article
Chiefly authority, leapfrogging headmen and the political economy of Zululand, South Africa, ca. 1930-1950
Journal of southern African studies • 27 (3) • Published In 2001 • Pages: 567-590
By: Mackinnon, Aran S..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In early twentieth century South Africa, where white and capitalist domination of Africans was the central feature of the country's political economy, various elements of African society tried to use 'tradition' in a defensive manner to resist the pernicious effects of social and economic dislocation. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Zulu king and chiefs held popular support, despite their incorporation into the white state that threatened to undermine their legitimacy. This was, in part, because of their power over land allocation, and in part because they represent a symbolic and idealized past in wich the Zulu kingdom fought to defend itself against colonial conquest and intervention. Shula Marks first highlighted the importance of the Natal-Zululand case for understanding chiefly authority, as well as the chiefs' opposition to, and co-option by the state. This paper draws on her work to expand the discussion of Zulu chiefs and headmen, especially in the economic sphere, and argues that insufficient attention have been devoted to differences between northern and southern Zululand, and to the strategies of non-royal headmen in shaping the pattern of local authority (p. 567).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Status, role, and prestige
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Community heads
- Districts
- Provinces
- Chief executive
- Public welfare
- Legal and judicial personnel
- Recruitment and training
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Zulu
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2004
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1930-1950
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa
- NotesAdditional notes
- Aran S. Mackinnon
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 75642679
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Zulu (African people)