Terence Ranger Prize
The Terence Ranger Prize is an honour given annually to the best article by a first time author in the Journal of Southern African Studies in the previous year. The prize is named after the late Terence Ranger, a distinguished scholar on History in Africa and long-time editor of the Journal of Southern African Studies.
The Terence Ranger Prize for 2023 (based on articles published in 2022) has been awarded jointly to:
Innocent Batsani-Ncube (2022) 'Whose Building? Tracing the Politics of the Chinese Government-Funded Parliament Building in Lesotho',Journal of Southern African Studies, 48:5, 883-900, DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2022.2122385
Fabian Krautwald (2022) 'Genocide and the Politics of Memory in the Decolonisation of Namibia', Journal of Southern African Studies, 48:5, 805-823, DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2022.2127587
The judges' citations are as follows:
Batsani-Ncube:
The article shows how China specifically targeted the building of the parliament as a means to gain access to Lesotho's political system and secure its long-term foreign policy interests. Asking whether the motivation was ideological or pragmatic, the article answers by building on Rich and Recker's analysis of the China-Africa relationship, revealing the complex and nuanced ways in which African agency plays out or is undermined. The reality is that benefits accrue to both. China benefited in 'visibility' and 'prestige' for relatively little money. A subtle message was to show that Lesotho is incapable of 'self-care', Lesotho elites got a 'win' but others felt hard done by.
Krautwald:
The article challenges accepted wisdom, is researched meticulously and written with great professionalism, while speaking of broader issues that have contemporary resonance. It argues that recalling the first colonial occupation became a language through which Namibians contested the persistent injustices of settler colonialism and negotiated the meaning of the colonial encounter. Using Nuttall's concept of entanglements, the article engages with arguments by other historians, and finds a plausible means to challenge them, through looking at entanglements between ideas of Herero and others abroad who were yoking Herero experience to the Shoah.
Browse the award-winning papers below and take a look at the Colin Murray Award for Postdoctoral Research in Southern Africa.