Hilda Kuper

Costume and Identity

Clothing is a bundle of cultural symbols that has been dealt withsomewhat eclectically and indiscriminately in the anthropological wash.Some writers have speculated on the origins of clothing, stressing suchqualities in human nature as modesty and vanity; others, more materiallyoriented, have emphasized utility; others again have listed separategarments, the materials of which they were made, and the techniquesemployed; and some have paid attention to broader historical and sociological dimensions. In a pioneering study, Kroeber used documentary evidence to correlate fluctuations in womens fashions (using indices of skirt length, width of waist, and depth of decolletage) with major social and political upheavals (Kroeber, 1919, 1940), but perhaps because of the nature of his data, as well as his particular orientation, he made no reference to the persons involved, and overlooked internal cultural variations and conflicts of style. These issues received more attention from scholars trained in the Malinowski tradition of fieldwork, and they described clothing worn by different persons in different situations; those who worked in areas where people of different cultures were brought in contact in the colonial situation indicated the meaning of changes in style of clothing over time. General textbooks draw attention to the correlation between clothing and social status and to such facts as the cost of clothing, its technology and its aesthetics.

A Ritual of Kingship among the Swazi

Towards the end of every year Swazi from the Swaziland Protectorate and from beyond its borders come to the capital, the home of the Indlovukati (Queen-Mother), to take part in the dominant national ceremony, the Incwala . I will analyse this in some detail from the angle of social stratification. Cook, Schoeman, and Marwick have described the Incwala , but their accounts are very incomplete, nor can I accept their interpretations. The Incwala can be abstracted from Swazi culture, in the same way as any other situation—a marriage, a court case, a business agreement, the building of a hut, &c., but it has a wider and more representative personnel, and Swazi recognize it as the most important of all national ceremonies, and the most essential event of the year. Personal joys and tragedies, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one affect individual men and women, but the Incwala ‘is the heavy play of all the people’.

The Marriage of a Swazi Princess

Princess Bahashule daughter of the late King Bunu was close on thirty and not yet married. No one however thought of calling her a saliwakati (unwanted woman). Late marriage was the privilege of her rank and Bunus eldest daughter Ladluli was also single. This had not prevented them from having lovers; indeed Bahashule already had a child by a commoner. Both Bahashules own parents were dead and she lived at Zombodze the former capital of the Swazi nation. She was on good terms with Sobhuza the king (her half-brother) and the ruling queen-mother (her big brother) and frequently came to stay with them. For some time Bahashule had been thinking of marriage had in fact spoken to the king about it and had suggested that he find her a suitable husband. One day we heard that she had taken as a lover the young and handsome Chief Nkonjane Matse of Stegi whom she met when on a visit to her brother Prince Mshengu. Her family was distressed that she had accepted his advances and considered that it was lowering to her dignity to have acted on her own. Nkonjane was sufficiently important to be treated as a potential husband and not as a lover and negotiations should have been inaugurated by the elders. Fortunately the young chief behaved circumspectly and sent a responsible man to speak to the princesss people on his behalf and beg for her as his wife. This gave to the union the semblance of an enzisa (arranged marriage) and thereafter all formal negotiations continued as though the two young folk did not know each other. The queen-mother and the king formally gave their consent and told Bahashule that if she were willing she would be sent as a wife to Nkonjane Matse. (excerpt)