The study of South African society: towards a new agenda for comparative historical inquiry

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Abstract
This paper seeks to outline a new research agenda for the comparative historical study of South African society. It argues that the existing work in the field exhibits several limitations, expressed in particular in its adoption of a top‐down approach to the study of history and its focus on class and state to the exclusion of identity. The paper seeks to overcome these limitations by adopting a new approach that focuses on identity formation and indigenous capacities. It does that from a comparative perspective which combines historical specificity with theoretical elaboration. After offering theoretical reflections on the relations between history and theory, the paper illustrates the new approach by addressing two fields of particular concern from a comparative perspective: (1) the study of class formation, economic development and identity formation; (2) the role of indigenous capacities in the historical formation of racial and national identities. The paper concludes by considering the production of knowledge in South African studies, arguing that social, political and theoretical concerns combine to effect changes in scholarly trends in an on‐going process of paradigm shifts.

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