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Book SynopsisIn Ethnography from the Mission Field: The Hoffmann Collection of Cultural Knowledge Joubert et al. offer a translated and annotated edition of the 24 ethnographic articles by missionary Carl Hoffmann and his local interlocutors published between the years 1913 and 1958. The edition is introduced by a historic contextualisation using a cultural historical approach to analyse the contexts in which Hoffmann’s ethnographic texts were produced. Making use of historical material and Hoffmann’s own words from personal diaries and letters, the authors convincingly draw the attention to the discursive context in which the texts annotated in this book had been compiled. In a concluding chapter the book traces the captivating developments of the orthography of Northern Sotho through Hoffmann’s texts over almost half a century. Brill has made the documentary film “A Journey into the Life of a Mission-Ethnographer” which is interlinked with this book available online via its online channels. To access it please click here. The digital database of the “Hoffmann Collection of Cultural Knowledge” (HC-CK) can be accessed by clicking here. It is an amalgamation of digital scans, images and video footage relating to missionary Carl Hoffmann’s work and life on various mission stations, made available by the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
Trade ReviewThe ambitious publication project under review here has the potential of creating a novel genre of presenting transcultural perspectives in mission studies, documenting fragmented archive resources and optimizing interdisciplinary research perspectives. (...) this project represent an exemplary elaboration of a multi-faceted concept to access, explore, and distribute archive sources. The project establishes links between oral and published history, and interests of present day users of the archive sources. Andreas Heuser, in Interkulturell Theologie 4/2016. Occasionally, missionary writers have transcended the limitations of their focused calling and written deeply sympathetic, evocative treatises that permit people to speak for themselves, thus valorizing perspectives that may differ from those of the expatriates, however well intentioned most missionaries were and are. As editor Joubert (Humboldt Univ. of Berlin) and her collaborators make clear, Carl Hoffmann (1868–1962) was one such missionary. In over 1,000 pages and an accompanying film, Sotho people of the Transvaal, South Africa, present nuances of their intellect and daily lives in great detail. This trove offers introductory essays and matches Sotho texts with English translations. It will attract a few scholars but, more important, it should serve Sotho interests as the wisdom of elders contributes to contemporary heritage politics.(...) Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, specialists. - A. F. Roberts, University of California, Los Angeles, in Choice 2016. Taken as a whole, the project is a remarkable effort to preserve and make accessible important archival materials from an understudied place and time. Thoughtfully contextualized and assembled, the book and database will no doubt serve as a valuable scholarly resource for years to come. - Oliver Charbonneau, Western University, in Itinerario 39.3 (2015). For its part, the Hoffman book does not just present a body of inert texts waiting to be plundered for “facts” by the researcher; it is a book which requires the researcher to work with it, to engage with it intellectually. It opens up numbers of different avenues for active scholarly discussion. - Professor John Wright, University of Cape Town, published on the web site of Archive & Public Culture Research Initiative 2015.
Table of ContentsContents Preface Acknowledgements Summarised Preview Introduction In and from the Field: A Journey into the Life of a ‘Mission-Ethnographer’ and his Co-Producers Annekie Joubert 1. Introduction 2. Visual systems as an integral part of research and presentation 3. Biographical filmmaking 4. Databank Part 1 Historic Contextualisation Lize Kriel 1. Introduction 2. Knowledge production in a Christian missionary context 3. Becoming a missionary: Hoffmann’s inspiration and motivation 4. Missionising and Afrikanistik 5. Hoffmann in the field: government agent, ethnographer, proselytiser, guest 6. Hoffmann and anthropology: his position and his reception 7. The particular case of the missionary anthropologist 8. Hoffmann’s interlocutors 9. Genealogy of the ethnological publications 9.1. The folktales 9.2. The Woodbush articles (Articles 1–2 and 7–18) 9.3. The “Northen Transvaal” articles (Articles 19–24) 10. Conclusion Part 2 Corpus of Hoffmann’s Ethnographic Articles Inge Kosch, Gerrie Grobler, Annekie Joubert 1. Introduction 2. The phenomenon of co-production in Hoffmann’s corpus of ethnographic writings 3. Translating from German into English 4. Annotating the ethnographic corpus Rites of Passage Article 1 Engagement and Marriage among the Sotho People in the Woodbush Mountains of the Transvaal – Peeletšo le lenyalo Basothong ba Lebowa ba Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala (1913) Article 2 The Initiation School of the Sotho People in the Woodbush Mountains of the Transvaal – Koma ya banna ya Basotho ba Lebowa ba Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala (1915) Folklore: Stories from the Transvaal Article 3 Folktales and Stories of the Natives in Northern Transvaal – Dinonwane le dikanegelo tša Basotho ba Lebowa (1915) Article 4 Folktales and Stories of the Natives in Northern Transvaal – Dinonwane le dikanegelo tša Basotho ba Lebowa (1916) Article 5 Folktales and Stories of the Natives in Northern Transvaal – Dinonwane le dikanegelo tša Basotho ba Lebowa (1916) Article 6 Folktales and Stories of the Natives in Northern Transvaal – Dinonwane le dikanegelo tša Basotho ba Lebowa (1916) Mother and Child Article 7 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala (1928) Witchcraft, Gods, Prophets, Spirits and Totems Article 8 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala (1928/29) Article 9 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Totems and Prohibitions – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Meano le Dikganetšo (1920/31) Article 10 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Spirits That Are with Some Stones and Other Things and Witchcraft – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Moya wo o nago le maswika a mangwe le ge e le dilo tše dingwe le boloi (1931/32) Article 11 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: The Soul in Death and after Death – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Moya wa motho mohlang wa lehu le ka morago ga lehu (1932) Land, Laws and Punishment Article 12 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Legal Practices of the Northern Sotho People – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Tirišo ya melao ya Basotho ba Lebowa (1933/34) Article 13 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Legal Practices of the Northern Sotho People – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Tirišo ya melao ya Basotho ba Lebowa (1933/34) Article 14 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Legal Practices of the Northern Sotho People – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Tirišo ya melao ya Basotho ba Lebowa (1933/34) Article 15 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Legal Practices of the Northern Sotho People – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Tirišo ya melao ya Basotho ba Lebowa (1933/34) People, Politics and Government Article 16 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Political Organisation – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Peakanyo ya borerapušo (1937/38) Article 17 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Political Organisation – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Peakanyo ya borerapušo (1937/38) Article 18 Sotho Texts from the Woodbush Mountains in the Transvaal: Political Organisation – Dingwalwa tša Sesotho tše di tšwago Dithabeng tša Woodbush go la Transfala: Peakanyo ya borerapušo (1937/38) Home, Habits and Conduct Article 19 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1956) Article 20 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1956) Article 21 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1957) Article 22 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1957) Article 23 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1958) Article 24 Customs and Traditions of the Sotho People in Northern Transvaal – Mekgwa le botlwaelo bja Basotho ba Transfala-Lebowa (1958) Obituary E. Kähler-Meyer, In Remembrance of Missionary C. Hoffmann (1963) Part 3 Orthographic Developments and Grammatical Observations Inge Kosch 1. Notes on orthography and spelling conventions 1.1. Background to the orthographical development of Northern Sotho 1.2. Active participation at decision-making level 1.3. Phases in the development of the orthography 1.3.1. Phase I (Articles 1–6): 1913–1916 1.3.2. Phase II (Articles 7–10): 1928–1932 1.3.3. Phase III (Articles 11–18): 1932–1938 1.3.4. Phase IV (Articles 19–24): 1956–1958 1.4. Observations regarding spelling conventions 1.4.1. Spacing 1.4.2. Capitalisation 1.4.3. Vowels 1.4.4. Hyphens 1.4.5. Diacritics 1.4.6. Rendering of Northern Sotho words for German readership 1.5. Phonological processes 2. Grammatical observations 2.1. Pronouns 2.1.1. Absolute pronouns 2.1.2. Demonstrative pronouns 2.2. Adjectival and verbal relative constructions 2.3. Verbal forms 2.3.1. Participial form 2.3.2. Consecutive form 2.3.3. Indicative form 2.4. Reflexive prefix 2.5. Locative suffix 3. Syntactic devices 4. Notes on lexical peculiarities 4.1. Non-standard spelling 4.2. Dialectical forms 4.3. Semantic bleaching List of Contributors References Index Appendix (Maps, Drawings and Photos)
