The South-Eastern Bantu Abe-Nguni, Aba-Mbo, Ama-Lala [Paperback]

A 1930 study of the history, traditions and tribal lives of the Xhosa people, offering a unique indigenous perspective.Published in English in 1930 by John Henderson Soga (18601941), a Xhosa minister and scholar, this important work is based on Xhosa oral traditions collected by the author. A standard authority on the author's own people, it documents their history, traditions and tribal lives.Published in English in 1930 by John Henderson Soga (18601941), a Xhosa minister and scholar, this important work is based on Xhosa oral traditions collected by the author. A standard authority on the author's own people, it documents their history, traditions and tribal lives.Son of Tiyo Soga, the first black South African to be ordained, John Henderson Soga (18601941) was a Xhosa minister and scholar. Like his father, he was one of the first of his people to receive an education in Europe and to marry a European woman. His perspective on his people's history is therefore distinctive. Driven by a desire to record Xhosa traditions before they were lost in a changing world, Soga collected oral histories during his work at mission stations in South Africa, producing this historical survey of three branches of the Bantu family. Including genealogies of the main tribes, and tracing their traditions, beliefs and conflicts, the work first appeared in this English version in 1930, having been translated by the author from his native language. His equally authoritative work of social anthropology, The Ama-Xosa: Life and Customs (1932), is also reissued in this series.Editor's introduction; Biographical note on the author; Preface; Bibliography; 1. Who are the Bantu; 2. Arabs and Portuguese; 3. First contact of Portuguese with Makalanga; 4. Gradual spread of Bantu tribes; 5. Migration of Bantu tribes from the north; 6. Ama-Zimba and Aba-Mbo; 7. Tribal and clan names; 8. Correlation of Bantu tribes; 9. Abe-Nguni, significance of the term; 10. Togu's reign; 11. Palo, his character; 12lƒ~