Editorial

Expanding knowledge about historical landscapes, identities, and sociopolitical developments in southern Africa

Elize S. van Eeden

Copyright: © 2025. The Author Licensee: AOSIS.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

The New Contree journal continues its longstanding commitment to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship that deepens our understanding of southern Africa’s historical landscapes, identities and socio-political developments. The articles and reviews featured in this issue exemplify the journal’s interdisciplinary ethos and its dedication to advancing nuanced perspectives on migration, community formation, war and memory.

The first contribution, ‘The creation of a Polish community in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa, 1980–1989’, by Michaela van Ingen-Kal and Ian Macqueen (2025), examines the historical and social dynamics surrounding the emergence of a small but significant Polish community in South Africa’s industrial heartland. By tracing networks of migration, adaptation and identity making, the authors highlight the interplay between global migration trends and local community development during the late apartheid period. Their work enriches our understanding of how immigrant communities negotiated cultural belonging within a complex socio-political environment.

In ‘Marriage and immigrants in Cape Town: 1930–1970’, Amy F. Rommelspacher and Johan Fourie (2025) explore the intimate dimensions of migration through the lens of family, marriage and social integration. This study provides valuable insight into the lived experiences of immigrant families, showing how personal relationships served as both sites of negotiation and instruments of cultural continuity. The article contributes to a broader conversation on the ways in which migration reshapes both individual lives and the social fabric of South African urban spaces.

As for the third original research article, ‘“Hände hoch”: The South African experience of the moment of capture in North Africa’, by Evert Kleynhans (2025), offers a compelling account of South African soldiers’ encounters with captivity during the North African campaign of the Second World War. Through rigorous archival research, Kleynhans captures the psychological and human dimensions of wartime experience, situating South Africa’s role within the larger global history of the conflict. This contribution not only deepens military historiography but also underscores the enduring importance of individual narratives in reconstructing collective memory.

Complementing these research articles are a series of book reviews that extend New Contree’s commitment to interdisciplinary dialogue. Indiphile S. Vezi’s (2025) review engages with the spatial legacies of colonialism and apartheid, examining how power was inscribed onto the landscape as a means of control and exclusion. Frank Lekaba’s (2025) review challenges prevailing narratives about Africa’s position in contemporary global politics, while Butholezwe Mtombeni (2025) interrogates the ongoing presence of colonial and apartheid residues in postcolonial thought. Finally, Suné van Achterbergh (2025) revisits South African leadership during the First World War, offering reflections on the intertwined legacies of Botha and Smuts as soldiers and statesmen. Collectively, these reviews enrich historical discourse and underscore the journal’s engagement with both past and present manifestations of power and identity.

As always, this issue, also captures the essence of New Contree’s intellectual mission, mainly to illuminate the layered and often contested narratives that define southern Africa’s past while situating these within broader global currents. The editorial team encourages scholars of History and other writers of History to support the New Contree’s mission. We are excited to see how the New Contree journal’s exposure annually develops. But then also the Editorial team extends its sincere gratitude to all contributing authors and reviewers for their scholarly dedication and to our readership for their continued engagement and support.

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