Paper short abstract:

Decolonisation differs between societies that experienced national liberation struggles and those that didn't, which influenced disciplines and their contests. Peculiar variations in South Africa arose due to apartheid, race and anti-racist struggles, and new desires for postapartheid indigeneity

Paper long abstract:

Decolonisation differs between societies that experienced national liberation struggles and those that didn't, pressures from which influenced discipinary configurations and contestations. This is especially about those societies that saw the rise of African History as a means of challenging the divide between history and anthropology. Peculiar variations in South Africa arose because of apartheid and race and anti-racist struggles, and new desires for postapartheid indigeneity. While the 'native question' may have driven African Studies in colonial times, later demands for more history saw a humanities driven by nationalism, while the main challlenge remains how the dominance of nationalism and developmentalism can be challenged