Abstract

LEPHAKGA, Tshepo. The history of the conquering of the being of Africans through land dispossession, epistemicide and proselytisation. Studia Hist. Ecc. [online]. 2015, vol.41, n.2, pp.145-163. ISSN 2412-4265.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2412-4265/2015/300.

This paper examines the role of colonisation in the conquering of the Being of Africans. It is pointed out that the colonisation of Africa became possible only because the church - particularly the Catholic Church and the Protestants -gave backing to it. Colonialism and Christianity are often associated because Catholicism and Protestanism were the religions of the colonial powers. Thus Christianity gave moral and ethical foundation to the enslavement of Africans. Colonisation is a concept which involves the idea of organising and arranging, which etymologically means to cultivate or to design. Therefore, it is the contention of this paper that this organising and arranging of colonies had a dire impact on the Being of the African people. Colonisation manifests itself through land dispossession (which in South Africa was given theological backing by the Dutch Reformed Church), epistemicide and proselytisation. Colonisation was informed by the idea of the scramble for Africa, which was blessed and commissioned particularly by the Catholic Church; and the notion of geopolitics of space, according to which the world has been divided by Europeans into two - namely the centre (occupied by the Europeans) and the periphery (occupied by non-Europeans). This division was informed by the articulation that 'I conquer; therefore I am the sovereign'. Therefore, following the ego conquiro (i.e. I conquer), which was followed by the Cartesian ego Cogito (i.e. I think) then those who possess both the ego conquiro and ego cogito felt justified to colonise those who lacked these. This was felt in Africa through land dispossession, and Africans were forced to go through a violent process which alienated them from their ancestral land. Land is ancestral in the Being of the African people, and therefore any disturbance to the relation between the land and the Africans will result in them losing their Being (or self) - becoming pariahs in their ancestral land. This made them a conquered people and empty shells that accepted everything coming their way. It is against this background that the paper will explore the role of colonisation in the conquering of the Being of Africans through land dispossession, epistemicide and proselytisation.

Keywords : African Being; conquer; colonialisation; land dispossession; epistemicide; proselytisation.

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