Towards a legal history of white women in the Transvaal, 1877-1899

Abstract

This dissertation creates a background for studying white women in the Transvaal between 1877 and 1899. Legal documents are used as primary sources, as they are invaluable for researching women’s history, in that they provide a new perspective. When writing women’s history, it must be grounded in theory, as, especially when it comes to history in court cases, concepts like ‘history as performance’ and ‘occasionalism’ are significant. Of course, an eye must also firmly be held on concepts such as ‘gender’ and ‘deconstruction’, since it dictates how one should approach one’s sources. A history of the Transvaal is necessary, for when studying the court cases one must be able to position the women within a framework of their lives, and what type of living they made. Therefore, part of the dissertation is a political, but also social and economic, history of the Transvaal, written with specifically white women in mind. Sources for the socio-economic historical framework include literary accounts and secondary works on the period. The framework for the court cases further includes creating a legal stage on which to position women, which is accomplished by using legal sources like law reports, but also laws and resolutions. It is only once a detailed framework has been created that one can scrutinise court cases for issues surrounding white Transvaal women’s legal position, and agency. AFRIKAANS : Hierdie verhandeling skep die agtergrond vir ‘n studie van wit vroue in Transvaal tussen 1877 en 1899. Regsdokumente word as primêre bronne gebruik, aangesien dit van onskatbare waarde is in die ondersoek van vrouegeskiedenis, deurdat dit ‘n nuwe perspektief bied. Die skryf van vrouegeskiedenis moet in teorie gegrond wees, aangesien konsepte soos ‘history as a performance’ en ‘occasionalism’ belangrik is, veral wanneer dit kom by geskiedenis in hofsake. ‘n Ferm blik moet natuurlik ook gehou word op konsepte soos ‘gender’ en ‘dekonstruksie’ aangesien dit bepaal hoe die bronne benader moet word. ‘n Geskiedenis van Transvaal is nodig, want dit moet moontlik wees om vroue te posisioneeer binne die raamwerk van hulle lewens en die tipe bestaan wat hulle gevoer het. ‘n Gedeelte van die verhandeling behels derhalwe ‘n politieke, maar ook ‘n sosiale en ekonomiese geskiedenis van Transvaal, geskryf spesifiek met wit vroue in gedagte. Bronne vir die sosio-ekonomiese historiese raamwerk sluit verder in die skep van ‘n regsverhoog waarop die vroue geposisioneer kan word. Dit word daargestel deur gebruik te maak van regsbronne soos wetsverslae, asook wette en besluite. Eers wanneer so ‘n uitvoerige raamwerk gekonstrueer is, kan die hofsake bestudeer word vir kwessies rondom wit Transvaalse vroue se regsposisie, en hulle betrokkenheid by hulle eie agenda. Copyright