King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen: Victorian Britain through African Eyes [Paperback]

Neil Parsons (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226647455 | ISBN-13: 978-0226647456 | Publication Date: February 3, 1998 | Edition: 1

In 1895 three African chiefs, dressed in the finest British clothing available, began a tour of the British Isles. That tour foiled Cecil Rhodes' grand plan for Africa and culminated in the Chamberlain Settlement, the document that indirectly led to the independence of present-day Botswana. King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen is the story of this bizarre journey, one of the most neglected events in British Victorian history, here revealed for the first time in its full detail and cultural complexity.

The chiefs initially went to England to persuade Queen Victoria not to give their lands to ruthless Rhodes and his British South Africa Company. Abandoned by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, and denied an audience with the queen, the three rulers decided to tour the British Isles to plead their case to the populace. Appealing to the middle-class morality of Victorian society, the chiefs were remarkably successful in gaining support, eventually swaying Chamberlain into drafting the agreement that secured their territories against the encroachment of Rhodesia.

Historian Neil Parsons has reconstructed this journey with the help of African archival materials and news clippings from British papers, garnered from the clippings service the chiefs had the foresight to employ. In equal parts narrative of pilgrimage, voyage of discovery, and colonial resistance, King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen provides a view from the other side of colonialism and imperialism. It demonstrates the nuances of cultural and religious interaction between Africans and Europeans, and it does so with the richness and depth of a fully realized novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1895 three Bechuana chiefs from southern Africa traveled to London to implore Queen Victoria not to turn their territories over to the empire builder Cecil Rhodes. King Khama and his associates won a few concessions, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. In their travels, however, they helped sway British public opinion to a more sympathetic view of indigenous issues in Africa, especially by favorably impressing the liberal clergy. Basing his account of the Bechuana leaders' tour of Great Britain on contemporary newspaper reports, Neil Parsons carefully reconstructs their itinerary, which included a strange stop at Madame Tussaud's famous wax museum. King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen is more than a narrative of events: in its pages, Parsons does a fine job of discussing the contradictions of imperial rule and of competing ideas of power and justice.

From Library Journal

In 1895, three African chiefs, dressed in the finest British clothing available, began a tour of the British Isles. That tour foiled empire-builder Cecil Rhodes's grand plan for Africa and culminated in the Chamberlain Settlement?the document that indirectly led to the independence of the present-day state of Botswana. Parsons (history, Univ. of Botswana; A New History of Southern Africa, Africana, 1993) writes this complicated and oblique story of Victorian England's relations with three of southern Africa's tribal rulers of the late 19th century. The author uses clippings from British newspapers, saved by each of the three African kings, and African archival material to reconstruct this account. Purportedly told through "African eyes," the story never clearly detaches from the London Missionary Society. Appropriate for academic libraries.?Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. System, Iola
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226647455
• ISBN-13: 978-0226647456
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,880,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neil Parsons's latest book CLICKO THE WILD DANCING BUSHMAN (Jacana Media & University of Chicago Press) is a true-life circus tale that goes beyond the fiction of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. It recounts the life of an African "bushman" taken by a cruel master to perform on stage in London and Paris in 1913, with a subsequent long circus career in America. After nearly three decades cavorting for the millions as a much-loved "wild man", he died relatively happy in 1940.

Previous biographical works include KING KHAMA, EMPEROR JOE, AND THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN: VICTORIAN BRITAIN THROUGH AFRICAN EYES [1895] (University of Chicago Press), SERETSE KHAMA 1921-1980 (Macmillan), and and edition of MONARCH OF ALL I SURVEY: BECHUANALAND DIARIES OF SIR CHARLES REY 1929-37 (James Currey).

Other publications include THE ROOTS OF RURAL POVERTY IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA (Heinemann & University of California Press) and a number of textbooks, notably A NEW HISTORY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (Macmillan Education).

[Photo of author by courtesy of Aldridge Press, London]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing View of the Agency of African Colonial Elites, July 28, 2004

By 

Kenya A. Hudson (Jackson, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen: Victorian Britain through African Eyes (Paperback)

This book examines the 1895 trip of Batswana Chiefs Khama, Sebele and Bathoen to London to negotiate a deal with Minister of Colonial Affairs Joe Chamberlain that would secure their land against seizure attempts by Cecil Rhodes. It relies primarily on archival sources including correspondence, diaries, papers and newspaper clippings and, to a lesser degree, on oral histories. Once the chiefs arrive in London, the book is organized by day and the author provides copious information about that day whether it is significant or simply a matter of who stayed in bed or who purchased souvenirs. At times, it seems that the main narrative will be overwhelmed by minutiae. Yet, Parsons does a brilliant job of showing how the chiefs and London Missionary Society administrator Willoughby used the temperance issue and the Non-Conformist sensibility in general to build a more sympathetic case for their position. He also demonstrates well how the journalism of the times seemed to drive much of the context and sometimes the actual negotiations.

This book will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in turn-of-the-century Southern Africa or for that matter Britain due to the many excerpts from archival sources. Parson's style is quite accessible to the lay-reader with little previous background in the subject though I would recommend he or she read the last chapter first for a framework. It is particularly important for scholars of the region and of Botswana. It addresses one of the central controversies of Botswana history, i.e., whether Botswana's non-absorption into Rhodesia was the result of the chiefs' visit or the failed Jameson raid. (Parson's comes down in favor of the former.) More generally, it is a revealing look at the agency of African colonial elites.

5.0 out of 5 stars helpless Africa?, June 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen: Victorian Britain through African Eyes (Paperback)

This book does an excellent job of telling the tale of the visit of three great African kings to England in the late 1890s. Provides an accurate portrayal of King Khama and his interaction with Joe Chamberlain and Cecil Rhodes. An excellent, factual, entertaining story of successful African resistance.