“THE FIGHTING BECS” IN BOTSWANA’S DECADE OF WAR 1939 to 1948” by Jeff Ramsay (original) (raw)
Related papers
History in danger: the (non) quest for a national history in Botswana
2008
The socio-political context for history teaching in postcolonial Botswana did not provide for multicultural history approaches, and in fact it discouraged multiple approaches to national history. One of the ways in which the government sought to do this was through constant discouragement of what was regarded as tribalism, and an emphasis on a monolithic, monoethnic and homogenous national history. Part of this has to do with the government policy and practices that propound and subscribe to a monoethinic and monolingual society and education system, where history's role in that education system has been to tow the monoethnic line and to present a singular view of the country's origins and evolution. In all syllabi in the formal education system, national history is presented as a singular one, with the predominance of a Tswana ethnicity as the national curriculum's defining characteristic. This situation is deeply embedded in history, and reflects the social tensions that are generally being articulated in the wider society, particularly by minority groups, which are dissatisfied with the total neglect of their histories, cultures, and traditions. Hence, as communities continue to reflect on their place in Tswana society, the history syllabus will become highly contestable ground, and requires a rethinking and repackaging in order to avoid this pitfall. This paper seeks to explore the historical dimension of this current scenario, and reflects on curricula control and urges a rethinking on the question of a national history within the multiethnic and "multi-historied" Botswana.
Botswana Notes and Records, 1995
The history of nationalism in Botswana, along with the other former High Commission Territories (HCTs) of Lesotho and Swaziland, is fundamentally different from most African countries. At least until the last decade of the colonial era nationalist sentiment was equated with the retention, rather than rejection, of the British occupation. This was because there long existed a consensus among local Batswana that British overrule as a Protectorate preserved nascent Botswana from incorporation into the white settler-dominated states of South Africa and/or Southern Rhodesia. Thus, for many decades, nationalist-minded Batswana were stronger advocates of imperial control than the imperialists themselves. In this context, the seminal twentieth century event in the emergence of modem Botswana nationalism was the 1908-1910 campaign to keep the then Bechuanaland Protectorate (BP) out of the proposed Union of South Africa. ,
MANDELA’S 1962 MOVEMENTS IN BOTSWANA by Jeff Ramsay
Monitor, 2019
While the fact of Mandela’s movements through Botswana 1962 are fairly well established, the following account, which draws on relevant BP Police surveillance reports from the period, provides additional insights into the role of Bechuanaland agents, both civilians and officials, in frustrating concerted efforts by the South African Police (SAP) to apprehend Mandela inside the BP. While the fact that the elements within the Protectorate’s administration played a covert as well as overt role in the movement of freedom fighters through Botswana in the 1960s has been previously recognised, much of the declassified documentary evidence for this has been relatively neglected. These include the relevant police reports detailing Mandela’s January 1962 stay in Lobatse. This account has been adapted, with added endnotes, from the author’s Back 4D Future series “Mandela in Lobatse,” which was published in the Monitor newspaper (2/12/2019-3/2/2020). It is being submitted for further academic publication
Sights, Sounds, Memories: South African Soldier Experiences of the Second World War
South African Historical Journal, 2021
African Military Studies is an exciting, new series of books on war, conflict and armed forces in Africa. Covering the whole span of African history-and the full conflict continuum-the series seeks to encourage works on the drivers of armed conflict, the ways in which societies and armed forces prepare for and conduct war, the development of technologies, strategy, tactics, and logistics in the African battlespace, and the impact of warfare on African societies. African Military Studies presents the latest research and accepts high-quality monographs, collections of essays, conference proceedings, and annotated military and historical texts. It is a library for the academic specialist, for the policymaker, and for the practitioner with "boots on the ground".