“From a Warrior Stock”: Amabutho Navigating Overlapping Crises of Modernity in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
The concept of a “crisis of masculinity” has frequently been used as a framework for understanding the challenges facing men in the “new South Africa.” Although this framework has been adopted as a useful theme for explaining the struggles of South Africa in the post-apartheid era, the reliance on this concept has also drawn criticism for its lack of focus on historical aspects of masculinity and failure to take gender inequalities into account. In particular, scholars argue that this conceptualization fails to account for the role of tradition and overlapping identity crises facing men in the new South Africa. In this context, masculinity became a tool wielded in response to these overlapping crises; a path to continue being a man when other pathways to masculine responsibility and ethnic identity are blocked.
This paper tracks the struggles of Zulu traditionalists to preserve and promote their culture in the midst of overlapping crises of masculinity and identity in post-apartheid South Africa. The diminishing political leverage of Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the Inkatha Freedom Party, the death of Zwelithini, and the daily struggles that isiZulu-speaking South Africans faced, including but not limited to overwhelming poverty, violence, and other quotidian challenges, presented massive challenges to Zulu men’s gendered and ethnic identities. At the same time, Zulu traditionalists faced their own unique problem: how to preserve and promote their culture in the 21st-century. This paper shows how, in this moment of deep insecurity for the South Africa and the Zulu nation, the Zulu amabutho (age grade/regiment) and its associated martial symbols became even more important as cultural stakeholders turned to tradition to promote Zulu ethnic nationalism. This paper argues that the actions of the amabutho represent just a part of a multi-faceted pursuit of security during this time of deep insecurity.
