Book

You only need one bull to cover fifty cows: Zulu women and 'traditional' dress

University of the Witwatersrand, African Studies Institute • (213) • Published In 1987 • Pages: 24

By: Klopper, Sandra.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

This article tries to place the contemporary (i.e., ca. 1980s) dress of married Zulu women into a broad historical framework. It addresses the problem of why, despite radical economic and political transformations, some of the present conventions of female dress have remained virtually unchanged since Shakan times. By looking particularly at the history of the institution of marriage, it attemps to demonstrate not only how the meanings ascribed to, but also the roles of these conventions have been affected by the codification of so-called customary law and the growth of migrant labor. Given the paucity of information on past perceptions and interpretations of female dress it must be pointed out, that many of the observations which appear in this study are necessarily speculative (p. 1).

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Sociocultural trends

Domesticated animals

Normal garb

Personal grooming

Gender status

Mode of marriage

Nuptials

Family relationships

Cult of the dead

Conception

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

Book

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

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

1800-1980s

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 Sandra Klopper

'African Studies Seminar Paper to be presented at Seminar in RW 319 at 4.00 p.m. on Monday 02 June 1987'

Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-24)

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Zulu (African people)