To Die For: Inherited Leadership (Bogosi) Among the Tswana Before 1885

Abstract

Standard interpretations of inherited leadership (bogosi) among the varied Tswana-speaking peoples, undertaken in the mid colonial era by Isaac Schapera, and followed by more recent scholars, have been preoccupied with the constitutional restrictions and obligations of this office and its rules of succession. This framework has served also as a generic characterisation of pre-colonial bogosi, suggesting continuity over time. An examination of the pre-colonial period, which this article has undertaken with a purview commencing with the mid 18th century, suggests otherwise. Rather than an institution that esteemed sharing, accountability, service, and even-handedness, bogosi in earlier times was heavily tilted towards fighting, raiding, and authoritarian acts. The levels of violence and heavy-handedness is reflected by high mortality rates among inherited leaders (dikgosi), mostly in battles and at the hand of assassins. Such was the case among the many Tswana-speaking entities or...