Carolyn Hamilton (historian)

Carolyn Hamilton
Alma mater	University of the Witwatersrand Johns Hopkins University
Scientific career
Fields	anthropologist and historian
Institutions	University of Cape Town
Thesis	Authoring Shaka: models, metaphors and historiography  (1993)
Website	www.apc.uct.ac.za/apc/nrf/professor-carolyn-hamilton

Carolyn Hamilton is a South African anthropologist and historian who is a specialist in the history and uses of archives. She is National Research Foundation of South Africa chair in archive and public culture at the University of Cape Town.

Career

Hamilton was a professor of anthropology at the University of Witwatersrand. ^[1] She was a member of the board of the South African History Archive and the inaugural Council of Robben Island. She was a founder member of the Gay and Lesbian Archive. She is a former speech-writer for Nelson Mandela and joined the Nelson Mandela Foundation's board of trustees in 2015. ^[2] Currently, Hamilton is National Research Foundation of South Africa chair in archive and public culture at the University of Cape Town. ^[3]

Research

Hamilton's research interests lie in the use of archives following graduate work she did in the 1980s that alerted her to issues relating to the reliability, completeness and objectivity of archival sources in South Africa.^{[ citation needed ]}

Writing

Hamilton's 1998 book, Terrific majesty: The powers of Shaka Zulu and the limits of invention, dealt with the historiography of a particular episode in South African history. ^[4] She was the editor, with Bernard K. Mbenga and Robert Rossof, of the first volume of The Cambridge History of South Africa (2009). ^[5]

Selected publications

• In the tracks of the Swazi past : a historical tour of the Ngwane and Ndwandwe kingdoms / compiled by Michael Westcott for the Swaziland Oral History Project . Macmillan Boleswa, Manzini, 1992. (Editor) ISBN   0333479084
• The Mfecane aftermath: Reconstructive debates in South African history. Witwatersrand University Press, 1995. (Editor) ISBN   9781868142521
• Terrific majesty: The powers of Shaka Zulu and the limits of invention. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1998. ISBN   978-0674874459
• Refiguring the archive. Springer, Dordrecht, 2002. (Joint editor) ISBN   9789401039260
• The Cambridge History of South Africa Volume 1: From early times to 1885. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009. (Editor With Bernard K. Mbenga and Robert Rossof) ISBN   978-0521517942
• Uncertain Curature: In and Out of the Archive. Jacana Media, Johannesburg, 2014. (Editor with Pippa Skotnes) ISBN   9781431406296

See also

• Club of Rome

References

1. Terrific Majesty. University of Harvard Press. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
2. Professor Carolyn Hamilton. Nelson Mandela Foundation. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
3. Professor Carolyn Hamilton. Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Archive & Public Culture Research Initiative. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
4. Terrific Majesty. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
5. The Cambridge History of South Africa. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 5 March 2016.