article
The 'house' and Zulu political structure in the nineteenth century
Journal of African history • 34 (3) • Published In 1993 • Pages: 469-487
By: Kuper, Adam.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The rise of the Zulu power in the early nineteenth century has conventionally been treated as the outstanding example of a contemporary southern African process of 'state-formation', which was associated with revolutionary social changes. This paper advances an alternative view, that there were strong continuities with established forms of chieftaincy in the region, and in particular that the Zulu political system was based on a traditional, pan-Nguni homestead form of organization. The Zulu homestead was divided into right and left sections, each with its own identity and destiny. This opposition was mapped into the layout of ordinary homesteads and royal settlements. It was carried through into the organization of regiments. The homestead and its segments provided both the geographical and the structural nodes of the society. The developmental cycle of the homestead ideally followed a set pattern, creating a fresh alignment of units in each generation. The points of segmentation were provided by the 'houses', constituted for each major wife and her designated heir. Each of these houses represented the impact , within the homestead, or relationships sealed by marriage with outside groups, whose leaders threw their weight behind particular factions in the political processes within the family (p. 487).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Traditional history
- Sociocultural trends
- Household
- Moieties
- Community structure
- Chief executive
- Executive household
- 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.
- Ethnologist
- 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
- 5: Excellent Primary 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
- 1991-1992
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- ca. 1790s-1890s
- 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
- by Adam Kuper
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 63005723
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Zulu (African people)