The study of languages was crucial to the development and maintenance of colonial power in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century South Africa. This important book examines a wide range of representations of the South African Bantu languages Xhosa and Zulu, in travel narratives, as well as grammars, dictionaries and reading books, revealing the ways in which colonial linguistics contributed to the making of the colonial order, but also the instabilities at the heart of this project to 'make sense' of South Africa.
'G[ilmour] has a good command of the source material; her style is lucid and readable; and she deftly weaves linguistic and sociopolitical threads together, from the critical perspective of postcolonial studies.' - Paul T. Roberge, Historiographia Linguistica
'Gilmour knows how languages work and she has provided an excellent foundation for the study of their history.' - Patrick Harries, Journal of Southern African Studies
'Gilmour knows how languages work and she has provided an excellent foundation for the study of their history.' - Patrick Harries, Journal of Southern African Studies