Julian Cobbing

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Julian Raymond Dennis Cobbing (born June 1944,

Grahamstown, South Africa), known best for his controversial and groundbreaking research into Zulu
culture of the early 19th century.

Cobbing gained a BA from the

Delagoa Bay (now Maputo
). The rise of the Zulu state, under Cobbing's hypothesis, was thus more of a defensive reaction to the slave-trading activities of other tribes in the region, rather than a process of active internal aggression, as argued by some contemporary scholars.

Cobbing's hypothesis was highly controversial when first published. Several books and articles have been written focused on rebutting Cobbing's arguments – a prominent example being Roger B. Beck's Slavery in South Africa: Captive Labor on the Dutch Frontier, which featured a collection of articles challenging Cobbing's contentions. Often now referred to as the "Cobbing controversy", historians are still very much divided on the issue of the emergence of the Zulu nation and the accuracy of conventional accounts of the Mfecane. Most agree however that Cobbing's analysis offered several key breakthroughs, and offered a robust alternative to accounts of the Mfecane that had been taught in school history curricula during Apartheid.[citation needed]

Cobbing spent two months as a visiting fellow at the

Homo sapiens
as a species and the modern world crisis.

Notable academic publications

Julian Cobbing. "The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo". Journal of African History, 29, 1988.

See also

External links

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