Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony

Between 1830 and 1850 what it meant to be a child changed in fundamental ways across Britain’s expanding empire. This book presents a child-focused history of the period surrounding slave emancipation in the Cape colony and the British Empire. The status of children and childhood were central to dis...

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Autor principal: Swartz, Rebecca
Formato: Online
Idioma:inglês
Publicado em: Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) 2026
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Acesso em linha:ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350341395_24
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author Swartz, Rebecca
author_browse Swartz, Rebecca
author_facet Swartz, Rebecca
author_sort Swartz, Rebecca
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Between 1830 and 1850 what it meant to be a child changed in fundamental ways across Britain’s expanding empire. This book presents a child-focused history of the period surrounding slave emancipation in the Cape colony and the British Empire. The status of children and childhood were central to discussions of the meaning of freedom in the Cape colony between 1820 and 1850. It proposes that Cape history can be reappraised by adding the category of ‘age’ to discussions of race, gender, class and colonialism. In debates regarding the shift from enslaved or coerced indigenous labour towards nominally free labour, a particular preoccupation was what this would mean for children in general, and for child labourers in particular. There was significant concern regarding who counted as a child, and the measure by which childhood could be differentiated from adulthood. This was raised primarily through debates about child labour and education, including reflections on chronological age. In this period, chronological age became a crucial marker of colonial subjecthood, and a way in which the colony’s population was managed. Drawing on diverse case studies from across the Cape colony and the British Empire, including archival material regarding apprenticeship for Khoe and formerly enslaved children, emigration and infant education, this book highlights the changing nature of childhood in the period 1820 to 1850. The book illustrates shows how children shaped, and were shaped by, both this colonial context and the changing nature of childhood across the British Empire. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.
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language eng
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
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publisher Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
publisherStr Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1759552026-04-20T09:25:59Z Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony Swartz, Rebecca Children Childhood Empire Imperial Settler colony Cape colony Age Race Gender Slavery Emancipation British Empire Philanthropy Humanitarianism Education Child emigration thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTS Slavery and abolition of slavery thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSP Age groups and generations::JBSP1 Age groups: children Between 1830 and 1850 what it meant to be a child changed in fundamental ways across Britain’s expanding empire. This book presents a child-focused history of the period surrounding slave emancipation in the Cape colony and the British Empire. The status of children and childhood were central to discussions of the meaning of freedom in the Cape colony between 1820 and 1850. It proposes that Cape history can be reappraised by adding the category of ‘age’ to discussions of race, gender, class and colonialism. In debates regarding the shift from enslaved or coerced indigenous labour towards nominally free labour, a particular preoccupation was what this would mean for children in general, and for child labourers in particular. There was significant concern regarding who counted as a child, and the measure by which childhood could be differentiated from adulthood. This was raised primarily through debates about child labour and education, including reflections on chronological age. In this period, chronological age became a crucial marker of colonial subjecthood, and a way in which the colony’s population was managed. Drawing on diverse case studies from across the Cape colony and the British Empire, including archival material regarding apprenticeship for Khoe and formerly enslaved children, emigration and infant education, this book highlights the changing nature of childhood in the period 1820 to 1850. The book illustrates shows how children shaped, and were shaped by, both this colonial context and the changing nature of childhood across the British Empire. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective. 2026-04-20T09:25:57Z 2026-04-20T09:25:57Z 2026-04-16T09:54:10Z 2025 book ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350341395_24 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/112329 9781350341395 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/175955 eng Empire’s Other Histories open access Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Bloomsbury Academic b7fec79e-c133-4cb3-9544-88060a4d4e06 9781350341395 Bloomsbury Academic 248 London open access
spellingShingle Children
Childhood
Empire
Imperial
Settler colony
Cape colony
Age
Race
Gender
Slavery
Emancipation
British Empire
Philanthropy
Humanitarianism
Education
Child emigration
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTS Slavery and abolition of slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSP Age groups and generations::JBSP1 Age groups: children
Swartz, Rebecca
Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title_full Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title_fullStr Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title_full_unstemmed Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title_short Children and Freedom in the Cape Colony
title_sort children and freedom in the cape colony
topic Children
Childhood
Empire
Imperial
Settler colony
Cape colony
Age
Race
Gender
Slavery
Emancipation
British Empire
Philanthropy
Humanitarianism
Education
Child emigration
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTS Slavery and abolition of slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSP Age groups and generations::JBSP1 Age groups: children
topic_facet Children
Childhood
Empire
Imperial
Settler colony
Cape colony
Age
Race
Gender
Slavery
Emancipation
British Empire
Philanthropy
Humanitarianism
Education
Child emigration
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHH African history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTS Slavery and abolition of slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSP Age groups and generations::JBSP1 Age groups: children
url ONIX_20260415T184305_9781350341395_24
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