Debating freedom in the Cape colony: Children, age and labour, 1820 and 1845
In this paper, I explore debates regarding childhood and freedom in the Cape colony in the period surrounding slave emancipation in the British Empire in 1833. I make two arguments: first, that debates about freedom for indigenous and enslaved labour were often preoccupied with what this would mean for children and child labourers. Second, I argue that because of this, there was anxiety about pinning down chronological age. Childhood was defined differently for different groups of children according to their race, class, and gender. The paper explores this in relation to legislation regarding child labour in the colony, and debates about apprenticeship after emancipation. I draw on a variety of archival material, including records from the Commission of Eastern Enquiry, archives of the Special Justices appointed after emancipation and records of missionaries and colonial officials. Overall, the paper shows how the concept of childhood was in flux in this period, despite attempts to pin it to a chronological marker of age.
Dr Rebecca Swartz is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Her first monograph Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies, 1833-1880 was published in 2019. She is currently working on her second monograph which explores the changing nature of childhood in the post-emancipation Cape colony.
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This page was last updated on 30 June 2024
