A new approach to the Zulu land tenure system: an historical anthropological explanation of the development of an informal settlement
- Authors: Fourie, Clarissa Dorothy
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Land tenure -- South Africa -- Kwazulu Kwazulu (South Africa) -- Economic conditions Zulu (African people) -- Social conditions Kwazulu (South Africa) -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2098 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002661
- Description: Mgaga, an informal settlement in KwaZulu, south of Durban, on Cele-Zulu polity land, had an indigenous, albeit urban, system of Zulu land tenure in 1980. Mgaga's transformation, from an area with scattered homesteads in 1959 to an informal settlement, was linked to local and external factors. The external factors were, regional industrialisation, urbanisation and apartheid policies which involved, the division of South Africa into ethnically based 'homelands'; controlled Black access to 'White' cities; an urban management system for 'homeland' townships, like Umlazi township which abutted Mgaga. Umlazi's development and urban management system involved, the resettlement of members of the polity; the removal of their office bearers from their posts; and the phased building of the township; which caused cumulative effects in Mgaga. I link these external factors to the behaviour of Mgaga's residents, who transformed the area's land tenure system, by using Comaroff's dialectical model (1982), where the internal dialectic interacts with external factors to shape behaviour at the local level. I analyze the Zulu ethnography to show that the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation, and in Mgaga, is centred around fission and integration; and that the integrating hierarchy associated with Zulu social organisation and the Zulu land tenure system is composed of groups with opposed interests in the same land. Within this hierarchy entrepreneurship and coalition formation influence the transfer of land rights. Also, rather than rules determining the transfer of land in the land tenure system, processes associated with the interaction of external factors with the internal dialectic, within terms of the cultural repertoire associated with the system, shape local behaviour; and the system's rules are manipulated within this cultural repertoire by individuals striving for gain. This results in different manifestations of the internal dialectic in the Zulu land tenure system, i.e. a range of variations in the Zulu land tenure system, including different local level kinship groups; a variety of terminology and rights held by office bearers; and communal and individualised land rights. The external factor of urbanisation interacted with the internal dialectic in Mgaga, manifested in terms of an ongoing izigodi (wards) dispute -including its boundaries, to shape residents' behaviour, so that some introduced an informal settlement and others resisted its geographical spread. This informal settlement development, where eventually purely residential land rights were transferred for cash to strangers by strangers, with no role for polity officials, was an urban variation of the Zulu land tenure system, because of the continued existence of the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation in the local system, with the integration side being expressed by the community overrights. Characteristics found in Mgaga, such as kinship diminution; the individualisation and sale of land rights; and the ongoing influence of polities; are found elsewhere in Africa where informal settlements have developed on indigenous land tenure systems. Therefore the transformation of Mgaga's land tenure system to urban forms is not an isolated phenomenon, and my dialectical ransactional approach may have an applicability beyond the context of the Zulu land tenure system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
- Authors: Fourie, Clarissa Dorothy
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Land tenure -- South Africa -- Kwazulu Kwazulu (South Africa) -- Economic conditions Zulu (African people) -- Social conditions Kwazulu (South Africa) -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2098 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002661
- Description: Mgaga, an informal settlement in KwaZulu, south of Durban, on Cele-Zulu polity land, had an indigenous, albeit urban, system of Zulu land tenure in 1980. Mgaga's transformation, from an area with scattered homesteads in 1959 to an informal settlement, was linked to local and external factors. The external factors were, regional industrialisation, urbanisation and apartheid policies which involved, the division of South Africa into ethnically based 'homelands'; controlled Black access to 'White' cities; an urban management system for 'homeland' townships, like Umlazi township which abutted Mgaga. Umlazi's development and urban management system involved, the resettlement of members of the polity; the removal of their office bearers from their posts; and the phased building of the township; which caused cumulative effects in Mgaga. I link these external factors to the behaviour of Mgaga's residents, who transformed the area's land tenure system, by using Comaroff's dialectical model (1982), where the internal dialectic interacts with external factors to shape behaviour at the local level. I analyze the Zulu ethnography to show that the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation, and in Mgaga, is centred around fission and integration; and that the integrating hierarchy associated with Zulu social organisation and the Zulu land tenure system is composed of groups with opposed interests in the same land. Within this hierarchy entrepreneurship and coalition formation influence the transfer of land rights. Also, rather than rules determining the transfer of land in the land tenure system, processes associated with the interaction of external factors with the internal dialectic, within terms of the cultural repertoire associated with the system, shape local behaviour; and the system's rules are manipulated within this cultural repertoire by individuals striving for gain. This results in different manifestations of the internal dialectic in the Zulu land tenure system, i.e. a range of variations in the Zulu land tenure system, including different local level kinship groups; a variety of terminology and rights held by office bearers; and communal and individualised land rights. The external factor of urbanisation interacted with the internal dialectic in Mgaga, manifested in terms of an ongoing izigodi (wards) dispute -including its boundaries, to shape residents' behaviour, so that some introduced an informal settlement and others resisted its geographical spread. This informal settlement development, where eventually purely residential land rights were transferred for cash to strangers by strangers, with no role for polity officials, was an urban variation of the Zulu land tenure system, because of the continued existence of the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation in the local system, with the integration side being expressed by the community overrights. Characteristics found in Mgaga, such as kinship diminution; the individualisation and sale of land rights; and the ongoing influence of polities; are found elsewhere in Africa where informal settlements have developed on indigenous land tenure systems. Therefore the transformation of Mgaga's land tenure system to urban forms is not an isolated phenomenon, and my dialectical ransactional approach may have an applicability beyond the context of the Zulu land tenure system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
Responses to Western education among the conservative people of Transkei
- Authors: Deliwe, Dumisani
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002662 , Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
- Authors: Deliwe, Dumisani
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002662 , Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
The structure of an irrigation scheme
- Authors: Holbrook, Gregory Martin
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002664 , Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Faced with problems related to the sustainability and advisability of contemporary irrigation development in Africa, anthropologists have increasingly looked to economic and political explanations for the success or failure of those development schemes. Instead of seeking explanations in these isolated areas, this thesis has argued that irrigation development needs to be understood through relationships within and between politics, economics, social structure and culture. In order to uncover those interactions with regard to the Tyefu Irrigation Scheme in the southern African homeland of Ciskei, reference has been made, firstly, to the mechanisms underlying contemporary state expansion and secondly, to the interaction between external forces, structures and surface forms through time. Anthropological fieldwork techniques have been used to provide detailed descriptions of everyday communications within and between groups associated with the development. Ethnography allows implementation to be conceptualized in terms of the interaction between local level structures and structures associated with the planning and construction of irrigation development itself. When the effect of external forces on the interaction between structures and forms is then taken into account principles emerge that reflect local and historical transformations. These in turn suggest the form of contemporary state expansion in southern Africa, as well as its bearing on daily life on the rural periphery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
- Authors: Holbrook, Gregory Martin
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002664 , Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Faced with problems related to the sustainability and advisability of contemporary irrigation development in Africa, anthropologists have increasingly looked to economic and political explanations for the success or failure of those development schemes. Instead of seeking explanations in these isolated areas, this thesis has argued that irrigation development needs to be understood through relationships within and between politics, economics, social structure and culture. In order to uncover those interactions with regard to the Tyefu Irrigation Scheme in the southern African homeland of Ciskei, reference has been made, firstly, to the mechanisms underlying contemporary state expansion and secondly, to the interaction between external forces, structures and surface forms through time. Anthropological fieldwork techniques have been used to provide detailed descriptions of everyday communications within and between groups associated with the development. Ethnography allows implementation to be conceptualized in terms of the interaction between local level structures and structures associated with the planning and construction of irrigation development itself. When the effect of external forces on the interaction between structures and forms is then taken into account principles emerge that reflect local and historical transformations. These in turn suggest the form of contemporary state expansion in southern Africa, as well as its bearing on daily life on the rural periphery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
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