The Zulupetit bourgeoisieand Zulu nationalism in the 1920s

Origins of Inkatha

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4604584
AutoresNicholas Cope (autor correspondente)
Ano1990
Volume16
Fascículo3
Páginas431-451
Data de publicação1990-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057079008708245
OpenAlexW2118634031
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12
Referências citadas7

In her 1978 article entitled 'Natal, the Zulu Royal Family and the Ideology of Segregation', Shula Marks first drew attention to the links that developed during the 1920s between the Natal African petit bourgeoisie and the Zulu royal family, which were in part reflected in the early Inkatha organisation. She has recently extended her analysis of the class alliances and conflicts of the period through considering, in three essays published in book form in 1986, the political roles of the Zulu king, Solomon kaDinuzulu, ANC founder and leader of Natal's conservative Christian African elite, John Dube, and Natal's most influential trade union activist, George Champion. The political conflicts so characteristic of Natal today are thus shown to have had a long history, and so too have the South African state's moves to control Natal through political alliances with the province's conservative Zulu nationalists.' In amplification of Shula Marks' work, and drawing on my 1985 study of Zulu royal and nationalist politics during the 1920s, my concern in this present paper is to focus specifically on those historical developments and events that led to the formation of the first Inkatha, and to draw these together in a coherent account of Inkatha's origins in the early 1920s. In doing so, this paper brings to light new evidence germane to the story. Most important, perhaps, it discloses the influence of the petit bourgeois community in Northern Natal's Vryheid district, the role of the 1924 radical 'coup' in the hitherto conservative Natal Native Congress, and the contribution of American-origined ideas of black consciousness. Because Inkatha soon became the political mouthpiece of the 'Zulu nation', this paper also has a broader function: it sheds

Bourgeoisie · Champion · Elite · Ideology · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Zulu · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Philosophy · South African History and Culture