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Researching social change & whiteness in South Africa 1770s – 1970s: Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness project Liz Stanley ESRC Professorial Research Fellow University of Edinburgh April 2013. The research =
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Researching social change & whiteness in South Africa 1770s – 1970s: Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness project Liz Stanley ESRC Professorial Research Fellow University of Edinburgh April 2013
The research = • c10 case studies, different figurations of letter-writing • Located within 50-60 interconnected collections • A CASE STUDY = • Letters of Elizabeth Lees (Bessie) Price 1854 to 1900, plus those of: • Roger Price • Mary Moffat nee Smith & Robert Moffat • Mary Livingstone nee Moffat & David Livingstone • John Smith Moffat & Jane Moffat nee Unwin • Robert UnwinMoffat & Hilda Moffat nee Vavasseur • Plus letters of: • John Mackenzie • James Read Snr, James Read Jnr • Gottlob Schreiner • James Kitchingman • Plus eg. Edith Tovey • = letters from 1817 to 1930s
Formal analysis in WWW • Figuration • Case, unit of analysis • Connection • Series • Sequence • Variance • Interval • Temporal ordering • Duration • Number • [[[ Content • Re-reading & documentary analysis • Membership categorisation analysis • Event structure analysis ]]]
A small methodological experiment • 1. Formal analysis • Findlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933 • Bessie Price letters, 165, 1863-1900 • Gottlob Schreiner’s ‘missionary’ letters, 18 + 10, 1838-1846 • 2. A random sample • Findlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933 • 1806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933 • 3 x randomly selected letters per year
The formal analysis… • Figuration • Case, unit of analysis • Connection • Series • Sequence • Variance • Temporal ordering • Interval • Duration • Number
Date ToFrom Dec 1838 Basle Soc on board ship Jan 1838 Basle Soc on board ship 2 Feb - 12 Mar 1838 LMS on board ship 6 Aug 1838 LMS Kat River 17 Jan 1839 LMS Philipolis 24 Oct 1839 LMS Philipolis 1 Sept 1840 LMS Philipolis 5 Oct 1840 Basle Soc ? 24 Dec 1840 LMS Philipolis 3 June 1841 Basle Soc ? 7 June 1841 LMS Philipolis 18 Aug 1841 LMS Philipolis 24 Dec 1841 LMS Philipolis 26 May 1842 LMSPhilipolis PHILIP & READ 4 June 1842 Basle SocPhilipolis 23 June 1842 LMSPhilipolis 13 July 1842 LMS Bethany 28 July 1842 LMS Thaba ‘Nchu Aug 1842 Basle SocThabaPachae[aka Basel] 19 Aug 1842 LMS Basel 29 Aug 1842 Basle SocColesberg 4 April 1842 Basle SocColesberg 30 Sept 1842 LMS Beersheba 20 Oct 1842 Basle SocColesberg 10 Jan 1844 Basle SocColesberg 17 Jan 1844 LMS Basel 4 May 1846 LMS Colesberg 15 Aug 1846 LMS Colesberg 24 Aug 1846 LMS Colesberg
GOTTLOB SCHREINER My family ↔ medical men → Rebecca ‘indisposition’ the infant died ↔ uninhabitable dwelling = the hand of the Lord on us I preached, desirous the good word of God the people came = adults, rising generation devotion = in Sesuto, in Dutch we = us, our members, candidates for baptism, all the others the people = here, numerous at new station = not in the place, but numerous in neighbourhood if I go among them, a great number will attain grace the Lord bids, His good pleasure this place = initially no Dutch farmers near no Basutoes recognise the blessing of fountains for irrigation so eagle-eyed farmers take possession, in a lawless way the people don’t like living near Europeans so move on what the end will be, GS cannot tell little hope the Colonial Government will interfere
The formal analysis … • Throws up analytically interesting things • Leads to analysis of content as well as structure • ‘Works’ in WWW terms because: • variance in series, sequences & temporal ordering , changes in interval, oddities in duration, are not happenstance but a product of the referential aspects of letter-writing; and • the referential aspects of letter-writing connect, in some form or another, with changing dimensions of the South African racial order
The sample ... • a small trial random sample of Findlay Family letters = c.9000 in number, 1806-1933 continuous • Selected years (start, end, random mids) 1806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933 • 3 x randomly selected letters per year • = 24 letters
THE TWO APPROACHES… • THE FORMAL ANALYSIS • The formal analysis showed variance of different kinds & in all cases pointed to interesting features ,when structure/content was examined more closely • Structural features and gaps & variance in these regarding figuration, series, sequence & so on led analysis to specific letters & so letter content • The letter content pinpointed consistently raised issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisation • THE RANDOM SAMPLE • The structure of the selection (aka sample) in & of itself showed nothing, other than being a production of the selection criteria used • Analysis depended entirely on reading the content of the letters thus selected • Some of the letter content was interesting in WWW terms, but some – indeed, most – was not • BUT, by pursuing further but non-random cuts into the letters (the Prance letters, all 1933 letters, for which jpegs), interesting issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisations were pinpointed
A conclusion = They throw up different things, so… Carry out a formal analysis, of every figuration of letters & series within such (nb. Can be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during overall data collection.) Analyse a random sample of letters within figurations, & across the whole dataset (nb. Former can be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during data collection, latter requires complete data, so needs to be done post data collection.)