PRINCESS EMMA by Janet Hodgson

The nineteenth-century conflict on the Frontier between white settlers and the Xhosa tribes was about much more than cattle and land.  It soon became a battle for cultural and spiritual allegiance aggressively waged by missionaries, traders, teachers and colonial authorities.  Facing the intruders were the guardians of the ancient, intricate customs, behavior patterns and the traditional lifestyle of the Xhosa people.

So it was that 'Princess Emma', eldest daughter of the Xhosa chieftain, Sandile, was brought to Bishopscourt and Zonnebloem, in Cape Town.  Bishop Robert Gray, and the governor Sir George Grey - for different but complimentary reasons - had devised a scheme to defuse the explosive nature of the Eastern Cape.  Groups of children of chiefs were to be 'civilised' in the European way as new elite which would transform the heathen society into a more docile state.  Emma's story describes the bewildering choices which confronted these children who were wrenched from their rural families and thrust into the sophisticated urban life of Victorian Cape Town.  The often tragic aftermath of this experiment, as the children returned to the Border area, was alienation from both sides.  Janet Hodgson tells the story of Princess Emma with compassion and insight, and reveals aspects of South Africa not usually found in historical writing.

Soft cover, fairly good condition.  The cover has slight fading at the spine.  198 pages.