The rise and fall of the South African peasantry: a critique and reassessment

Colin Bundy's Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry has become a most important landmark in the development of an analytical understanding of the growth of capitalism in South Africa. From the emergence of his first article in October 1972, in 4frican Affairs, up to the publication of his book, his work has drawn considerable interest and gained a continually wider readership. 1 A beginning had already been made in the conceptual and empirical assessment of the basic thesis of Rise and Fall in a review article by Frederick Cooper. Cooper correctly argues that Bundy was seeking to refute the view held by both liberal and conservative South African historians, that the present impoverishment of the Reserve areas of South Africa was due to the 'backward' farming practices of black agriculturalists and their unresponsiveness to improved methods. He sought to show instead, in Cooper's words, that: