The African perspective of the 1856/1857 cattle-killing movement

Abstract

The White perspective of the 1856/1857 Cattle-Killing movement advances several theories such as ‘the chiefs' plot theory’, ‘the ancestor worship theory’ and ‘the lungsickness epidemic theory’, of which almost all ascribe the root cause of the movement to the Africans or Xhosa themselves. The African creative artists espouse a contrary African perspective, the hallmarks of which have seemingly eluded the exponents of the White-centric perspective. The objective of this article is to identify the said African perspective and its hallmarks, as advanced by the African creative writers, and examine whether or not their advancement of the perspective complies with the literary universale.