change amp whiteness in South Africa 1770s 1970s Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness project Liz Stanley ESRC Professorial Research Fellow University of Edinburgh ID: 235275
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Researching social" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Researching social change & whiteness in South Africa 1770s – 1970s: Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness projectLiz StanleyESRC Professorial Research FellowUniversity of Edinburgh April 2013Slide2Slide3
The research = c10 case studies, different figurations of letter-writing Located within 50-60 interconnected collections A CASE STUDY = Letters of Elizabeth Lees (Bessie) Price 1854 to 1900, plus those of:
Roger PriceMary Moffat nee Smith & Robert MoffatMary Livingstone nee
Moffat
& David Livingstone
John Smith
Moffat
& Jane Moffat nee UnwinRobert Unwin
Moffat & Hilda Moffat nee VavasseurPlus letters of:
John MackenzieJames Read Snr, James Read JnrGottlob Schreiner
James
KitchingmanPlus eg. Edith Tovey = letters from 1817 to 1930sSlide4Slide5Slide6
Formal analysis in WWW FigurationCase, unit of analysisConnection
SeriesSequenceVariance
Interval
Temporal
ordering
Duration Number
[[[ Content Re-reading & documentary analysisMembership categorisation analysis
Event structure analysis ]]]Slide7
A small methodological experiment1. Formal analysisFindlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933Bessie Price letters, 165, 1863-1900Gottlob Schreiner’s ‘missionary’ letters, 18 + 10, 1838-1846
2. A random sampleFindlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-19331806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933
3 x randomly selected letters per yearSlide8
The formal analysis…FigurationCase, unit of analysisConnectionSeriesSequenceVarianceTemporal ordering Interval
DurationNumber Slide9Slide10
Date To From Dec 1838 Basle Soc on board ship
Jan 1838 Basle Soc on board ship
2 Feb - 12 Mar 1838 LMS on board ship
6
Aug 1838 LMS Kat River
17
Jan 1839 LMS Philipolis 24 Oct 1839 LMS Philipolis 1 Sept 1840 LMS Philipolis 5 Oct 1840 Basle
Soc ?24 Dec 1840 LMS Philipolis 3 June 1841 Basle
Soc ?7 June 1841 LMS Philipolis 18 Aug 1841 LMS Philipolis 24 Dec 1841 LMS Philipolis
26 May 1842 LMS Philipolis PHILIP & READ
4
June 1842 Basle
Soc
Philipolis
23 June 1842
LMS
Philipolis
13 July 1842 LMS Bethany
28 July 1842 LMS Thaba ‘NchuAug 1842 Basle Soc Thaba Pachae [aka Basel]19 Aug 1842 LMS Basel29 Aug 1842 Basle Soc Colesberg4 April 1842 Basle Soc Colesberg30 Sept 1842 LMS Beersheba20 Oct 1842 Basle Soc Colesberg10 Jan 1844 Basle Soc Colesberg17 Jan 1844 LMS Basel4 May 1846 LMS Colesberg15 Aug 1846 LMS Colesberg 24 Aug 1846 LMS ColesbergSlide11
GOTTLOB SCHREINERMy family ↔ medical men → Rebecca ‘indisposition’ the infant died ↔ uninhabitable dwelling = the hand of the Lord on us I preached, desirous the good word of God
the people came = adults, rising generation devotion = in Sesuto, in Dutch we = us, our members, candidates for baptism, all the others the people =
here
, numerous
at
new
station = not in the place, but numerous in neighbourhood if I go among them, a great number will attain grace the Lord bids, His good pleasure this place = initially no Dutch farmers near
no Basutoes recognise the blessing of fountains for irrigation so eagle-eyed farmers take possession, in a lawless way the people don’t like living near Europeans so move on what the end will be, GS cannot tell
little hope the Colonial Government will interfereSlide12
The formal analysis …Throws up analytically interesting thingsLeads to analysis of content as well as structure‘Works’ in WWW terms because:
variance in series, sequences & temporal ordering , changes in interval, oddities in duration, are not happenstance but a product of the referential aspects of letter-writing; and the referential aspects of letter-writing connect, in some form or another, with changing dimensions of the South African racial orderSlide13
The sample ...a small trial random sample of Findlay Family letters = c.9000 in number, 1806-1933 continuous Selected years (start, end, random mids) 1806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933
3 x randomly selected letters per year= 24 lettersSlide14
Total letters‘unmarked’ ethic/’race’ categorisationsEvaluative categorisations24
3Frederick ran for the carriage & shouted himself hoarseMrs S’s girl departed when she was most anxiousOld Ma Wils is packing poultry with Dad
1
CR Prance
21 Feb 1933
Boers an unattractive character because mixed raceTHEREFORE – other Prance letters =29 Oct 1925 Reenekes/Nats12 June 1928 Nats
v cream of men29 July 1928 ‘Super Nats’ & madness, suffragettes & madnessND 1931 inferior foreign blood corrupting21 Feb 1933
see above6 Oct 1933 SA sold by British Liberalism, exodus of men of calibre, the NatsSlide15
1933 Dates &WritersNone Un-marked
MarkedEthnic/Racial Political Sex/
Gender
Other
Total
Uses
8.1.33 Winnie Hemming1
1 = family1
21.3.33CR Prance32
2
1522.2.33CE Baber
2
1
1 = office
reform
2
29.5.33
CE Babe
r
1
2
2
1
3
21.7.33
JH Hofmeyr12111 = You & I1 = Africaner & Boer49.8.33Victor ?11 = him & George 115.9.33CE Baber31
3
1 = office reform
5
6.10.33
CR
Prance
1
3
1
420.12.33CE Baber31 21 = him & George423.12.33Bessie Findlay121 = Jewish family13 = hetero family normativity5Slide16
THE TWO APPROACHES…THE FORMAL ANALYSISThe formal analysis showed variance of different kinds & in all cases pointed to interesting features ,when structure/content was examined more closely
Structural features and gaps & variance in these regarding figuration, series, sequence & so on led analysis to specific letters & so letter contentThe letter content
pinpointed consistently raised
issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisation
THE RANDOM SAMPLE
The structure of the selection (aka sample) in & of itself showed nothing, other than being a production of the selection criteria used
Analysis depended entirely on reading the content of the letters thus selected
Some of the letter content was interesting in WWW terms, but some – indeed, most – was notBUT, by pursuing further but non-random
cuts into the letters (the Prance letters, all 1933 letters, for which jpegs), interesting issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisations were pinpointedSlide17
A conclusion = They throw up different things, so…Carry out a formal analysis, of every figuration of letters & series within such(nb. Can be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during overall data collection.)Analyse a random sample of letters within figurations, & across the whole dataset(nb. Former can
be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during data collection, latter requires complete data, so needs to be done post data collection.)Slide18
www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/