Die VOC-tydperk as navorsingsterrein vir historici
Date
2001
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Historical Association of South Africa
Abstract
The DEIC-period as a field of historical research The founding of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) in 1602 will be commemorated in various parts of the erstwhile Dutch commercial empire during 2002. The South African event will be an international conference in Cape Town and Stellenbosch in April 2002 and will coincide with the Third Dutch-South African Bilateral Conference of Historians. This article serves as a background to this event. The focus is on what interest serious historical research has shown in the Dutch period of South African history since the eighties of the nineteenth century. The early interests of the founding Dutch professors of History at the University of Stellenbosch naturally led to research on this period. By the late forties this interest showed a marked decline. Researchers at other South African universities showed only a limited interest in the Dutch period. From the late seventies onwards the situation began to change when the University of the Western Cape developed a new interest in the early contacts between Cape colonists and the Khoi, as well as in the particular nature of slavery at the Cape. The social and economic impact of slavery also received renewed interest from researchers at the University of Cape Town. A series of new publications by South Africans, Americans and Dutch scholars focussed on social relations at the Cape, emphasising the flexibility of Cape society and the developing interaction and contact between colonists, slaves and Khoi. The influence of American interest in and studies on American slavery was clearly visible. The latest doctoral study on the company period is that of Ad Biewenga at the Free University in Amsterdam. He notes that some of the findings of the early research are more reliable than later ones, but that the later research opens interesting new perspectives. End Die VOC-tydperk as navorsingsterrein vir historici Die artikel bied 'n oorsig van die omvang, aard, en tematiek van ernstige historiese navorsing oor die kompanjietyd sedert die tagtigerjare van die neëntiende eeu. Die vroeë belangstelling van Nederlandse professore en studente onder hulle leiding, dui aan hoe dat navorsing aanvanklik aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch heelwat aandag geniet het. Teen die laat veertigerjare het hierdie belangstelling na die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis van die neëntiende eeu verskuif. Aan ander universiteite was daar beperkte belangstelling in die kompanjietyd. Die situasie het in die laat jare sewentig begin verander toe aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland 'n nuwe belangstelling in die vroeë geskiedenis van die aanraking tussen die koloniste en die Khoi ontstaan het, asook oor die besondere aard van slawerny aan die Kaap. Die sosiale en ekonomiese invloed ii.van slawerny het ook die aandag van navorsers aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad getrek. In dié tydperk verskyn dan ook 'n reeks nuwe studies oor sosiale verhoudinge aan die Kaap waarin die klem veral gelê word op die mate van sosiale kontak en integrasie wat wel aan die Kaap ontwikkel het. Hierdie studies staan sterk onder die invloed van veral Amerikaanse voorbeelde en 'n aantal Amerikaanse navorsers het hulle ook op Kaapse kompanjietemas toegespits. Die jongste doktorale studie van Ad Biewenga aan die Vrye Universiteit in Amsterdam herondersoek heelwat van die kwessies wat in navorsing aandag gekry het. End
Description
CITATION: Kapp, P. H. 2001. Die VOC-tydperk as navorsingsterrein vir historici. Historia, 46(2).
Keywords
Citation
Kapp, P. H. 2001. Die VOC-tydperk as navorsingsterrein vir historici. Historia, 46(2).