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The South African Families Database

Cilliers, Jeanne LU (2023) p.389-406
Abstract
Very little is known about what family life looked like for settlers in colonial South Africa during the 18th or 19th century, nor how events over these centuries might have affected demographic change. The primary reason for this lacuna is a shortage of adequate data. Historians and genealogists have, over the last century, worked to combine the rich administrative records that are available in the Cape Archives in Cape Town and beyond, into a single genealogical volume of all settlers living in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Until recently, this valuable resource was not in a format that would enable its use for the type of event-history analyses that have come to dominate the field of contemporary historical demography. This is... (More)
Very little is known about what family life looked like for settlers in colonial South Africa during the 18th or 19th century, nor how events over these centuries might have affected demographic change. The primary reason for this lacuna is a shortage of adequate data. Historians and genealogists have, over the last century, worked to combine the rich administrative records that are available in the Cape Archives in Cape Town and beyond, into a single genealogical volume of all settlers living in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Until recently, this valuable resource was not in a format that would enable its use for the type of event-history analyses that have come to dominate the field of contemporary historical demography. This is now changing with the introduction of the South African Families database (SAF). SAF is one of very few databases known to document a full population of immigrants and their families over several generations. This article provides a brief background to, and technical overview of, the construction of the SAF. It discusses both the merits and limitations of its use in longitudinal demographic studies and offers a look into the types of studies it can enable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Sowing : The Construction of Historical Longitudinal Population Databases - The Construction of Historical Longitudinal Population Databases
editor
Mandemakers, Kees ; Alter, George ; Vezina, Helene and Pushmann, Paul
pages
389 - 406
publisher
Radboud University Press
ISBN
978-94-9329-617-6
DOI
10.54195/BJYF5752
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
95e3fb78-f240-4a98-994e-f05905894b9f
alternative location
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/76124
date added to LUP
2023-09-06 13:10:32
date last changed
2023-09-07 13:16:58
@inbook{95e3fb78-f240-4a98-994e-f05905894b9f,
  abstract     = {{Very little is known about what family life looked like for settlers in colonial South Africa during the 18th or 19th century, nor how events over these centuries might have affected demographic change. The primary reason for this lacuna is a shortage of adequate data. Historians and genealogists have, over the last century, worked to combine the rich administrative records that are available in the Cape Archives in Cape Town and beyond, into a single genealogical volume of all settlers living in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Until recently, this valuable resource was not in a format that would enable its use for the type of event-history analyses that have come to dominate the field of contemporary historical demography. This is now changing with the introduction of the South African Families database (SAF). SAF is one of very few databases known to document a full population of immigrants and their families over several generations. This article provides a brief background to, and technical overview of, the construction of the SAF. It discusses both the merits and limitations of its use in longitudinal demographic studies and offers a look into the types of studies it can enable.}},
  author       = {{Cilliers, Jeanne}},
  booktitle    = {{Sowing : The Construction of Historical Longitudinal Population Databases}},
  editor       = {{Mandemakers, Kees and Alter, George and Vezina, Helene and Pushmann, Paul}},
  isbn         = {{978-94-9329-617-6}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{389--406}},
  publisher    = {{Radboud University Press}},
  title        = {{The South African Families Database}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.54195/BJYF5752}},
  doi          = {{10.54195/BJYF5752}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}