to live in sound just like prisons, the picture we looked at in class really made these places appear very cramped, it kind of reminded me a picture of a concentration camp from the holocaust. I thought the watchtower was a very interesting feature that you would not expect to b there. These compounds did serve a purpose as they allowed for these mining companies to have more control over their employees, and the convicts that worked for them.