Introduction – Religious Biography: Transcending Boundaries

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Notes

^*With special thanks to Deborah Gaitskell for her contribution and advice on this introduction, including the compilation of the overview of religious biographies and autobiographies from South Africa.

¹ See, for example, the stimulating and seminal article by C. Meier, ‘Die Faszination des Biographischen’, in Interesse an der Geschichte, ed. Frank Niess (Frankfurt Main, Campus, 1989), pp. 100–11.

² See A. Kirk-Greene, ‘West African Historiography and the Underdevelopment of Biography’, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 21, 39 (1986), pp. 39–52; S. Paul, ‘Bausteine zu einer Geschichte der Biographie-Forschung in Afrika’, Paideuma, 42 (1996), pp. 183–213. These articles are among still very few attempts at reviewing biographical studies of Africa in a more general way.

³ See the impressive new Oxford Dictionary of African Biography, eds E. Akyeampong and H.L. Gates Jr (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011).

⁴ The full programmes of both conferences can be found on the GHIL's website www.ghil.ac.uk under ‘Events and Conferences’. We are planning to publish another batch of papers deriving from the first conference and dealing with ‘Biographies between Spheres of Empire’. The second conference, entitled ‘Ruptures and Linkages: Biography and History in the South’ and held on 16–18 February 2012, broadened the regional scope by examining biographies of individuals in or from the Middle East and South Asia as well as Africa.

⁵ A. Ross, John Philip (1775–1851): Missions, Race and Politics in South Africa (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1986); J. Guy, The Heretic: A Study of the Life of John William Colenso 1814–1883 (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press; Braamfontein, Ravan Press, 1983); J. Guy, The View Across the River: Harriette Colenso and the Zulu Struggle against Imperialism (Cape Town, David Philip, 2001); P. Harries, Butterflies and Barbarians: Swiss Missionaries and Systems of Knowledge in South-East Africa (Oxford, James Currey, 2007).

⁶ D. Williams, Umfundisi: A Biography of Tiyo Soga, 1829–1871 (Lovedale, Lovedale Press, 1978).

⁷ S. Couper, Albert Luthuli: Bound by Faith (Scottsville, University of KwaZulu Natal Press, 2010); M. Goedhals, ‘African Nationalism and Indigenous Christianity: A Study in the Life of James Calata, 1895–1983’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 33, 1 (2003), pp. 63–82; C. Higgs, The Ghost of Equality: the Public Lives of D.D.T. Jabavu of South Africa, 1885–1959 (Athens, Ohio University Press, 1997); H. Hughes, First President: A Life of John Dube, Founding President of the ANC (Johannesburg, Jacana, 2011); A. Luthuli, Let My People Go: An Autobiography (London, Collins, 1962).

⁸ H. Filter (compiler) and S. Bourquin (editor and translator), Paulina Dlamini: Servant of Two Kings (Durban, Killie Campbell Africana Library, and Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1986); M. McCord, The Calling of Katie Makanya (Cape Town, David Philip, 1995).

⁹ P.F. Alexander, Alan Paton: A Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994); R. Denniston, Trevor Huddleston: A Life (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1999); P. McGrandle, Trevor Huddleston: Turbulent Priest (London, Continuum, 2004); A. Paton, Apartheid and the Archbishop: The Life and Times of Geoffrey Clayton (Cape Town, David Philip, 1973); A. Paton, Towards the Mountain (London, Oxford University Press; Cape Town, David Philip, 1980); A. Paton, Journey Continued (London, Oxford University Press; Cape Town, David Philip, 1988); A. Yates and L. Chester, The Troublemaker: Michael Scott and his Lonely Struggle against Injustice (London, Aurum Press, 2006); W.J. Young, The Quiet Wise Spirit: Edwin W. Smith 1976–1957 and Africa (Peterborough, Epworth Press, 2002).

¹⁰ J. Allen, Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorized Biography of Desmond Tutu (London, Rider, 2007; first pub. USA, The Free Press, 2006); F. Chikane, No Life of my Own: An Autobiography (London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1988); S. Magona, From Robben Island to Bishopscourt: The Biography of Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndugane (Cape Town, David Philip, 2011); B. Naudé, My Land van Hoop: Die Lewe van Beyers Naudé (Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, 1995); M. Nuttall, Number Two to Tutu: A Memoir (Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2003); C. Ryan, Beyers Naudé: Pilgrimage of Faith (Cape Town, David Philip, 1990); M. Worsnip, Priest and Partisan: A South African Journey (Melbourne, Ocean Press, 1996) [on Michael Lapsley].

¹¹ C. Niehaus, Fighting for Hope (Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, 1994); W. Verwoerd, My Winds of Change (Randburg, Ravan Press, 1997).

¹² D. Ackermann, After the Locusts: Letters from a Landscape of Faith (Grand Rapids and Cambridge, UK, Eerdmans; Cape Town, David Philip, 2003); N. Charton (ed. W.H. Meyer), The Calling: The Story of a Pioneering Woman Priest (Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2009).

¹³ Elaine Unterhalter's ongoing project on some eighty published texts deserves a special mention in this context. Her analyses include ‘The Schooling of South African Girls: Statistics, Stories, and Strategies’, in C. Heward and S. Bunwaree (eds), Gender, Education and Development: Beyond Access to Empowerment (London & New York, Zed Books, 1999), pp. 49–64 [looking at six autobiographies]; ‘The Work of the Nation: Heroic Masculinity in South African Autobiographical Writing of the Anti-Apartheid Struggle’, The European Journal of Development Research, 12, 2 (2000), pp. 157–78; ‘Gendered Diaspora Identities: South African Women, Exile and Migration, c. 1960–1999’, in S. Ali, K. Coates and W. Wa Goro (eds), Global Feminist Politics: Identities in a Changing World (London, Routledge, 2000), pp. 107–25; ‘Gender, Race and Different Lives: South African Women Teachers’ Autobiographies and the Analysis of Education Change', in P. Kallaway (ed.), The History of Education Under Apartheid, 1948–1994 (New York, Peter Lang; Cape Town, Pearson Education South Africa, 2002), pp. 243–55.

¹⁴ See, for instance, Elaine Unterhalter's works cited earlier, or the pioneering study by Belinda Bozzoli with Mmantho Nkotsoe, Women of Phokeng (Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann, 1991).