The Other Zulus: The Spread of Zulu Ethnicity in Colonial South Africa
by Michael R. Mahoney
Duke University Press, 2012 Paper: 978-0-8223-5309-6 | Cloth: 978-0-8223-5295-2 | eISBN: 978-0-8223-9558-4 Library of Congress Classification DT1768.Z95M36 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 968.004963986
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
In 1879, the British colony of Natal invaded the neighboring Zulu kingdom. Large numbers of Natal Africans fought with the British against the Zulus, enabling the British to claim victory and, ultimately, to annex the Zulu kingdom. Less than thirty years later, in 1906, many of those same Natal Africans, and their descendants, rebelled against the British in the name of the Zulu king. In The Other Zulus, a thorough history of Zulu ethnicity during the colonial period, Michael R. Mahoney shows that the lower classes of Natal, rather than its elites, initiated the transformation in ethnic self-identification, and they did so for multiple reasons. The resentment that Natal Africans felt toward the Zulu king diminished as his power was curtailed by the British. The most negative consequences of colonialism may have taken several decades to affect the daily lives of most Africans. Natal Africans are likely to have experienced the oppression of British rule more immediately and intensely in 1906 than they had in 1879. Meanwhile, labor migration to the gold mines of Johannesburg politicized the young men of Natal. Mahoney's fine-grained local history shows that these young migrants constructed and claimed a new Zulu identity, both to challenge the patriarchal authority of African chiefs and to fight colonial rule.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Michael R. Mahoney is Adjunct Professor of History at Ripon College and Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Lawrence University.
REVIEWS
“Mahoney plunges straight to the heart of the pulsing academic debate over the problematic origins of Zulu ethnicity. His important study will certainly assume its well-merited place in the literature. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” - J. P. Laband, Choice
“This is a rich and thought-provoking study. The Other Zulus is an important contribution, not only to the social history of Natal and South Africa but to our understanding of the development of ethnic identities in colonial Africa and globally.” - Sara C. Jorgensen, African Studies Quarterly
"Michael R. Mahoney's synthetic history of how Natal Africans became Zulu is bold and provocative. It is bound to spur debate and discussion of an issue that is at once historically important and vitally relevant in the present."—Paul La Hausse, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge
“Mahoney plunges straight to the heart of the pulsing academic debate over the problematic origins of Zulu ethnicity. His important study will certainly assume its well-merited place in the literature. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”
-- J. P. Laband Choice
“…this is a work that historians of Southern Africa must wrestle with, and one that suggests new paths of research for the future.”
-- Robert J. Houle Canadian Journal of History
"In this work, Michael R. Mahoney provides a keen examination of Zulu ethnicity during the crucial formative phases of the precolonial and colonial periods."
-- Aran Mackinnon The Historian
“This is a rich and thought-provoking study. The Other Zulus is an important contribution, not only to the social history of Natal and South Africa but to our understanding of the development of ethnic identities in colonial Africa and globally.”
-- Sara C. Jorgensen African Studies Quarterly
“Michael Mahoney’s The Other Zulus: The spread of Zulu ethnicity in colonial South Africa is an ambitious yet careful study of the development of an overarching Zulu ethnic identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries….[H]istorians of southern Africa and Natal... will nonetheless likely find his approach refreshing and his argumentation a productive challenge. Mahoney’s book, although based in meticulously gathered Natal and Zulu sources, has real generalized appeal for the scholar of colonialism more broadly, and would be a very useful text to assign for graduate students. Mahoney’s work is of immense interest to scholars of settler colonialism, particularly those seeking a valuable example of uncovering Indigenous motivation and articulation from the pages of imperial source material.”
-- T. J. Tallie Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Maps xii
Introduction 1
1. The Failure of Zulu Ethnic Integration in the Precolonial Zulu Kingdom 21
2. A Zulu King Too Strong to Love, a Colonial State Too Weak to Hate, 1838–1879 47
3. Increasing Conflict among Natal Africans, 1879–1906 83
4. The Role of Migrant Labor in the Spread of Zulu Ethnicity, 1886–1906 117
5. Natal Africans' Turn to Dinuzulu, 1898–1905 150
6. The Poll Tax Protests and Rebellion, 1905–1906 182
Epilogue 217
Notes 225
Bibliography 261
Index 277
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If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
The Other Zulus: The Spread of Zulu Ethnicity in Colonial South Africa
by Michael R. Mahoney
Duke University Press, 2012 Paper: 978-0-8223-5309-6 Cloth: 978-0-8223-5295-2 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9558-4
In 1879, the British colony of Natal invaded the neighboring Zulu kingdom. Large numbers of Natal Africans fought with the British against the Zulus, enabling the British to claim victory and, ultimately, to annex the Zulu kingdom. Less than thirty years later, in 1906, many of those same Natal Africans, and their descendants, rebelled against the British in the name of the Zulu king. In The Other Zulus, a thorough history of Zulu ethnicity during the colonial period, Michael R. Mahoney shows that the lower classes of Natal, rather than its elites, initiated the transformation in ethnic self-identification, and they did so for multiple reasons. The resentment that Natal Africans felt toward the Zulu king diminished as his power was curtailed by the British. The most negative consequences of colonialism may have taken several decades to affect the daily lives of most Africans. Natal Africans are likely to have experienced the oppression of British rule more immediately and intensely in 1906 than they had in 1879. Meanwhile, labor migration to the gold mines of Johannesburg politicized the young men of Natal. Mahoney's fine-grained local history shows that these young migrants constructed and claimed a new Zulu identity, both to challenge the patriarchal authority of African chiefs and to fight colonial rule.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Michael R. Mahoney is Adjunct Professor of History at Ripon College and Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Lawrence University.
REVIEWS
“Mahoney plunges straight to the heart of the pulsing academic debate over the problematic origins of Zulu ethnicity. His important study will certainly assume its well-merited place in the literature. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” - J. P. Laband, Choice
“This is a rich and thought-provoking study. The Other Zulus is an important contribution, not only to the social history of Natal and South Africa but to our understanding of the development of ethnic identities in colonial Africa and globally.” - Sara C. Jorgensen, African Studies Quarterly
"Michael R. Mahoney's synthetic history of how Natal Africans became Zulu is bold and provocative. It is bound to spur debate and discussion of an issue that is at once historically important and vitally relevant in the present."—Paul La Hausse, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge
“Mahoney plunges straight to the heart of the pulsing academic debate over the problematic origins of Zulu ethnicity. His important study will certainly assume its well-merited place in the literature. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”
-- J. P. Laband Choice
“…this is a work that historians of Southern Africa must wrestle with, and one that suggests new paths of research for the future.”
-- Robert J. Houle Canadian Journal of History
"In this work, Michael R. Mahoney provides a keen examination of Zulu ethnicity during the crucial formative phases of the precolonial and colonial periods."
-- Aran Mackinnon The Historian
“This is a rich and thought-provoking study. The Other Zulus is an important contribution, not only to the social history of Natal and South Africa but to our understanding of the development of ethnic identities in colonial Africa and globally.”
-- Sara C. Jorgensen African Studies Quarterly
“Michael Mahoney’s The Other Zulus: The spread of Zulu ethnicity in colonial South Africa is an ambitious yet careful study of the development of an overarching Zulu ethnic identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries….[H]istorians of southern Africa and Natal... will nonetheless likely find his approach refreshing and his argumentation a productive challenge. Mahoney’s book, although based in meticulously gathered Natal and Zulu sources, has real generalized appeal for the scholar of colonialism more broadly, and would be a very useful text to assign for graduate students. Mahoney’s work is of immense interest to scholars of settler colonialism, particularly those seeking a valuable example of uncovering Indigenous motivation and articulation from the pages of imperial source material.”
-- T. J. Tallie Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Maps xii
Introduction 1
1. The Failure of Zulu Ethnic Integration in the Precolonial Zulu Kingdom 21
2. A Zulu King Too Strong to Love, a Colonial State Too Weak to Hate, 1838–1879 47
3. Increasing Conflict among Natal Africans, 1879–1906 83
4. The Role of Migrant Labor in the Spread of Zulu Ethnicity, 1886–1906 117
5. Natal Africans' Turn to Dinuzulu, 1898–1905 150
6. The Poll Tax Protests and Rebellion, 1905–1906 182
Epilogue 217
Notes 225
Bibliography 261
Index 277
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE