British Scholar: Liz Stanley - Mourning Becomes...

Mourning becomes… Post/memory, commemoration and the concentration camps of the South
African War
Liz Stanley (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), 303 pages

Reviewed by: Thomas Josephson, University of Texas at Austin

Liz Stanley’s Mourning becomes… reexamines the British-run concentration camps established during the
South African War of 1899-1902 (sometimes referred to as the Second Boer War). The book not only provides
a new and fascinating presentation of the camps, but also a survey on how colonialism, racism and nationalism
shaped British and South African ‘post/memory.’ She also discusses memory-making by monuments and the
effects of memorials and monuments on visitors.

During the South African War, British officials created concentration camps for women and children who lost
their homes during Britain’s ‘scorched earth’ campaign. Later, those who did not lose their homes were forced
into the camps as well. The concentration camps interned those thought to hinder the British campaign, but
sanitary conditions often led to widespread disease. Of the 100,000-120,000 Boers interned, about 26,000
died—including 22,000 children. The children that died in the camps succumbed to the widespread epidemics.
Women and children made up the majority of those interned in the camps under the justification that Boer
women could potentially aid the Boer war effort. Shortly after the war, many people wrote about the Boer victims
of the camps, paying little or no attention to the Black South Africans also interned there. The number of Black
South Africans that died or who were simply interned in the camps remains unknown; though, many suggest
that the death toll for Black South Africans resembles the death toll of Boers. Stanley demonstrates that the
conditions for and experiences of Black South Africans resemble those of the Boers. Most Black South Africans
were interned along with Boers, and worked as laborers in the camps.

Stanley shows that after the war Boer nationalist movements constructed racial differences in the camps.
Official state commemorations of the concentration camps in the years following the war focused on the
suffering and sacrifice of ‘white’ victims, not addressing the fact that equal numbers of Black South African
children died in the camps. Many blamed the war for the polarizing of race relations in South Africa, but as
Stanley points out, state commemorations and nationalist Boers writing after the war exaggerated the conflict’s
effects on race relations. Recently, however, many South Africans began to understand the suffering of Black
South Africans in the concentration camps during the South African War.

Mourning becomes… provides an intriguing look at the memory, commemoration and understanding of the
concentration camps of the South African War, but considering the work as a purely historiographical academic
piece presents many problems. Stanley’s use of registers from the camp brilliantly illustrates the barely-
noticeable race distinctions made by the British in the camps. Stanley presents comprehensive and convincing
analyses of the monuments and memorials dedicated to the victims of the concentration camps. Unfortunately,
while describing the memorials many of her own reactions creep into the interpretation to the point of being a
nuisance. Normally, personal reactions and reflections do not present a problem in such a book, since the
perceptions of the author are customary in many works on memorials. Stanley’s volume, however, includes a
personal narrative that provides largely unnecessary information about her research experiences and travels
that take away from an otherwise excellent academic work.