PowerPoint Presentation

Researching social change & whiteness in South Africa 1770s 1970s: Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness project

Liz StanleyESRC Professorial Research FellowUniversity of EdinburghApril 2013

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2The 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 LivingstoneJohn Smith Moffat & Jane Moffat nee UnwinRobert Unwin Moffat & Hilda Moffat nee Vavasseur

Plus letters of:John MackenzieJames Read Snr, James Read JnrGottlob SchreinerJames Kitchingman

Plus eg. Edith Tovey

= letters from 1817 to 1930s

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5Formal analysis in WWW FigurationCase, unit of analysisConnectionSeriesSequenceVarianceInterval Temporal ordering Duration Number [[[ Content Re-reading & documentary analysisMembership categorisation analysisEvent structure analysis ]]]

6A small methodological experiment

1. Formal analysisFindlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933Bessie Price letters, 165, 1863-1900Gottlob Schreiners missionary letters, 18 + 10, 1838-1846

2. A random sampleFindlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-19331806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 19333 x randomly selected letters per year

7The formal analysisFigurationCase, unit of analysisConnectionSeriesSequenceVarianceTemporal ordering Interval DurationNumber

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9DateToFrom

Dec 1838Basle Socon board shipJan 1838Basle Socon board ship2 Feb - 12 Mar 1838LMSon board ship6 Aug 1838LMSKat River17 Jan 1839LMSPhilipolis24 Oct 1839LMSPhilipolis1 Sept 1840LMSPhilipolis5 Oct 1840Basle Soc?24 Dec 1840LMSPhilipolis3 June 1841Basle Soc?7 June 1841LMSPhilipolis18 Aug 1841LMSPhilipolis24 Dec 1841LMSPhilipolis

26 May 1842LMSPhilipolis PHILIP & READ4 June 1842Basle SocPhilipolis23 June 1842LMSPhilipolis13 July 1842LMSBethany28 July 1842LMSThaba NchuAug 1842Basle SocThaba Pachae [aka Basel]19 Aug 1842LMSBasel29 Aug 1842Basle SocColesberg4 April 1842Basle SocColesberg30 Sept 1842LMSBeersheba20 Oct 1842Basle SocColesberg

10 Jan 1844Basle SocColesberg17 Jan 1844LMSBasel4 May 1846LMSColesberg15 Aug 1846LMSColesberg24 Aug 1846LMSColesberg

10GOTTLOB SCHREINER

My family medical men Rebecca indispositionthe infant died uninhabitable dwelling = the hand of the Lord on usI preached, desirous the good word of God the people came = adults, rising generationdevotion = in Sesuto, in Dutchwe = us, our members, candidates for baptism, all the othersthe people = here, numerousat new station = not in the place, but numerous in neighbourhoodif I go among them, a great number will attain gracethe Lord bids, His good pleasure this place = initially no Dutch farmers nearno Basutoes recognise the blessing of fountains for irrigation so eagle-eyed farmers take possession, in a lawless waythe people dont like living near Europeans so move onwhat the end will be, GS cannot telllittle hope the Colonial Government will interfere

11The formal analysis

Throws up analytically interesting things

Leads 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 order

12The 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 letters

13Total lettersunmarked ethic/race categorisationsEvaluative categorisations243

Frederick ran for the carriage & shouted himself hoarse

Mrs Ss girl departed when she was most anxious

Old Ma Wils is packing poultry with Dad1

CR Prance 21 Feb 1933 Boers an unattractive character because mixed race

THEREFORE 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 Nats

141933 Dates &WritersNone Un-markedMarkedEthnic/Racial Political Sex/Gender Other Total Uses 8.1.33 Winnie Hemming11 = family121.3.33CR Prance3221522.2.33CE Baber211 = office reform229.5.33CE Baber1221321.7.33JH Hofmeyr12111 = You & I1 = Africaner & Boer49.8.33Victor ?11 = him & George 115.9.33CE Baber3131 = office reform56.10.33CR Prance131420.12.33CE Baber31 21 = him & George423.12.33Bessie Findlay121 = Jewish family13 = hetero family normativity5

15THE TWO APPROACHES

THE FORMAL ANALYSIS

The 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 content

The 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 not

BUT, 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 pinpointed

16A 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.)

17www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/

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