Comments on: From whence the Zulus came and where the Bushmen went

By: Pleb

Pleb — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:36:02 +0000

@ngodoi – you are the most sensible commentator on this issue! Well done.

By: Michael Francis

Michael Francis — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:47:21 +0000

@Man G – It is funny that you mention the denial of the archaeological evidence of great Zimbabwe in a comment that denies the archaeological evidence of a bantu expansion form the north. It is sound archaeology and ethno-linguistics that outlines the Bantu movement across Africa. How you take this to be about race and who has rights in South Africa is strange and twisted logic. And I have no mineral resources to gain from writing about Africa.

By: Man G

Man G — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:45:40 +0000

How convenient it is to portray the San as the indigenous people of just this part of Africa (which, unfortunately, is loved so much by ‘white settlers’) and label the rest as having ‘moved south from north.
Europe has proof of the movement of that race across the entire European continent, foraging for resources and better living conditions (A natural behavior of all living things).
The strange thing is all this crap about which group of Europeans got where first in Europe is never heard of simply because the Europeans consider themselves as a single race and the non- Europeans as different species that cannot co-exit among themselves. Hence this distorted notion of most whites that their presence in Africa has saved the day
Little wonder therefore that every white guy will be an expert on Africa, particularly where there seems to be gains for such interest (e.g. mineral resource)
I have no doubts that if a fair and unbiased research is conducted, that a conclusion will be that this was merely the dynamics of human movement, up and down a free and boundary less Africa, looking for better resources, and not an arrival
There are historical instances that stained the image of whites who professed to be extraordinarily knowledgeable about Africans. Most white scholars were not shy to deny archeological discoveries such as Zimbabwe ruins as being part of the Bantu race. It is such historical facts that render whites not the authority to talk about Africa.

By: S

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:09:18 +0000

Thanks Michael for an informative piece.

@Kizito – if you stopped to think for a moment – the argument that you are making is exactly the same argument that the apartheid state used to justify the prevention of black people from governing! Moreover – by YOUR own logic – if a Canadian cannot comment on Africa (for no other reason because he is Canadian) you are also claiming that an African cannot comment on Canada, or America or any other country… even China! How far do we take this – can only San people comment on the San, can only women comment on women’s issues, can only black Xhosa speakers comment on Julius malema??! So Kizito – I suppose we won’t be seeing you comment on any blog site where the content doesnt match your immediate physical characteristics!

By: Apocolypz

Apocolypz — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:27:34 +0000

We should all be thankful for the contribution of an intelligent scholar like Michael who came to our country with nothing but curiosity and good intentions, and has grown to love South Africa with all its idiosynchrocies. The purpose of scholarly practice is to analyse and grow solutions, not to inflame the debate and bring about further animosity. Good job Michael! We are all citizens of planet earth and as such land ownership, ethnicity, precidence, intellectual vooma and politics pale into insignificance when it comes to peace and harmony. We need a new way of looking at ourselves, and this comes through creative analysis as demonstrated in the article above. Thanks Canadian/South African dude!

By: Abongile

Abongile — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:47:36 +0000

Micheal Francis…you are too intelligent, thank you for the enlightening piece, well writ I say.

By: Michael Francis

Michael Francis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:17:03 +0000

@Johan Youi wish to know how I funded my stay in SA? I started here as a graduate student and I took out student loans and sold two horses to finance my initial foray in SA. I then worked part-time as a tutor at UKZN and continued to draw on student loans from Canada. I was also awarded a PhD fieldwork grant from the Wenner-Grenn Foundation for Anthropological Research. After that I ran out of money and left for the UK where I spent the year sending tourists to South Africa while completing my PhD. I then was awarded a Post-Doctoral research Fellowship at UKZN and worked for the last two teaching and writing. I now have left for Canada and as you can see work at Athabasca University.

So now you know.

By: Johan Meyer

Johan Meyer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:31:17 +0000

@Martin As for composting human wastes, I have this recurring fantasy of the people on the cape flats recycling their wastes 1. to grow food and 2. to grow Fynbos – Kirstenbosch is for rich people.

By: Johan Meyer

Johan Meyer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:28:22 +0000

@ Martin – I’m not a Marxist, and I’d say that Marx and Engels are useful only as critics, i.e. they have no useful alternatives. People build alternatives experimentally, after all, that is how cultures arise, much as any science – you try something, see what happens, and incorporate the insights into a practice. Someone once said that religion until about 150 years ago was generally more a question of practice than belief – if you asked the average religious person what they believed, you’d get a blank stare… Religion was very successful in the middle ages because it kept people away from a near certain death at the hands of doctors, and had reasonably good doctrines on sanitation given the technology of the day. Hope that’s meaningful…

By: Johan Meyer

Johan Meyer — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:42:02 +0000

To all (except Harris) Sorry for being a drol. I’ll try to behave from now on…

@Harris – try reading my response to you above – as for the Indian scholars, they come in two varieties: 1. Those who take issue with specific Aryan invasion theories (there are several, and they’ll usually point to a specific German scholar, whose name I forget), with the whole Aryan-invented-the-world (or India) notions, and 2. Hindutva thugs – watch who you are associating with – although in fairness, they are not so much scholars as propagandistic interpreters of scholarship.