The Regiments:
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
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How have the paths through youth socialization shifted over time?
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How have leaders deployed the trope of the Zulu warrior in relation to contemporary challenges
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How did the warrior legacy help construct a distinctive Zulu identity for ethnic nationalist purposes?
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How has the idea of martial masculinity been understood and enacted by Zulu-speaking men (and women)?
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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?
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How do traditional leaders utilize traditions (like the amabutho) to educate youth and protect cultural traditions?
Izichwe Youth Football Academy
Historiographical contributions
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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
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Shows that amabutho shaped, and have been shaped by, white anxieties over young Zulu men’s “violent potential” and a need for social control
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Invites a reconsideration of the role of chiefs and kings in South Africa since 1800