After studying in
Christchurch (New Zealand) and in England,
I came to the University of Botswana in 1993 and have been here
since then, except during 1998 - 99 when I taught at the University of
Malawi (Chancellor College, Zomba). I have taught courses in
European history, imperialism, the African Diaspora, colonial
administration, Southern African political history and (in Malawi)
ancient history.
My first published work was on New Zealand foreign policy,
(New Zealand's Moral Foreign Policy 1935 - 1939,
N.Z. Institute of International Affairs, 1988) but I
have subsequently researched mainly in British political and church
history and in Southern African history.
Some recent and forthcoming publications:
" 'Suppose a Black Man Tells a Story': the Dialogues of John
Mackenzie the Missionary and Sekgoma Kgari the King and Rainmaker".
In That Tremendous Voice: Essays in honour of Leonard Diniso
Ngcongco, ed. Kofi Darkwah (1997, special issue of Pula:
Botswana Journal of African Studies). For details of this
Festschrift see UB publications.
This article can now be accessed online at
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/html/itemdetail.cfm?recordID=2512.
"Banister v. Thompson and Afterwards: The Church
of England and the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act",
Journal of Ecclesiastical History, October 1998.
"Slow Cooking: Some European historical parallels for the adaptation of
Christianity in Africa", in Theology Cooked in an African Pot
(eds) Klaus Fiedler, Paul Gundani, Hilary Mijoga,
(Zomba: Association of Theological Institutions in Southern and Central
Africa, 1998) pp. 120-141. [Based on paper presented to the 7th ATISCA
conference, Mbabane, Swaziland, 1996.]
Bruce Bennett (ed.), Essays on Twentieth Century Botswana History
(Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies, 1999 vol. 13
nos 1-2 special issue)
Bruce Bennett, "The contested history of Modimo", in God,
BOLESWA Occasional Papers in Theology and Religion
(Volume 1, Number 9, 2002), eds J.B.R. Gaie, L.S. Nthoi and
J. Stiebert [paper presented to the Boleswa (Botswana -
Lesotho - Swaziland) conference on Theology and Religious Studies,
Gaborone, February 2001].
[Modimo is in modern Setswana translated as "God". But the
"original" meaning - i.e. the meaning when the missionaries
first arrived - is disputed, and has been for a long time.]
"Some historical background on minorities in Botswana", in
Minorities in the Millennium: Perspectives from Botswana
ed. Isaac N. Mazonde (Gaborone: Lightbooks, 2002),
pp. 5-15.
[Based on paper presented to
the International Conference on Challenging Minority Deference and Tribal
Citizenship in Botswana, Gaborone, May 2000, International Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Research, Manchester & University of Botswana.]
"Dead bodies on display: El Negro in cross-cultural perspective",
Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies
vol. 16 no. 1 (2002) pp. 8-13.
[This issue of Pula was a special issue entitled
"El Negro and the Hottentot Venus: Issues of Repatriation",
containing the papers of the one-day conference on the return
of El Negro held at the University of Botswana in May 2001.]
Bruce S. Bennett, "Ancient Egypt, Missionaries and
Christianity in Southern Africa" in
Ancient Egypt in Africa
(Encounters with Ancient Egypt series)
edited by David O'Connor and Andrew Reid, (London: UCL Press,
2003) pp. 107-120.
"The Declaration of the Protectorate" and "The 1891 Proclamations"
in forthcoming new history of Botswana commissioned by Botswana Government
to mark 40 years of Independence.
The History Department Web-site:
I am at present engaged in constructing the History Department's
Web-site. Any comments or suggestions, either on the content or on
the technical side, will be gratefully received.
One of the scholars I have most admired and learnt from is the
late Adrian Hastings (1929-2001), who died in 2001.
He was the external examiner for my Ph.D. thesis in 1992.
His work on religion and politics, especially in Africa but
also in Britain, is of great value and dispels many widely-held
misconceptions. At one point he himself played an important
role in African history, when in 1973 he exposed the massacre at
Wiryamu by the Portuguese army.
The University of Leeds, where Adrian Hastings was Professor,
is raising funds for an "Adrian Hastings Africa Scholarship"
which will assist doctoral students in religion at Leeds
from Africa. See the Leeds University's
Adrian Hastings Africa Scholarship pages
for further information. This is a most worthwhile project,
and one which will honour a great scholar and friend of Africa.
