Robert Carl-Heinz Shell (31 January 1949 – 3 February 2015) was a South African author, scholar, and professor of

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...

. He was born in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

of South Africa and lived in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. After the fall of apartheid he returned to South Africa. Toward the end of his life he lived in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

with his wife Sandy Rowoldt Shell, who is the head of the African Studies Library at

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. Professor Shell delivered papers on several topics but notably on

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, Islam and

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. In September 2004 he delivered the keynote address at the AGM of SANTA (SA National

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

Association) in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

, South Africa with a talk entitled "Infectious diseases in South Africa: HIV/AIDS and TB, some statistical trends". He has also appeared in Washington, D.C., where he addressed both the House Select Committee on African affairs and the House Select Committee on

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...

on the global Aids

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

Education

Professor Shell obtained his undergraduate and Honours degrees at

in the 1970s. He then went to the U.S. to complete his master's degree at

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

and in 1986 he completed his PhD at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. For his doctoral studies at Yale, completed in 1986, Shell wrote the dissertation entitled "Slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, 1680–1731" under the advisership of famed South African historian, Leonard M. Thompson

Teaching positions

Professional Positions

Publications

Books

*''De Meillon's people of colour : some notes on their dress and occupations with special reference to Cape views and costumes'' (197

*''Cape slave trade, 1680 to 1731: Towards a census'' (198

* ''Religious conversion in 19th and early 20th century South Africa : some notes on the Horton thesis'' (198

*''Slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, 1680–1731'' (198

*''Children of Bondage: A Social History of the Slave Society at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652–1813'' (199

*''Agony of Asar: A Thesis on Slavery by the Former Slave, Jacobus Eliza Johannes 1717–1747'' * ''From diaspora to diorama : African slave trade routes and Southern Africa : the UNESCO Slave Trade Route Project (SA chapter) feasibility study.'' (199

* ''From Diaspora to Diorama : The Slave Lodge'' (200

* ''Changing Hands : A Calendar of Bondage'' (200

Articles

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. "Islam in southern Africa, 1652–1998." ''History of Islam in Africa''. (2000): 327–34

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. "Between Christ and Mohammed : conversion, slavery, and gender in the urban Western Cape." ''Christianity in South Africa: political, social, and cultural history''. (1997): 268–27

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. Hudson's descriptions of "Auctions – their good and evil tendency"’ in Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library 39:4 June 1985 pp147-151 and 40:1 September 1985 pp 12–18, of 'SE Hudson on funerals' in Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library 44:2 Dec 1989, pp56–6

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. 'Hudson’s Cape Town' in Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library 47:4 June 1993 pp133–14

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. ''AIDS in the poorest province of South Africa, 1988 to 2001'' UWC Aids mini conference proceedings – Nov 2001 *Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. "POSITIVE OUTCOMES: The chances of acquiring HIV/AIDS during the school-going years in the Eastern Cape, 1990–200

* Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz.''A second generation HIV/Aids surveillance protocol based on unlinked anonymized testing of trauma patients at selected hospitals in Southern Africa.

*Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz. ''How to write a research proposal for peer review

Reviews

*''Blacks in the Dutch World: The Evolution of Racial Imagery in Modern Society'' by Allison Blakely—Review author Robert Shel

Awards

*His book, ''Children of Bondage: A Social History of the Slave Society at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652–1813'' was the runner-up for the prestigious BJ Venter national book award in 1997.

Quotes

"Robert Shell's account is slightly different. He argues that Christianity's change of heart only applied to

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

slaves, and the issue of whether slaves should be baptized was very contentious as late as 1618 when it was raised at the

Synod of Dort The Synod of Dort (also known as the Synod of Dordt or the Synod of Dordrecht) was an international Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. The fi ...

, the last meeting of Protestant

theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

from Great Britain and the Continent. Although the delegates could not agree on a single policy, Shell maintains, their writings ended or limited the trade in Christian slaves.

'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shell, Robert Carl-Heinz Writers from Cape Town 2015 deaths 20th-century South African historians 1949 births University of Cape Town alumni 21st-century South African historians Historians of South Africa