The Place of India in South African History: Academic Scholarship, Past, Present and Future

Abstract

In 1971 Robert E. Gregory wrote a book titled India and East Africa deftly covering some 555 pages even though his narrative took him only up to 1939.1 Though the title of my survey is as far-reaching as his, I do not have the luxury of Gregory's space so I shall not even attempt a Gregory. In a foreword to a brochure published by the Indian High Commission in South Africa titled India-South Africa ; Strategic Partnership in a Changing World the then Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Mukerjee pointed to three significant links between the two countries. First and foremost, he lists Gandhi's presence in South Africa for well over two decades in South Africa during which he developed satyagraha and his subsequent return to India to lead that country to independence. Secondly, India played a significant role in the anti-apartheid movement. Thirdly, he points out, Indians in South Africa constituted the `important bridge between our two countries'.2 These sentiments have been echoed by many others both before and since. These do to some extent provide a guide to the place of India in South African history Mr Mukherjee was indeed only penning a few paragraphs. This paper will, however, show that these parameters make no room for complexities, for other narratives the tendency is to cast this history in fundamentally romantic and heroic proportions. The paper aims also to more modestly focus on historiographical questions and the sources available to scholars. It does not provide a comprehensive historiographical focus on the entire history of Indians in South Africa but highlights certain key themes.3