📚 The Bantu: Past and Present An Ethnographical & Historical Study of the Native Races of South Africa
Author: S. M. Molema (Dr. Modiri Molema)
Publication Date: 1920 (First Edition)
Publisher: W. Green & Son, Limited, Edinburgh
Format: Hardcover, green cloth boards with gilt lettering
ISBN: not assigned (1920 publication)
Page count: xix, 398pp
Condition: Good. Green boards show age wear and some fading; light shelf wear to spine and corners. No dustjacket. Ex libris with associated stamps and markings. Some foxing. Binding good.
🔍 Synopsis
A pioneering ethnographical and historical study of the Bantu peoples of South Africa by Dr. Modiri Molema, written during his temporary exile from South Africa while studying medicine in Glasgow and Dublin. The work traces the history, culture, customs, languages, and social structures of the Bantu-speaking peoples, including chapters on the Revelation (prehistoric Africa and geographical distribution of races), the Bantu peoples (including Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and others), the Euro-Xosa Wars, manners and customs, language, religious beliefs, and slavery. Published during World War I, Molema's preface contextualizes the work within his observations of Black participation in the Allied armies and his desire to present facts about his people to the broader public.
Notable:
This is the original 1920 Edinburgh first edition by W. Green & Son a foundational text in South African ethnographic and colonial literature. Dr. S. M. Molema (Modiri Molema, 18761965) was a pioneering Black South African intellectual, physician, and author who wrote this work during his medical studies abroad. The book represents an early and rare example of Bantu self-representation in ethnographic writing, engaging directly with prevailing racial and cultural frameworks whilst advancing his own analysis. The limited print run of 750 copies (with 50 de luxe leather-bound copies) makes original editions scarce. A landmark text for collectors of Africana, South African history, and the intellectual history of the early 20th-century Black Atlantic.
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R480
