The research = c10 case studies, different figurations of letter-writing

1. Researching social change & whiteness in South Africa 1770s – 1970s: Methodological beginnings for the Whites Writing Whiteness project Liz Stanley ESRC Professorial Research Fellow University of Edinburgh April 2013

3. The research = • c10 case studies, different figurations of letter-writing • Located within 50-60 interconnected collections • A CASE STUDY = • Letters of Elizabeth Lees (Bessie) Price 1854 to 1900, plus those of: • Roger Price • Mary Moffat nee Smith & Robert Moffat • Mary Livingstone nee Moffat & David Livingstone • John Smith Moffat & Jane Moffat nee Unwin • Robert UnwinMoffat & Hilda Moffat nee Vavasseur • Plus letters of: • John Mackenzie • James Read Snr, James Read Jnr • Gottlob Schreiner • James Kitchingman • Plus eg. Edith Tovey • = letters from 1817 to 1930s

6. Formal analysis in WWW • Figuration • Case, unit of analysis • Connection • Series • Sequence • Variance • Interval • Temporal ordering • Duration • Number • [[[ Content • Re-reading & documentary analysis • Membership categorisation analysis • Event structure analysis ]]]

7. A small methodological experiment • 1. Formal analysis • Findlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933 • Bessie Price letters, 165, 1863-1900 • Gottlob Schreiner’s ‘missionary’ letters, 18 + 10, 1838-1846 • 2. A random sample • Findlay family letters , c.9000, 1806-1933 • 1806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933 • 3 x randomly selected letters per year

8. The formal analysis… • Figuration • Case, unit of analysis • Connection • Series • Sequence • Variance • Temporal ordering • Interval • Duration • Number

10. Date ToFrom Dec 1838 Basle Soc on board ship Jan 1838 Basle Soc on board ship 2 Feb - 12 Mar 1838 LMS on board ship 6 Aug 1838 LMS Kat River 17 Jan 1839 LMS Philipolis 24 Oct 1839 LMS Philipolis 1 Sept 1840 LMS Philipolis 5 Oct 1840 Basle Soc ? 24 Dec 1840 LMS Philipolis 3 June 1841 Basle Soc ? 7 June 1841 LMS Philipolis 18 Aug 1841 LMS Philipolis 24 Dec 1841 LMS Philipolis 26 May 1842 LMSPhilipolis PHILIP & READ 4 June 1842 Basle SocPhilipolis 23 June 1842 LMSPhilipolis 13 July 1842 LMS Bethany 28 July 1842 LMS Thaba ‘Nchu Aug 1842 Basle SocThabaPachae[aka Basel] 19 Aug 1842 LMS Basel 29 Aug 1842 Basle SocColesberg 4 April 1842 Basle SocColesberg 30 Sept 1842 LMS Beersheba 20 Oct 1842 Basle SocColesberg 10 Jan 1844 Basle SocColesberg 17 Jan 1844 LMS Basel 4 May 1846 LMS Colesberg 15 Aug 1846 LMS Colesberg 24 Aug 1846 LMS Colesberg

11. GOTTLOB SCHREINER My family ↔ medical men → Rebecca ‘indisposition’ the infant died ↔ uninhabitable dwelling = the hand of the Lord on us I preached, desirous the good word of God the people came = adults, rising generation devotion = in Sesuto, in Dutch we = us, our members, candidates for baptism, all the others the people = here, numerous at new station = not in the place, but numerous in neighbourhood if I go among them, a great number will attain grace the Lord bids, His good pleasure this place = initially no Dutch farmers near no Basutoes recognise the blessing of fountains for irrigation so eagle-eyed farmers take possession, in a lawless way the people don’t like living near Europeans so move on what the end will be, GS cannot tell little hope the Colonial Government will interfere

12. The formal analysis … • Throws up analytically interesting things • Leads to analysis of content as well as structure • ‘Works’ in WWW terms because: • variance in series, sequences & temporal ordering , changes in interval, oddities in duration, are not happenstance but a product of the referential aspects of letter-writing; and • the referential aspects of letter-writing connect, in some form or another, with changing dimensions of the South African racial order

13. The sample ... • a small trial random sample of Findlay Family letters = c.9000 in number, 1806-1933 continuous • Selected years (start, end, random mids) 1806, 1828-29, 1850, 1870-71, 1890, 1910, 1920, 1933 • 3 x randomly selected letters per year • = 24 letters

16. THE TWO APPROACHES… • THE FORMAL ANALYSIS • The formal analysis showed variance of different kinds & in all cases pointed to interesting features ,when structure/content was examined more closely • Structural features and gaps & variance in these regarding figuration, series, sequence & so on led analysis to specific letters & so letter content • The letter content pinpointed consistently raised issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisation • THE RANDOM SAMPLE • The structure of the selection (aka sample) in & of itself showed nothing, other than being a production of the selection criteria used • Analysis depended entirely on reading the content of the letters thus selected • Some of the letter content was interesting in WWW terms, but some – indeed, most – was not • BUT, by pursuing further but non-random cuts into the letters (the Prance letters, all 1933 letters, for which jpegs), interesting issues of racial, ethnic & other categorisations were pinpointed

17. A conclusion = They throw up different things, so… Carry out a formal analysis, of every figuration of letters & series within such (nb. Can be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during overall data collection.) Analyse a random sample of letters within figurations, & across the whole dataset (nb. Former can be done per ‘collection’ & so at points during data collection, latter requires complete data, so needs to be done post data collection.)

18. www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/