Van Warmelo Research Articles

Schoemansdal: Van Voortrekkervoorpos tot volksfeesterrein

In 1856 A.H. Potgieter and Louis Trichardt had already selected a site for a town at the foot of the Soutpansberg. This town, however, was only built in 1848 after Potgieter's party had left Ohrigstad because of his desire to live beyond the British sphere of influence and the need for a northern route to communicate with Inhambane. At first called Oude Dorp, the name of the town was later changed to Soutpansbergdorp and in 1855 to Schoemansdal. It was an attractive town and flourished because of hunting, the ivory trade, agriculture and the salt pan near it. Itinerant and ivory traders provided the necessities of life, and constituted the community's main link with the outside world. The arrival of the Rev. Van Warmelo in 1864 and the teacher Van Boeschoten in 1866 added much to the spiritual and social welfare of the community. The town was eventually evacuated in 1867 because of the Transvaal government's irresolute attitude towards the struggle of the inhabitants with the Venda. Only in 1898 was a new town, Louis Trichardt, founded near by.

God, vertroue en twyfel: Die vroue in die konsentrasiekampe tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog

God, trust and doubt: The women in the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer or South African War.Many books and articles have been written on the religious concept of the Afrikaner women who suffered in and survived the concentration camps during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. It seems as if nothing has been written, though, on their image and understanding of God. This article is an attempt to close the gap in the research. These women’s understanding of God was mainly shaped by the Old Testament. They saw the two Boer republics as the new people of God, elected to exist in freedom, as independent states. To them, God was the God of justice and righteousness, who will defend his chosen people from oppression. The defeat on the battlefield caused a crisis of faith among many women. The war diary of Johanna Brandt (née Van Warmelo) offers useful information about the women’s faith and the shattering of their faith. In the second part of this article, Lutheran perspectives on the God of the Bible and man-made idols are provided as a Christian alternative to the faith of our forefathers. The Psalms and the prophets are also revisited to point out the presence of God, as well as the ethical consequences of the Jewish-Christian religion.Contribution: This is probably one of the first articles written on women’s understanding of God, women who were confined to the concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. The main emphasis falls on Johanna Brandt (née Van Warmelo), who was an assistant nurse in the Irene camp, on the outskirts of Pretoria. She formulated her and the other women’s belief in the God of justice. Their understanding of God motivated them to endure the hardships and thousands of deaths in the camps.

New “traditional” strategies and land claims in South Africa: A case study in Hammanskraal

In post-apartheid South Africa, many hopes were pinned on the process of land-restitution to be a major part of power and wealth redistribution. However, as the land claims process is linked to demonstrable historical legitimacy, this process has sometimes necessitated both the restating and reinventing of local histories and “ethnic identities”, in line with new political structures or moral frameworks. This article addresses continuity and innovation in strategies around historical adaptation to governance structures, ethnicity and “traditional” structures in South Africa. These themes will be explored using Hammanskraal, located in the north of Gauteng, as a case study, examining the way legitimacy has been gained, constructed and established in two specific periods: around 1911-1944 and 1995-2010. In 1944, government ethnographer NJ Van Warmelo produced a history of Johannes “Jan Tana” Kekana’s Ndebele, depicting the history and lineage of the AmaNdebele-a-Moletlane group. In 1995, a substantial land-claim was lodged by a contestant for the chieftaincy of the AmaNdebele-a-Moletlane, presenting a different historical background that contested the narrative produced by Van Warmelo. The contestant for the chieftaincy, not currently officially recognised by South African state structures, has used various strategies to concretise his position. These strategies show how entrenched historical legitimacy is being counteracted by popular modes of expression, construction and communication. This new politics, consciously constructed around ideas of traditional structures and legitimacy, interacts with new power structures, adding the importance of political connections or resources to the construction of the claim. Contextualising this historically shows how continuities regarding “traditional” authorities have interacted with the state before, during and after apartheid.

Excavating Ephemeral Remains of Life in a Time of Witchcraft: New Insights into the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Occupations at Leokwe and Nyindi Hills in the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area, South Africa

Scholarly knowledge of the historical settlements in the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area in northern South Africa is fundamentally entangled with narratives told to N. J. Van Warmelo by two women, Sekgobogobo and Mphengwa. The account based on these stories narrated elements of Sekgobogobo’s life history, and pointed to the at times lethal effects of internal political processes combining with regional instability and an approaching colonial frontier. This paper establishes a recursive relationship between this narrative and archaeological excavations to deepen the understanding of the sociopolitical dynamics in the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

‘COLONIAL’ EXPERTS, LOCAL INTERLOCUTORS, INFORMANTS AND THE MAKING OF AN ARCHIVE ON THE ‘TRANSVAAL NDEBELE’, 1930–1989

ABSTRACTThe perspectives of African informants and researchers profoundly shaped the writings of government ethnologist Dr. Nicholas Jacobus van Warmelo who not only collected information from local African informants but also relied on African researchers who wrote manuscripts in the vernacular that would constitute part of his archive. This study explores the process of producing knowledge on the ‘Transvaal Ndebele’, and provides an analysis of Van Warmelo's texts and of his researchers' manuscripts. By looking at the role of local interlocutors, I make a case for African agency in shaping the ‘colonial’ expert's conceptions of Ndebele identity. This article provides an account of the co-production of cultural knowledge. Van Warmelo was employed by the South African Native Affairs Department to identify and fix ‘tribes’, a highly political enterprise, and in the process generated an archive. His work was as much appropriated by the apartheid state for social engineering as by Ndebele interlocutors involved in contemporary struggles over chieftainship.

Proverbs as illustrative examples in a Tshivenḓa bilingual dictionary: A reflection of meaning and culture

Illustrative examples are defining devices that illustrate the use of a word. They serve to illustrate the grammatical behaviour and semantic usage of the lexical item. In a bilingual dictionary, illustrative examples show the words in a live context, thereby enhancing the user's understanding of the meaning of the lexical item in the foreign language. The absence of examples usually results in a severe lowering of the standard of the dictionary (Zgusta, 1971), especially in a bilingual dictionary. A lexicographer can use either phrases or sentences, or both, to illustrate the meaning of lexical items. Van Warmelo (1989), in his bilingual dictionary, Venda Dictionary: Tshivenda—English, uses both phrases and sentences to enhance the user's understanding of the meaning of a lexical item. In addition to phrases and sentences, the lexicographer also uses proverbs and riddles as illustrative examples. This article seeks to address the question: Why does Van Warmelo use proverbs as a device to illustrate the use of a lexical item in context? The aim of the article is to exemplify the use of proverbs as illustrative examples in enhancing the user's understanding of both the meaning of lexical units and the Tshivenḓa culture in Van Warmelo's bilingual dictionary.

Carl Meinhof and the German influence on Nicholas van Warmelo's ethnological and linguistic writing, 1927–1935*

The influence of German linguist Carl Meinhof on the work of his student, Nicholas van Warmelo, was substantial and has been underexplored. They met in the 1920s, when van Warmelo went to the University of Hamburg to study under Meinhof, and was essentially ‘groomed’ to join his faculty of African and Pacific Languages. Van Warmelo never did work in Hamburg and instead returned to South Africa, where he became Government Ethnologist in 1930. Even so, Meinhof and van Warmelo remained close, and from the late 1920s collaborated on the English translation of Meinhof's magnum opus, Grundriss einer Lautlehre der Bantusprachen (Introduction to the Phonology of the Bantu Languages). This book, which in its English translation offered phonetic descriptions of six Bantu languages considered important to British and South African colonialists, was completed only shortly before the appearance of van Warmelo's Preliminary Survey of the Bantu Tribes of South Africa. I will demonstrate that the influence of the Grundriss and other texts by Meinhof was evident in the Survey as well as in certain of van Warmelo's other ethnological writings. Moreover, the classification of African languages and ‘tribes’ as carried out by Meinhof and van Warmelo was very political; in van Warmelo's case, fixing ‘tribal’ ethnicity provided order to what, for whites, may have appeared a jumbled mass of peoples whose relationships to one another were not immediately discernible. This was perhaps significant in an era when issues of detribalisation and urbanisation were of increasing concern to white South Africans. The certainty of van Warmelo's ethnic constructions, even if these were still not entirely worked out, may have suggested a direction for resolving these perceived crises. Further, Meinhof's impact on van Warmelo points to a need to examine more fully the role of German philology and anthropology in shaping South African anthropology in general and Afrikaner volkekunde in particular.

Die “voorwetenskaplike” geskiedsbewussyn en “vroeë wetenskaplike” geskiedskrywing in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk

The “prescientific” historical awareness and “early scientific” historical writing in the Nederduitsch Hervormde KerkThe scientific practice of Church History within the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika commenced in 1920 with the submission of S P Engelbrecht’s doctoral thesis. The preliminary era can be typified as the “prescientific” historical awareness that started with an official “Pastoral Writing” by the Synod in 1855 and developed into the “early scientific” historical writing with the writing of Van Warmelo in 1881. This “early scientific” historical writing continued to develop until the early twentieth century. The aim of this article is to explore this era within the “Hervormde” church against the background of a reflection on the scientific nature of ecclesiastically historical research.

(183–187) Limitation of dual nomenclature for pleomorphic fungi

TAXONVolume 53, Issue 2 p. 596-598 Proposals to Amend the CodesFree Access (183–187) Limitation of dual nomenclature for pleomorphic fungi David L. Hawksworth, David L. Hawksworth myconova@terra.es MycoNova, The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia La Maliciosa, Mataelpino, Madrid, 28492 SpainSearch for more papers by this author David L. Hawksworth, David L. Hawksworth myconova@terra.es MycoNova, The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia La Maliciosa, Mataelpino, Madrid, 28492 SpainSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 May 2004 https://doi.org/10.2307/4135654Citations: 20AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume53, Issue2May 2004Pages 596-598 RelatedInformation

Dagboeke as oorlogsdokumentasie: Johanna van Warmelo se dagboek en haar belewing van die Anglo-Boereoorlog

Diaries as historical documentation: Jotianna van Warmelo’s diary and her experience of the Anglo-Boer WarJohanna van Warmelo resided in Sunnyside, Pretoria, with her mother virtually throughout the Anglo-Boer War. She was 23 years old when the war broke out. Her fiancé, whom she later married, lived in Holland. Johanna started a diary immediately after the outbreak of the war In this she not only wrote down factual reports, but also her perceptions of the war and the belligerents. The diary grew into seven volumes of more than a thousand pages. After serving as a nurse in the Irene Concentration Camp, Johanna in 1901 became involved in the spying activities of the Secret Service Commission of the Boers in Pretoria. Through assisting the famous scout J.J. Naude, she and her mother formed a crucial link between the Boer commanders in the field and President Kruger in Europe. She later related those experiences in The Petticoat Commando. It was published in both English and Dutch and eventually also in Afrikaans and became one of the classic factual tales of adventure of the Anglo- Boer War. In this article her diary is analysed as a source on the war

Fossil actinomycete in Eocene-Oligocene Dominican amber

Actinomycetes are Gram-positive prokaryotes that tend to form branching and fragmenting filaments, which in some groups form a sizable mycelium. They make up a large and important part of modern terrestrial microfloras but are not known extensively as fossils, although they have a long fossil history. Actinomycete-like fossils appear several times in the Precambrian: in the middle Precambrian Gowganda Formation of Ontario (Jackson, 1967), in the 2.0 Ga Gunflint Chert of Ontario (Lanier, 1987), and possibly in a lichen-like symbiosis in the 2.8 Ga Witwatersrand rocks of South Africa (Hallbauer and Van Warmelo, 1974), among others. Direct fossil evidence of actinomycetes is very rare in the Phanerozoic, and some “fossil” actinomycetes may be later contaminants (Knoll, 1977; Smoot and Taylor, 1983). Hyphae identified as actinomycetes are known from rod-like bodies identified as nematodes inside a decaying scorpion from the lower Carboniferous of Scotland (Stoermer, 1964), and from the interior of fern phloem cells from the Pennsylvanian (Smoot and Taylor, 1983). UnmineralizedActinomyces-like cells are known from calcite in bituminous lake-bed sediments from the early Cretaceous of Nevada (Bradley, 1963), and similar, poorly preserved fossils of a form calledActinomyciteshave been reported from the Jurassic of Scotland (Ellis, 1915). Actinorhizal nodules, formed by actinomycetes symbiotic with plant roots, have been described from the late Pleistocene (Baker and Miller, 1980).

Amacunu Beverage Containers

under the leadership of Chief Upakade, this clan of the Zulu-speaking nation settled in isolated villages scattered beyond the Tugela River and in the surrounding mountains (Van Warmelo 1950:928). Their heritage includes the brewing and serving of beer, which plays an integral role in daily life. The pots and pot covers, imbenge, that are required for the observance of this custom are part of an abundant material culture that encompasses handmade pottery, beadwork, and basketry. Today, in spite of geographic isolation, the survival of these crafts is jeopardized by the impact of Westernization. This paper will concern the function and decoration of these utensils viewed against the social and cultural milieu that has produced them. The preparation and consumption of sorghum-derived beer, tshwala, are part of both daily routine and ceremony; as the Zulus' national beverage, it not only gives refreshment to the living but is offered to ancestral spirits as proof the dead have not been forgotten. In addition, legend says that each springtime during the feast in her honor, the Chieftainess of the Skies or Goddess of the Grain, Nomkhubulwana, visits earth

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:The Manners and Customs of the Police. By Donald Black.Modern Policing. Edited by David Watts Pope and Norman L. Weiner.Organisational Aspects of Police Behaviour. By J. Mervyn Jones.Social Order and the Limits of Law. By Iredell Jenkins.Trials on Trial: The Pure Theory of Legal Procedure. By Gordon Tullock.Praelectiones ad Jus Criminale: Lectures on Criminal Law. By D. G. van der Keessel. Edited and translated into English by B. Beinart and P. van Warmelo. Volume VI.Reconcilable Differences: New Directions in Canadian Labour Law. By Paul Weiler.Subjects and Sovereigns. By C. C. Weston and J. N. Greenberg.How Courts Govern America. By Richard Neely.Drugs and Intoxication. By David Farrier.The British Year Book of International Law 1979. Edited by R. Y. Jennings and Ian Brownlie.

Praelectiones ad jus criminale: Lectures on Criminal Law. By D. G. van der Keessel, Professor of Private Law in the University of Leyden. Edited and translated by B. Beinart and P. Van Warmelo. Volume II. [Cape Town: Juta and Co. Ltd.; London: Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.1972. xviii and 425 pp. U.K. price, £13–55 net.

Praelectiones ad jus criminale: Lectures on Criminal Law. By D. G. van der Keessel, Professor of Private Law in the University of Leyden. Edited and translated by B. Beinart and P. Van Warmelo. Volume II. [Cape Town: Juta and Co. Ltd.; London: Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.1972. xviii and 425 pp. U.K. price, £13–55 net.

Venda Law. By N. J. van Warmelo in collaboration with W. M. D. Phophi. Department of Native Affairs, Union of South Africa: Ethnological Publications No. 23. Pretoria, 1948. 4 vols., pp. 1047, illus. £3. 6s. 6d.

Venda Law. By N. J. van Warmelo in collaboration with W. M. D. Phophi. Department of Native Affairs, Union of South Africa: Ethnological Publications No. 23. Pretoria, 1948. 4 vols., pp. 1047, illus. £3. 6s. 6d. - Volume 21 Issue 1

The Copper Miners of Musina and the early history of the Zoutpansberg. (Ed.) N. J. van Warmelo. 1940. Pp. 201, 8 plates. 5s. - The Izangoma Diviners. By M. Kohler, M.D. (Edited and translated in collaboration with the author by N. J. van Warmelo) 1941. Pp. 98, 12 plates. 4s. Pretoria: Dept. of Native Affairs (Ethnological Publications, Vols. VIII and

The Copper Miners of Musina and the early history of the Zoutpansberg. (Ed.) N. J. van Warmelo. 1940. Pp. 201, 8 plates. 5s. - The Izangoma Diviners. By M. Kohler, M.D. (Edited and translated in collaboration with the author by N. J. van Warmelo) 1941. Pp. 98, 12 plates. 4s. Pretoria: Dept. of Native Affairs (Ethnological Publications, Vols. VIII and IX). - Volume 20 Issue 2