Ethnic Sovereignty and the Making of a Zulu Homeland in Apartheid South Africa Open Access
Parcells, Ashley (Spring 2018)
Published
Abstract
This project is a social and political history of the territorialization of ethnic identity. In the face of global decolonization, the apartheid state attempted to create ethnically defined self-governing “homelands” that could be fashioned within the mold of “independent” nation-states. In the 1970s, KwaZulu became a self-governing homeland for Zulu language speakers in South Africa. My research explores how KwaZulu, which was fashioned as the reincarnation of the pre-colonial Zulu kingdom, came to include territory and populations that never recognized the Zulu monarchy.
The creation of the homeland system required local and regional African actors – most prominently members of the Zulu royal family – to negotiate new arrangements of land and authority with the apartheid state. Leaders in the royal family referenced the history of the Zulu kingdom, past treaties with colonizers, and land rights accorded to chiefs under colonialism to advocate for an expanded homeland centered around the Zulu monarch. Ultimately, the government and the royal family moved forward with the creation of a single large homeland for all Zulu speakers in 1970 – even those who had never been part of the Zulu kingdom. The Zulu king, however, was made a powerless constitutional monarch to prevent opposition from people who did not see themselves as subjects of the monarchy.
By exploring how the Zulu royal family negotiated with the apartheid state to make claims over territory and subjects that were never part of the Zulu kingdom, I offer a new understanding of the formative years of apartheid with broader implications for the study of ethnicity under colonialism. Historians have argued that colonial states often used ethnic divisions to control subject populations. This research, however, show that indigenous leaders played a crucial role in defining the relationship between ethnicity and territory as they sought to access political power through the state. Furthermore, while historians of South Africa have primarily studied the development of apartheid ideology and policy at the level of national politics, this research shows that struggles to define the organization of the homeland system –and the apartheid political order itself – were often deliberative and local.
Table of Contents
Introduction_______________________________________________ 1
Chapter 1: Rural Development, Royal History, and the Struggle for Authority in Early Apartheid Zululand, 1951 to 1954 _______________________________________________32
Chapter 2: “Return the Crown of Cetshwayo": Bantu Authorities and The Royal House, 1954 to 1957_______________________________________________64
Chapter 3: Zulus Or Zulu-Speakers?: History, Ethnicity, and the Boundaries of a “Zulustan,” 1962 to 1963_______________________________________________ 93
Chapter 4: “The Empire that Shaka Zulu Was Unable to Bring About”: Homeland State-Building, 1967 to 1970_______________________________________________117
Chapter 5: “Between Westministers And Royalists?”: Conspiracy Accusations and Authoritarianism in Buthelezi’s KwaZulu, 1970 to 1976_______________________________________________155
Chapter 6: From Inkatha to the Ingonyama Trust: The Politics of Zuluness in the Late Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Eras_______________________________________________195
Epilogue_______________________________________________218
Bibliography_______________________________________________234
About this Dissertation
| School | |
|---|---|
| Department | |
| Degree | |
| Submission | |
| Language |
|
| Research Field | |
| Keyword | |
| Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
| Committee Members |
Primary PDF
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Ethnic Sovereignty and the Making of a Zulu Homeland in Apartheid South Africa () | 2018-04-02 13:15:57 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
| Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
|---|