Review
"...should be read by any student of South Africa's history and by those interested in British cultural imperialism in the nineteenth-century." Roger B. Beck, History
"[Ross's] latest book, Status and Respectability in the Cape Colony, 1750-1870: A Tragedy of Manners, is in many way the most ambitious of all his books. This is a field that has long waited for a historian able to bring together his own original work and studies by other scholars in a free-ranging and provocative synthesis." International Journal of African Historical Studies
"...the book is an interesting read and does, in the end, shed welcome light on what Michel Foucault called the 'microfoundations of power.'" American Historical Review
"...this is a humane, insightful and immensely knowledgeable book that also manages to be moving in its account of the cruelties of rank and the struggles of many to escape, transcend, or exploit status and respectability." Elizabeth Elbourne, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Robert Ross has written an absorbing and interesting book that should stimulate more research on culture and representation in South African history." Jrnl of Social History
Book Description
This compelling example of the new cultural history of South Africa is a subtle and wide-ranging study of status and respectability in the colonial Cape. Focusing on domestic relationships, gender, education, and religion, it analyzes values and modes of thinking current in different social strata, arguing that these cultural factors were related to high political developments. The result is a rich account of changes in social identity that accompanied the transition from Dutch to British overrule, and the development of white racism and ideologies of resistance to white domination.
Download Description
In a compelling example of the new cultural history of South Africa, Robert Ross offers a subtle and wide-ranging study of status and respectability in the colonial Cape between 1750 and 1850. He describes the symbolism of dress, emblems, architecture, food, language, and polite conventions, paying particular attention to domestic relationships, gender, education, and religion, and analyses the values and the modes of thinking current in different strata of the society. He argues that these cultural factors were related to high political developments in the Cape, and offers a rich account of the changes in social identity that accompanied the transition from Dutch to British overrule, and of the development of white racism and of ideologies of resistance to white domination. The result is a uniquely nuanced account of a colonial society.
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