Mongameli Mabona

Ernst Wolff is Professor of Philosophy at the KU Leuven and Extraordinary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pretoria.

The historical background of South Africa and the Xhosa was well written, succinct, to the point, and as neutral as can be written about South African history. Mongameli Mabona played a minor role in this complex history and this is documented accurately in this well-written biography. Hermen Kroesbergen, Anthropos 117.2022

• Preface PART 1 - LIFE1. Xhosaland: A history of confrontations 1. A snapshot of Xhosa life in the mid eighteenth century 2. Accelerated change: A typology of mounting conflict 3. A changing region in a changing world 3.1 Spread of Boers and British expansion 3.2 British domination and its effects on Xhosaland and beyond 3.3 Changes from the Xhosaland perspective 3.4 Changes from the broader South African perspective 2. (Dis)Union: The world of Mabona’s youth (1910 to the mid 1950s) 1. International and Union politics 2. The economy 3. Separation – reserves – labour 4. Transkei: Culture, religion, education 5. Resistance nationally and in the Transkei 3. Enter Mongameli 1. Birth and first years 2. Early childhood in Qombolo 3. Life in Zigudu – Catholic background (1) 4. Ixopo – Catholic background (2) 5. Pevensey – Catholic background (3) 6. Early priesthood 4. Italy 1. Italian society after World War II 2. Everyday life in Rome 3. Mabona, the student and researcher 4. Further intellectual work 5. Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists: Alioune Diop and Présence Africaine Excursion: The journal Présence Africaine 6. Preparing for Vatican II 5. Back home? Apartheid, St. Peter’s, SPOBA 1. Apartheid 2. Apartheid education 3. The South African economy in the 1960s 4. Resistance 4.1 The ANC and the PAC 5. Life back in South Africa 5.1 Lumko 5.2 Independent ethnographic studies 5.3 Poetry 5.4 Lecturer at St. Peter’s in Hammanskraal 6. London and Switzerland: Politics or anthropology? 1. SOAS 2. The Azanian People’s Liberation Front and other politics 3. Family life 4. Continued research PART 2 – WORK 1. Lux: The first impetus 2. Présence Africaine: Writing for a wide public 3. “The depths of African philosophy” and The outlines of African philosophy 3.1 General appraisal: South Africa’s first African philosopher? 1 4. Dissertatio ad lauream in Facultate Juris Canonici apud Pontificiam Universitatem Urbanianam 5. “The nuclear blast of spring”: Poetry 6. Writings of a South African priest 7. Anthropology and religion 8. Interlude: The publication spurt of 1996 9. Diviners and prophets: The last, incomplete, work 9.1 Final appraisal Timeline Mabona primary bibliography Notes on the sources for interviews and biography References