Chota Motala. The Making of a South African Political Biography

ABSTRACT

Drawing on my experience of writing an account of Chota Motala, a Pietermaritzburg-based medical doctor and anti-apartheid activist, this article considers some of the historiographical and methodological challenges of writing biography in general, and South African political biographies in particular. On a general level, this includes whether biography is ‘inferior’ history, an ‘illusion’, and whether it can be written in a linear manner. Specific to my study, this article considers the theoretical and contextual issues relating to South African political biography; the role of the sources in shaping the narrative; the subjective process of writing a biography; and the variance in interpreting the character of Motala and his contribution in the political sphere.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Since Unterhalter’s critique, we have seen the publication of auto/biographies of women like Winnie Mandela (Du Preez 2005), Zarina Maharaj (2006), Patricia de lille (Smith 2002), Charlotte Maxeke (Jaffer 2016), Amina Dawood (Jaffer 2010), Albertina Sisulu (Elinor Sisulu 2003), Amina Cachalia (2013), Pregs Govender (2007), and Fatima Meer (2017), amongst others.