Invention of the white race

Kenneth Mostern kmostern at utk.edu
Fri May 29 05:49:15 PDT 1998



> Two slight factual corrections to Kenneth Mostern's post on this:
>
> 1. The label "Hottentot" applies not to Bantu peoples, but to the Khoi-San
> peoples.

The only acceptable use of the term "Bantu" is with reference to language, as in "Bantu-speaking" or "Bantu-language group." Otherwise it is as offensive as "Hottentot", "Bushman", or "Pygmy."

Mudimbe's The Invention of Africa (1988) uses the word routinely. I am a little confused about how that extends to the South African case, where of course the term has been discriminatory.

Kenneth Mostern Department of English University of Tennessee

"Talent is perhaps nothing more than successfully sublimated rage."

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