The Pedi

At the inaugural meeting in 1932 of the South African Inter-University Committee on African Studies a sub-committee was appointed to review the state of ethnographic work, and to plan a programme of future research. Of the four initial projects planned by the sub-committee one was a study of the Pedi. This work was to be undertaken by Dr. W. W. M. Eiselen, one of the most promising of South African anthropologists who, born and brought up among the Pedi as the son of a missionary in Sekhukhuneland, was ideally equipped for the work. Unfortunately Dr. Eiselen could not complete this task since he soon left his academic post to embark on a career in the Public Service. This left a gap in South African ethnographic literature which has never been filled; all other major ethnic groups in South Africa have been well documented by basic descriptive works. For a number of reasons it was felt that this gap had to be filled, and in this book the author hopes to offer a reasonably full and accurate ethnography of the Pedi.