Lynn reviewed Scots in South Africa by Nigel R. Dalziel
Review of 'Scots in South Africa' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
The emphasis in this book is very much on how incoming Scots influenced the development of various aspects of South African society (newspapers, libraries, businesses, etc.). I would have found it more interesting had the emphasis been reversed - what were the experiences of Scots who settled there? Scots emigrants were more or less the same regardless of where they settled. They started newspapers and Caledonian societies, influenced education, and imposed the Presbyterian church in Australia and Canada just as they did in South Africa. But surely those who went to South Africa, encountered its specific social and cultural mix, and experienced its unique development would have been changed in ways that are unique to them, just as those who settled in New Zealand and the U.S. were changed by their unique experiences. Reading this book will teach you lots of things about what Scottish people tended to do when …
The emphasis in this book is very much on how incoming Scots influenced the development of various aspects of South African society (newspapers, libraries, businesses, etc.). I would have found it more interesting had the emphasis been reversed - what were the experiences of Scots who settled there? Scots emigrants were more or less the same regardless of where they settled. They started newspapers and Caledonian societies, influenced education, and imposed the Presbyterian church in Australia and Canada just as they did in South Africa. But surely those who went to South Africa, encountered its specific social and cultural mix, and experienced its unique development would have been changed in ways that are unique to them, just as those who settled in New Zealand and the U.S. were changed by their unique experiences. Reading this book will teach you lots of things about what Scottish people tended to do when they emigrated, regardless of where they emigrated to (assuming you don't already know this from studying their activities elsewhere). I don't feel that I know anything new about life in colonial South Africa, though.