The Alan Paton Award
IN CONTEXT
The Concentration Camps of the Anglo-Boer War: A Social History, Elizabeth van Heyningen (Jacana Media, R280)
In what way do you think your book is “an illumination of truthfulness”?
That’s a daunting phrase. I’ve tried to be honest about the intentions and actions of both sides in the conflict. People’s actions and ideas are often confused and contradictory but most believe they are right. I’ve tried to recognise this messiness, but I’ve also tried to have the courage to say what I know will be resented, but with understanding.
What is the approach of social history?
Two things. One is to look at the broader social context of people’s lives — class differences, relations between men and women, for instance. And also the use of a wide range of sources, such as statistics, photographs, not just for illustration but for understanding.
Nothing has been written about the camps for 50 years. What prompted you to write the book?
A colleague and I got a research grant to work on a medical history of the camps.
What new insights did your research reveal?
One was the number of young men in the camps. This presents a problem in our understanding of “hend
soppers” (Boer defectors to the British). Secondly, a better understanding of the class of people in the camps, black as well as white. Thirdly, a better understanding of why the tragedy of the mortality occurred, both in terms of the failures of the authorities and in relation to disease. Fourthly, a better recognition of the degree and importance of the reforms in 1902.
The issue of concentration camps is freighted with emotion in South Africa. Were you afraid of opening up old wounds?
I knew this was likely but I rather naively believed that with good research and evidence this would not be a problem.
You draw attention to conditions in the black camps. Have they been overlooked in the past?
Not entirely. There was path-breaking work in the 1980s and at least two theses since then. The problem lies in the destruction of the sources and the need to think how to get around that.
What was the broad effect of the concentration camps?
For black people, it was another step in the loss of land and political rights. It was a step on the road to the 1913 Land Act. For Afrikaners, a loss of population, mainly children from five to 15 years; loss of health; poverty for many and a major contribution to the growing poor-white issue. It also contributed to the post-war creation of an Afrikaner identity.
You indicate that camps were part of a wider global phenomenon at the time. Can you expand?
There are several instances of the rounding up of civilian populations during guerrilla warfare — Cuba (the Spanish), Philippines (the US), the German war against the Herero and the Nama in Namibia. A number of researchers are now examining these forms of incarceration.
Has there been any response from the Afrikaans establishment?
I’m not sure if there is such an establishment any more. Some people have been very positive to me personally. I know that there was one critical review from a noted historian and some responses to that, but I was never approached directly. —