Epistolary networks and the politics of cultural production in KwaZulu -Natal, 1860 to 1910.

The period between 1860 and 1910 was an epistolary moment in the history of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. During this time people employed written communication extensively in their day-to-day correspondence, and at the heart of the letter-writers' relationships was a shared culture of epistolary reciprocity. But intelligible communication required skills and human capital; and students at various education institutions around KwaZulu-Natal took part in this written communication. Not only were they involved in writing and shaping epistolary connections but they also printed and published books. The books that they produced and distributed thickened relationships among themselves and their fellow correspondents. KwaZulu-Natal society was not egalitarian nor was the rest of Southern Africa. In fact, this period saw the intensification of colonial rule, the rise of white supremacy, and the emergence of new forms of patriarchy and classes. While all this happened, the epistolary connections that people established and through which they exchanged letters and books among a wide range of individuals helped create new forms of horizontal power relations. Moreover, letter-writers who participated in this half-century of correspondence and book production introduced new ideas about society, sociability, politics and the role of the state. The ideas they exchanged in letters sustained their relationships and reinforced these unfolding epistolary connections.Ph.D.African historySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/124838/2/3163843.pd