Schnurr. (2009). Commodity cropping and the delineation of agricultural space in Natal, 1850–1863. South African Historical Journal, 61, 138-157.

This article recounts the efforts of Natal’s first Secretary for Native Affairs, Theophilus Shepstone, to introduce cotton as a commodity crop among the colony’s Zulu population. I argue that this push for cotton was fuelled by motivations that were political more than agricultural; that cotton was first and foremost about delineating African and settler space and establishing a political order.

Full-text (protected) | Pre-publication version