Zulu

Orientation

Identification and Location. The Zulu are an African ethnic group whose members live mainly in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, which lies between the Indian Ocean to the east and the Drakensberg mountain range to the west. The province stretches from the borders of Mozambique and Swaziland in the north to the Umzimkhulu River in the south. This is an agriculturally fertile region, with the summer being a very productive season. The summer season between October and April is warm and rainy, while the winter between June and August is relatively cold and dry. Temperatures are moderate. The Zulu are bordered by the Swazi people to the north, the BaSotho to the west, and the Xhosa and Mpondo communities to the south.

Zulu identity has changed over time. Before the ascendancy of King Shaka, the term Zulu referred to only one clan that recognized "Zulu" as its founding ancestor. After Shaka's mission of conquest and consolidation, the term came to refer to hundreds of clans under the control of the Zulu monarchy. After the beginning of British colonial rule of Natal in 1843, Zulu identity became associated with a particular territory, especially the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal Province, formerly known as Zululand. Today Zulu "ethnic" identity is linked to the language and the monarchy.

Demography. It is difficult to determine the number of Zulu people as not all people who speak the isiZulu language can be assumed to be Zulu. KwaZulu-Natal Province is also open to all South Africans, and not all the people who live there are Zulu. According to the South African Statistics 2000 report, in 1996, 9, 200, 144 people out of the total national population of 40, 583, 573 spoke the isiZulu language. In 1997 there were an estimated 8, 713, 100 "Black" people living in KwaZulu-Natal (out of 31, 460, 970 "Black" people in all of South Africa). It is estimated that among all isiZulu speakers in South Africa, 74. 6 percent live in KwaZulu-Natal.

Linguistic Affiliation. Zulu people speak the isiZulu language, which is classified as one of the Nguni languages in South Africa, which include the isiXhosa, isiSwazi, and isiNdebele languages. In southern Africa the Nguni coexist with the Sotho and the Khoisan, who also have their own subdivisions. All these southern African cultural-linguistic groups with the exception of the Khoisan are often classified as Bantu-speaking peoples because their languages have some linguistic similarities of a broad nature compared to other African languages. There is some speculation that this might be the case because of common origins, but this hypothesis is debatable.

History and Cultural Relations

Oral history lists eight kings, including the currently reigning king, Zwelithini Goodwill. Shaka Zulu is often considered the first and most prominent of these kings, particularly with regard to military proficiency and command and the integration and mobilization of smaller "tribes" into a kingdom. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the Zulu, like some other tribes with equivalent military capabilities, attempted to subjugate other groups and establish political supremacy.

While this process was going on, the colonial powers arrived on the scene. The British officially annexed Natal in 1845, while the Dutch-German-French descendants locally referred to as the Boers had already begun to colonize the same territory. However, Natal's status as a Boer colony was shaky and short-lived. The Boers later annexed the western part of Zululand in an attempt to form a Boer republic. Brutality and mistrust characterized the relationship between the colonists and the indigenous Zulu population, with the colonists always having the upper hand. Amid political strife in the 1880s, the Zulu kingdom was weakened by the arrest of the king and by internal conflict. Under what was called the Shepstonian system, the British colonists later divided Zulu-land into thirteen chiefdoms.

There is a great deal of doubt and uncertainty regarding Zulu history because of its use as a political tool to support apartheid or argue against it and, in the early 1990s, to argue for or against the Inkatha Freedom Party's struggle for Zulu sovereignty. Despite these issues the Zulu have maintained a strong sense of themselves as Zulu by associating their surnames with being Zulu, maintaining a large vocabulary of praise names, and maintaining specific Zulu cultural practices.

Settlements

KwaZulu-Natal is both urban and rural, with Durban as its largest city. The Zulu people in rural areas live in households that contain nuclear family members or in a three-generation household structure. The physical structures are often rondavels, circular houses built of mud or concrete blocks and thatched with grass or iron sheets. Rectangular flat-roofed houses made of mud or concrete blocks are as popular as rondavels, but the two forms often coexist, as rondavels are preferred for use as a kitchen or as a house where ancestors are consulted. A common housing structure before the second half of the twentieth century was the beehive hut. These huts were round, strongly woven grass structures with small doors that could be entered only on one's knees. Kitchens often have a hearth that serves as the center of the house.

Urban Zulu people live mainly in townships that were built in the 1950s and 1960s by the government to enforce racial segregation. Townships were residential areas of "Black" people and their families that were close to their places of work in the cities. The government of that time built numerous four-roomed houses that were rented out to people. In KwaZulu-Natal those houses were occupied mainly by Zulu people. With a few exceptions the Zulu are still the main inhabitants of KwaZulu-Natal townships, but the houses are now privately owned.

Since the abolition of apartheid in the early 1990s, some urban areas have become more integrated. In the inner city of Durban the Zulu coexist with people from other parts of South Africa and people from other African countries who have come to KwaZulu-Natal for reasons such as studying, seeking asylum, and seeking employment.

Economy

Subsistence. Before the mid-nineteenth century the Zulu depended entirely on horticulture and raising livestock. Their staple crop was maize, while cattle, goats, and poultry were the most important livestock. Today they eat spinach, pumpkins, beans, potatoes, and other vegetables, which they grow and buy. Although they like meat, many people cannot afford to buy it. Maize, wheat flour, and more recently rice are the main staples.

Commercial Activities. A dual economy of subsistence horticulture and a market economy was characteristic of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. This situation gradually changed when the Zulu were crowded onto insufficient land and forced to work for money in order to pay taxes. The Zulu engage in small-scale trading as part of the informal sector to supplement the money that members of the household earn by working in cities and small towns. Few Zulu people engage in serious commercial activities. Professional jobs are the main avenue for economic development. Although horticulture is still practiced in rural areas, there is general dependence on the commercial market for food. Small-scale agriculture merely supplements a family's income.

Industrial Arts. The Zulu people's main economic activities have traditionally been horticulture and tending cattle and goats. The hoe is the main industrial implement, and the grinding stone was an important implement in the house, although its significance has been fading. Historically, the Zulu also engaged in hunting. That is why they make izagila (knobkerries or assegais) and imikhonto (spears) of tremendous variety and artistic sophistication. Both of these hunting implements were also used in warfare. Sticks and knobkerries also were used in combat competitions organized as part of ceremonial dances. Women made a range of pottery goods used as cooking, storing, and eating utensils. Those utensils are still made by those who have learned the trade and are sold in markets. However, cooking is done mostly in steel pots. Palm woven crafts such as baskets, mats, beer strainers, and vessel lids are made for commercial purposes. Zulu beadwork is now mainly made for tourists and specific ceremonies. In a few places traditional Zulu dress is still worn.

Trade. No major trade was a traditional part of the Zulu culture. However, the KwaZulu-Natal Province is now accessible by sea, air, and road for commercial trade.

Division of Labor. The division of labor within a household is mainly between men and women. Traditionally, men provided economic security for the household, protected the household, led ceremonial activities in the household, and did outside physical tasks such as tending livestock, building kraals, and building new houses. Men regard themselves as providers for their households, and to establish the status of a household head, employment is imperative. Women still do the horticultural activities in rural areas. Women are faced with the day-to-day running of the house, including cleaning, washing, cooking, fetching water, and child rearing. Women also take jobs in order to provide for the family's economic needs, but they have assure that the household routine is done either by themselves before and after work or by someone they employ.

Land Tenure. All land in "tribal areas" is under the control of a "chief who allocates land for residential purposes as well as for cultivation at a household head's request. Historically, "chief's" had full authority over the incorporation of people into their chiefdoms. However, their roles were fully absorbed into the colonial system, in which those roles were reduced to that of a tax collector; their land was taken away from them. The title chief is no longer acceptable among these traditional leaders because it evokes their subjugation under colonial rule as the "bossboys" of an oppressive regime. They prefer to be called by the Zulu alternative amakhosi (singular, inkosi). People who live on farms and work for white farmers also have limited scope to practice subsistence agriculture for themselves because they work under controls and constraints that relate to their terms of rent and remuneration as farm workers. Urban Zulu dwellers live under various arrangements of rent, private ownership, and rate payments.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Surnames are a symbol of identity for individuals and families. Surnames include praise names that reflect the interrelatedness of surnames and important occurrences in the history of the Zulu people. People with the same surname once belonged to the same localized clan. At the beginning of the twentieth century this residential pattern changed drastically, but when people with the same surname meet for the first time, for example, at the airport in Johannesburg, they regard themselves as being related. Zulu people observe exogamy with immediate relatives of the mother's kin and with people who have the same surname as their mothers.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, nuclear families were the most common operational units of kin. Children depend on their parents as long as they are not married and are not economically independent. The extended family is important for economic assistance and on ritual and ceremonial occasions. Matrilineal kin are also vital and are expected to appear at important ceremonies involving a daughter or sister's children. Children born to unmarried women belong to the mothers' kin.

Kinship Terminology. Kinship terminology for the nuclear family includes the following terms: umama for mother, ubaba for father, udadewethu sister, umfowethu brother, undodakazi for daughter, and undodana son. This is the terminology sometimes used by people in recognition of their respective ages as they interact. In-laws use the same terms modified to indicate the affinal nature of the relationship. Thus, for a young woman who has married into another household, her husband's mother is called her mamezala even though in her usual address she will call her mama. Her husband's father is ubabezala even though when addressing him she will call him baba. Other terms of respect to refer to a sister/sister-in-law and a brother/brother-in-law are sisi and bhuti, respectively. These terms may have originated from other languages, but they are popularly used as a sign of respect for people one does not want to mention categorically by name. Cousins call each other mzala or gazi, with the latter term being used mostly among parallel cousins related through their mothers. One's father's brother is called bab'omkhulu or bab'omncane, depending on whether he is older or younger than one's father. One's father's sister is called babekazi although the English derived anti gained in popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century. On the mother's side, one's mother's sisters are called mam'khulu or mam'ncane according to whether they are older or younger. The mother's brother is called malume. The mother's brother calls his sister's child mshana. Male grandparents, whether patrilineal or matrilineal, are called ugogo for grandmother and umkhulu for grandfather. A man's in-laws are umukhwe for his wife's father, umkhwekazi for her mother, and umlamu or usibali for his wife's siblings.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Monogamous marriage is common among the Zulu, even though historically polygamy was encouraged. Polygamy is still practiced, particularly in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Postmarital residence is patrilocal, and a woman often adopts the identity of the household into which she has married even though in daily communication she is called by the surname or name of her father with the prefix Ma- added. Children belong to their father's lineage. The Zulu value marriage, and the process of getting married involves a host of expensive exchanges, with bride-wealth being the main feature, making divorce difficult.

Domestic Unit. The typical domestic unit includes a man, his wife or wives, and their children. In some households the parents of the man form part of the unit as the most senior household members and direct most of the activities of the household. Even though frowned upon, out-of-wedlock births are becoming prevalent in KwaZulu-Natal. Single mothers tend to remain with their matrilineal relatives. Their children adopt matrilineal identity since no bride-wealth was paid by the fathers' kin group.

Inheritance. Inheritance of property is along the patrilineal line. Inheritance of important positions such as a "chiefship" follows the pattern of primogeniture.

Socialization. Children are socialized to adhere to the division of labor that associates women with running the inside of the house and men with managing the economic, outside, and public relations of the household. The school (and later tertiary education institutions for those who can afford them) occupies the lives of boys and girls. Different stages of a person's life are marked by ceremonial occasions which aid in the internalization of new roles.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Social status is traditionally encapsulated in respect for kinship positions and leadership. Just as there is respect for the household head and patrilineal kin, there is general respect for men as the principal carriers of identity and tremendous respect for the inkos ("chief) and his kin as the royal household of the chiefdom. Socioeconomic inequality is caused by differential access to monetary resources in a capitalist economy. Economic differentiation coexists with different lifestyles: a traditional Zulu lifestyle reflected in religion, dress code, and a defiant attitude toward Western standards and mannerisms and an alternative Western competitive capitalist lifestyle. However, there are no pure Zulus and no complete Western converts.

Political Organization. The Zulu have a monarch who commands respect from a large number of people who live under the immediate authority of their amakhosi ("chief's"). Amakhosi pay respect to the king by attending the House of Traditional Leaders and mobilize support for festivities organized by the king. The "chief's" have subdivisions (izigodi) within the chiefdoms, which are looked after by headmen (izinduna). In some chiefdoms "chief's" have additional councilors who, together with headmen, form part of what is called the Tribal Authority, which helps the "chief govern. In addition, structures of the democratically elected local government administer access to facilities and services to all the people in KwaZulu-Natal Province. These structures work closely with the provincial government, and their relationship with the 'chief's' is a contentious issue.

Social Control. The Zulu have been influenced by individualism to some extent. Although the older generation boasts of a time when disciplining the younger generation was the responsibility of everyone in the community, most people tend to mind their own business. Institutions such as the church and the family have limited control of people's behavior, but sanctions are not imposed as communally as the older generation has led people to believe. Punishment of specific misbehavior is also a responsibility of institutions such as schools, the police, and the Tribal Authority (the chief's' structure of governance).

Conflict. Conflict occasionally arose between chiefdoms, particularly over boundaries. Colonial land policies and relocations exacerbated those conflicts. In the early twenty-first century such conflicts usually led to feuding between the concerned parties and the intervention of other state institutions, such as the police, the defense force, and the courts. Other kinds of conflict involved clashes between political parties over political issues. In the precolonial period there was some conflict between tribes over property or boundaries and as a result of attempts by some groups to subdue others and expand their boundaries, which occasionally involved non-Zulu groups such as the Xhosa in the south and some BaSotho groups.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The Zulu people have a strong belief in the potency of their ancestors. Their cosmology is characterized by God in various forms: uMvelingqangi (a male god responsible for all life), uNomkhubulwano (a female god who provides food security, particularly through good harvests), and a god for the control of weather, particularly thunder. Their cosmology also includes ancestors who can have a significant positive impact on their families' lives if they are appeased. The Zulu cosmology also includes the potency of the natural world, particularly herbs and animals when made into umuthi (medicine), which can be used or abused to affect people negatively or positively. This is done mainly in the realm of traditional medicine.

Christianity has significantly influenced the Zulu. The majority of the Zulu combine traditional religious beliefs with Christianity; there are also those who profess to be entirely converted to Christianity, mostly those who adhere to the evangelical Christian traditions.

Religious Practitioners. The Zulu religion is essentially household-based. It is characterized by an obligation by household heads to fulfill the necessary ceremonial rituals. These ceremonies often require the sacrifice of domestic animals (usually goats) and addressing the ancestors by burning impepho, an incense herb.

There are African indigenous churches that combine aspects of Western Christianity with Zulu ways of communicating with ancestors. These churches have priests and healers who dedicate themselves to these practices for the benefit of the people who consult them. Diviners have traditionally existed among the Zulu and diagnose the causes of illnesses and misfortunes. The diagnosis often relates to dissatisfied ancestors or evil manipulation of umuthi for harmful effects (witchcraft).

Ceremonies. There are numerous ceremonies that relate to an individual's stage in the domestic cycle and also are linked to ancestors. Babies are named and then introduced to the ancestors in a ceremony called imbeleko. A girl's first menstruation is celebrated through a ceremony called umhlonyane. Both of these ceremonies involve slaughtering a goat. Young women are declared adults and ready for marriage through a ceremony called umemulo, which involves slaughtering a cow. Marriage is celebrated through a wedding ceremony (umshado or umgcagco). Death is a ceremonial occasion accompanied by appropriate rites of passage. Another important ceremony is conducted a year after a household member has died and is supposed to link the deceased with his or her long-departed relatives and elevate him or her to "ancestorhood." Moderation in the practice or observance of these ceremonies characterizes life in KwaZulu-Natal. When there is an omission in performing such ceremonies, diviners often point to this as the cause of ill luck for an individual or household.

Royal ceremonies include the reed dance ceremony (umkhosi womhlanga), in which young women show pride in their womanhood (with an emphasis on virginity) by parading at the king's palace in view of thousands of cheerful onlookers. The king maintains the traditional privilege of choosing a wife from among those women. The Shaka Zulu celebrations are held on 24 September every year. While this day was historically called Shaka's day and is important for the Zulu people, in the new South African democratic era it is now called Heritage Day and is supposed to have meaning for all South Africans. The Zulu still commemorate Shaka Zulu on this day. The king also has other responsibilities, such as a twenty-minute address to the Zulu nation on Ukhozi (an isiZulu radio station) on Christmas morning.

Arts. The Zulu are known for pottery. The art of making and decorating pots remains an important skill for Zulu women. Beadwork and grass and palm weaving are also essential arts and crafts. Skill and creativity determine the extent of fame of an artist. Artistic woodcarving by men is done in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Medicine. Medicine takes two forms. First, there is the kind of medicine that targets physical ailments and deals with the physiological problems of the human body. Second, there is medicine that works magically to produce a negative or positive impact on those toward whom it is directed. This type of medicine is used more like a weapon and is often implicated in the acts of animosity people level against each other. Zulu people use Western medical practitioners as well, but the relationship between the two systems of healing is not characterized by mutual respect. However, most Zulu people use both systems, depending on what they perceive to be the source of their problems.

Death and Afterlife. Death is regarded as a time of tremendous loss. A death by illness is treated differently from a death by "a spill of blood." Accidents and death by murder are regarded as deaths by "a spill of blood," and medicinal healing is expected to accompany the funerals in these cases in order to stop such misfortune (ukuvala umkhokha). Generally, deaths are considered polluting, and various rituals and ceremonies must be observed to slowly remove the impurity. These rituals also serve to gradually send the deceased into the next world.

For the original article on Zulu, see Volume 9, Africa and the Middle East.

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MPILO PEARL SITHOLE