The Griqua people are commonly misunderstood. Today they do not figure in the South African
imagination as other peoples do nor have they for over a century. This book argues that their
comparative invisibility is a result of their place in the national narrative. In this
revisionist analysis of South African historiography the author analyses over a century's
worth of historical studies and identifies a number of narrative frameworks that have proven
resilient to change over this time. The Griqua in particular have fared poorly compared to
other peoples. They appear in and disappear from this body of work in a number of consistent
ways almost as though scholars have avoided re-imagining their history in ways relevant to the
present. This book questions why that might be the case.
