Cultural Histories of Zulu Masculinities and Gender Formation in south africa,
1816-2018
Photo by Greg Marinovich
Former President of the Republic of South Africa
Jacob Zuma (2009-2018)
Umbimbi Lwamabutho Members at a Durban March
January 2018
research questions
How have the paths through youth socialization shifted over time?
How have leaders deployed the trope of the Zulu warrior in relation to contemporary challenges
How did the warrior legacy help construct a distinctive Zulu identity for ethnic nationalist purposes?
How has the idea of martial masculinity been understood and enacted by Zulu-speaking men (and women)?
How is “history” itself (and the connected idea of the Zulu warrior) deployed as a tool to gain support for various causes, and what is left out by the adoption of this narrow historical bias?
How do traditional leaders utilize traditions (like the amabutho) to educate youth and protect cultural traditions?
Izichwe Youth Football Academy
Historiographical contributions
Extends earlier studies by considering Zulu martial masculinity over two centuries, thus showing the varied expressions of this tradition in different eras under shifting social, political, and economic constraints
Shows that amabutho shaped, and have been shaped by, white anxieties over young Zulu men’s “violent potential” and a need for social control
Invites a reconsideration of the role of chiefs and kings in South Africa since 1800
Chapter one:
Before and After Shaka: The Development and Evolution of Amabutho to 1879
Chapter two:
Umcaba osele emasini/The crushed mealies left in the sour milk: The Changing Functions of Amabutho in Natal and Zululand, 1879-1913
chapter three
He is like unto one who is surrounded by the shields of warriors: Amabutho, the Royal House, and Ambiguities of Dependence, 1913-1948
Chapter Four:
The Warrior Is Now a Worker: Modernizing Martial Masculinity in Urban Migrant Communities, 1928-1970
chapter five:
“We fight because we are so plenty”: Zulu Martial Masculinity and the Fight Against Apartheid, 1968-1994
Chapter Six:
Post-Apartheid Zulu Nationalism, Martial Masculinity and the Changing Nature of the Amabutho, 1999 to 2018
PHAMBILI
The Regiments: Cultural Histories of Zulu Masculinities and Gender Formation in south africa, 1816-2018 Photo by Greg Marinovich
