In this article, I then focus on a sample of Van der Kemp's own views on and social responsibility interventions for and on behalf of the Khoi. In twentieth-century Catholicism, there is a considerable history of this notion that focuses on the 'dignity of man'. Critical of the deterritorialization of indigenous inhabitants by force (through forced settlements, running with a gun, murder, rape, slavery and forced labor), these mission formations and their establishments intervened on behalf of indigenous populations against the colonizing governments, exploited some spaces for indigenous resistance and criticism, just as it succeeded in nurturing an indigenous intellectual elite that was equally critical of colonization, oppression and (labour) exploitation.
The missions - as well as the British anti-slavery movement - must be seen in a context of increasing importance.
3 From a Mission for the Xhosa to One for the Khoi
So it is fair to say that his intervention and the 'social responsibility' Van der Kemp took for the Khoi was not without its own power effects. We have decided to set up a small Mission settlement at Graaff Reinet, under the care of one Missionary, consisting of a meeting hall and a school as well as a house for the Missionary; Commissioner Maynier gave us for this purpose a piece of ground on the bank of Sunday's river, about two thousand six hundred and sixty feet long, and five hundred and thirty-seven feet wide; we accepted this in the name of the Missionsselskabet (LMS I TVDK 1801:490f; e.a.). The 'free conversation' he had with the local Graaff Reinet Commissioner and Landrost Honoratus, Christiaan David Maynier on 29 October 1801 (see below) - just after the differences with the colonists had been settled - and Governor Francis Dundas's letter of 30 . October, paved the way. the way for the establishment of the mission of Khoi18.
However, it was not only Van der Kemp's success among the Khoi, but also the 'state' or 'condition' in which this 'nation' found itself, that saw him decide to take social responsibility on their behalf and prompted him to change his missionary target from Xhosa to Khoi. He collected more charges from the settlers, was summoned back to Cape Town and was acquitted of the charges in 1802 and exonerated. These reflections have led us to suspend for a time our missionary efforts among the [Xhosa] and [Khoisan] and to devote ourselves to the instruction of the [Khoi] in this village, that we may be of service in offering them spiritual blessings , until it pleases God to send us a sufficient number of missionary brethren for assistance, to enable us to re-establish the [Xhosa] Mission, and for an establishment near the Great River for the use of the [Khoisan].
And although it was not in our power to humble temporal calamities [Khoi], we hoped and trusted that the Lord would open a way in his time to answer our fervent desires in this respect as well (LMS I TVDK 1801:496 ; e.g. .). The Secretary of the Colony received this day my instructions to acquaint the Landdrosst with my wishes on the subject, as he is very anxious to have this plan carried out as soon as possible, and [Khoi] moved without delay to the proposed establishment, where every reasonable help at the beginning, to enable them to provide themselves with supplies and other necessities in the future, it is my intention to afford them at the expense of the Colony (LMS I TVDK 1801:499; e.a.). Apart from the significance of this letter in the context of the colonial government's approval of the mission and assistance with the expenses that the Khoi would incur, and that it was accepted at this level that the mission among the Khoi could now proceed, its discursive importance lies in the concepts, which Dundas used to capture Van der Kemp's description of the 'condition' of the Khoi in his letter - 'those unfortunate people whom the government is bound to protect on all principles of humanity and justice'.
4 Freedom
Secondly, what Van der Kemp understood by 'the condition of the Khoi' is clear from his description of the 'conditions' in which he found the Khoi at Graaff Reinet and with which he introduced the 'ideas' which he passed on to the governor. Dundas thirteen days later on 11 November 1801. That he described their 'conditions' as 'deplorable and wretched' indicates - by the use of this word 'wretched' - that he saw the Khoi as 'wretched'. It seems that Van der Kemp developed a similar view of the illiterate frontier settlers (cf.
Moreover, what makes these conditions inherently "deplorable and wretched," which was also the cause of them, is that the Khoi "sunk." to this level due to "lack of food, destruction, freedom, useful employment and city". Nevertheless, the government would then demand – as part of its own 'power' in the colony – that the Khoi 'submit to the regulations laid down by the government'21. It is then clear that these were very important statements at the time and that they indicate Van der Kemp's social responsibility and intervention for and on behalf of the Khoi with the government.
A general sense of homelessness affected the living conditions of the Khoi, and this was - in Van der Kemp's sense - only having a 'peak'. This, then, not only qualifies Van der Kemp's understanding of the 'condition' of the Khoi in general, but also the fourth suggestion he made to Maynier - that the Khoi should have 'a portion of the land given to them from the government as their own. himself'. Thirdly, however, Van der Kemp asserted in his "free discussion" with Commissioner Maynier that Khoi should "not be forced at all".
5 Civilisation
This was one of the main battles of the missionaries with the peasants and would eventually contribute to the Black Circuit Court of 1812 after Van der Kemp's death in Cape Town in 1811 (cf. Smit 2016a). It would also change or "reverse" the Khoi's "disgust and actual separation from civilized society" and their "vices of all sorts, which may end in looting, murder, and irregularities of another nature" to those of "happiness" and " utility'. ', thus contributing to the 'security of the Colony'. If the missionaries were allowed to instruct the Khoi – and even colonial fugitives like the famous Mate and Ourson and their followers beyond the colonial frontier (who often plundered the settlers' cattle they had 'looted' from them in the first place) – then enhance the security of the colony.
Of all the concepts that Van der Kemp uses to depict the kind of intervention that the mission would have in the then current 'state', but also criminal activities - not only of the farmers but especially the Khoi - 'civilization'. That this was the case is also evident from the last report of the Directors of the LMS for 1803 as well as the 'Annual Report' by van der Kemp and his fellow missionary who assisted him with the Khoi, James Read, from 1803. The conversion , education and institutionalization of indigenous people through the intervention of the missionaries would bring about 'peace and prosperity'.
Others choose to lie in the bushes and live on the roots of the field, rather than be subject to the discipline of a civilized life. Significantly - and this idea must have been written down by Van der Kemp because of his philosophical background dealing with classical Greek philosophy as used in his interpretation and subsequently new translation of the Epistle to the Romans28. Here we find echoes of the classical Greek notion of "care of the self," so famously analyzed by Foucault.
In the case of the impoverished Khoi – and to use the twentieth-century term coined by Sampie Terreblanche (1977), their “chronic social poverty”. Even more telling of the 'power effects' this would produce is that the missionaries assume that the Khoi should work for the mission and that the mission should pay them for such work.
6 Conclusion
This led him to petition the British colonial government for land for the Khoi on which he could start a mission station, and for government financial support for Khoi living conditions and food. He claimed that the Khoi were 'perfectly free', and that they should therefore be treated 'in all respects on an equal footing with the Colonists'. This is very significant because the border farmers looked down on the Khoi and treated them 'cruelly', and.
As such, the ruthless and brutal physical power relations between the Khoi and settler farmers constituted a complex that Van der Kemp sought to intervene on behalf of the Khoi. Given these realities, part of Van der Kemp and Read's argument for a piece of land for the Khoi was that they said this would also be a place for their 'civilisation'. As the Khoi lost their lands to colonization and became increasingly de-culturalized by being displaced from their ancestral lands, the missionaries sought to provide them with a Western education.
Nevertheless, the missionaries made no effort to culturally restore the Khoi in terms of their own cultural heritage. Furthermore, we see in one of Read's letters to the directors of the LMS in London that he argued that instead of working for settler farmers, the Khoi should work for the mission station. We can think - as Van der Kemp suggested - that a mission station would help the Khoi to "take care of themselves".
In the former the false principles and foundations of Sir Robert Filmer and his followers are discovered and overthrown. Researches in South Africa: Illustrating the Civil, Moral, and Religious Condition of the Native Tribes: Including Journals of the Author's Travels in the Interior: Together with Detailed Accounts of the Progress of the Christian Missions, Showing the Influence of Christianity in Promoting Civilization. Vanderkemp's specimen of the Caffraria language, the nature of the Caffraria country, an account of the quadrupeds and history of Caffraria, &c.
Moravian missionaries, Khoisan Labor and the Overberg settlers at the end of the VOC era, 1792-5.
Archival Sources
