Patriot and Prophet

In 1936, Zulu patriot, John Dube, wrote a biography of local Natal prophet, Isaiah Shembe. Dube's biography – 'UShembe' – contained multiple authorial voices. Partly written by Dube, material was also contributed by Shembe and his followers. This collaborative literary method illuminates how rival theories of civic virtue interacted in early twentieth-century South Africa. Notes *My thanks to Achim von Oppen and Silke Strickrodt for their comments on early drafts, to the JSAS readers, and Paul La Hausse and Heather Hughes for generous assistance with this project. 1 J. Dube, UShembe: Ukuvezela Izwe ('Shembe: A Disclosure to the World') (Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1936). UShembe was translated into English by M.B. Yengwa, an ANC exile in London (SOAS archives Ms/380082). This article relies upon the Zulu-language original text and Yengwa's translation; all citations are from the latter. 2 National Archives Repository (hereafter SAB), NTS 1431 24/214, Report of Carl Faye to Chief Native Commissioner, 28 April 1939. 3 H. Hughes, First President: A Life of John L. Dube, Founding President of the ANC (Pretoria, Jacana, 2011); H. Mokoena, Magema Fuze: The Making of a Kholwa Intellectual (Scottsville, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2011); P. La Hausse, Restless Identities: Signatures of Nationalism, Zulu Ethnicity and History of the Lives of Petros Lamula (c. 1881–1948) and Lymon Maling (1889–c.1936) (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2000); T. Couzens, The New African: A Study of the Life and Work of H.I.E. Dhlomo (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1985); V. Khumalo, 'Ekukhanyeni Letter-Writers: A Historical Enquiry into Epistolary Network(s) and Political Imagination in South Africa', in K. Barber (ed.), Africa's Hidden Histories: Everyday Literacy and the Making of the Self (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 113–42; S. Marks, 'The Ambiguities of Dependence: John L. Dube of Natal', Journal of Southern African Studies, 1, 2 (1975), pp. 162–80. 4 But Marks, 'The Ambiguities of Dependence', pp. 162–3, highlights the 'immensely intricate' microcosm of Inanda where religious leaders and politicians like Gandhi, Dube and Shembe coexisted; see also La Hausse, Restless Identities, pp. 84–5 & 124–34. 5 A. Vilakazi. and B. Mthethwa, Shembe: The Revitalization of African Society (Johannesburg, Skotaville Press, 1986); B. Sundkler, Bantu Prophets in South Africa (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1961). 6 P. Lejeune, On Autobiography, ed. P. Eakin (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1989). 7 K. Barber, The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 104–07; S. Miescher, 'A.K. Boakye Yiadom's Autobiography – The Writing and Subjectivity of a Ghanaian Teacher Catechist', in Barber, Africa's Hidden Histories, pp. 27–51. 8 D. Peterson, 'Casting Characters: Autobiography and Political Imagination in Central Kenya', Research in African Literatures, 37, 3 (2006), pp. 176–92. 9 My thanks to Paul La Hausse for highlighting the African 'biographical turn' (his term) of this period. 10 R. Papini, 'A Sourcebook for the Study of the Church of Nazareth', History and African Studies Seminar Series University of Natal, No. 24 (1997), pp. 1–30. 11 For the 'fractured' nature of amakholwa writings, see P. La Hausse, 'The War of the Books: Petros Lamula and the Cultural History of African Nationalism in Twentieth-Century Natal', in D. Peterson and G. Macola (eds), Recasting the Past (Athens, Ohio University Press, 2009), pp. 50–74. 12 S. Newell, Literary Culture in Colonial Ghana: 'How to Play the Game of Life' (Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2002), Chapter 7. 13 For example, see M. Perham, Ten Africans (Northwestern University Press, 1936), p. 280. 14 I. Hofmeyr, The Portable Bunyan: A Transnational History of the Pilgrim's Progress (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2003). 15 M. Skota, The African Yearly Register: Being an Illustrated National Biography Dictionary (Who's Who) of Black Folks in Africa/Contributions by the Leading Native Ministers, Professors, Teachers and Doctors; Edited and Compiled by T.D. Mweli Skota (Johannesburg, The Orange Press, 1932). 16 Paul La Hausse, personal communication, 11 February 2010. 17 D.D.T. Jabavu, The Life of John Tengo Jabavu, Editor of Imvo Zabantsundu, 1884–1921 (Alice, Lovedale Press, 1922). 18 Paul La Hausse, personal communication, 11 February 2010. 19 S. Mtimkulu, My Life: Autobiography (Mariannhill, Mariannhill Mission Press, 1930). 20 Couzens, The New African, pp. 9–10. 21 La Hausse, Restless Identities, p. 14. 22 R. Hunt Davis, 'John L. Dube: A South African Exponent of Booker T. Washington', Journal of African Studies, 2, 4 (1975), pp. 497–528. 23 Jabavu, The Life of John Tengo Jabavu, p. 20 24 Mtimkulu, My Life, p. 8. 25 Perham, Ten Africans, p. 278. 26 Perham, Ten Africans, p. 278, p. 279. 27 Jabavu, The Life of John Tengo Jabavu, 'Preface'. 28 Mtimkulu, My Life, p. 24. 29 Hughes, First President, pp. 75–6. 30 Hughes, First President, pp. 75–76, p. 104. See also Couzens, The New African, p. 273. 31 Skota, Yearly Register, p. xiii. 32 Jabavu, John Tengo Jabavu, 'Preface'. 33 H. Bradford, A Taste of Freedom: The ICU in Rural South Africa, 1924–1930 (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1987). 34 R. Hunt Davies, 'John L. Dube', pp. 497–528; Hughes, First President, pp. 65–88. 35 Marks, 'The Ambiguities of Dependence: John L. Dube of Natal', p. 167. 36 Hughes, First President, pp. 95–6. 37 H. Hughes, 'Doubly Élite: Exploring the Life of John Langalibalele Dube', Journal of Southern African Studies, 27, 3 (2001). 38 Hughes, 'Doubly Élite', pp. 450–2. 39 S. Marks, 'Patriotism, Patriarchy and Purity: Natal and the Politics of Zulu Ethnic Consciousness', in L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (London, James Currey, 1989), p. 222. 40 Hughes, First President, p. 252. 41 Hughes, First President, p. 252, pp. 171; 204; 205; 212–15. 42 Hughes, First President, p. 252, p. 218. 43 Hughes, First President, p. 252, pp. 213–14. La Hausse, Restless Identities, p. 94, fn.70, and 'War of the Books', p. 54, suggests that Dube anticipated his later Isita in an early 1903 Ilanga editorial. 44 J. Dube, Ukuziphatha Kahle (Mariannhill, Mariannhill Press, 1928). 45 J. Dube (translated by J. Boxwell), Jeqe the Body Servant of King Tshaka (Insila ka Tshaka) (Alice, Lovedale Press, 1951). 46 For example, Jeqe is almost killed by wild animals and, later, set upon, stabbed and left for dead (Dube, Jeqe, pp. 37–41, 57). 47 Dube, Jeqe, pp. 57–62. 48 Dube, Jeqe, pp. 57–62, pp. 74–83. 49 B. Sundkler, Zulu Zion and Some Swazi Zionists (London, Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 13–67. 50 D. Maxwell, 'Historicizing Christian Independency: The Southern African Pentecostal Movement c.1908–1960', Journal of African History, 40 (1999), p. 248. 51 E.H. Mahon, Leaves of Healing, 14 October 1905. 52 Sundkler, Zulu Zion, p. 41. 53 G. Wacker, 'Playing For Keeps: The Primitivist Impulse in Early Pentecostalism', in R. Hughes (ed.), The American Quest for the Primitive Church (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1988), p. 198. 54 D. Dayton, The Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (London, Scarecrow, 1985), p. 26. 55 Numbers 6:1–21. 56 Revelations 4:4; 6:11; 7:9–14. 57 Dube, UShembe, p. 72. 58 Gunner, Man of Heaven, pp. 120–1; I. Hexham (ed.), The Scriptures of the AmaNazaretha of Ekuphakameni (Calgary, University of Calgary Press, 1994), p. 88. 59 Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, p. 281. 60 Roberts, Shembe, p. 42. 61 Roberts, Shembe, p. 42, p. 43. 62 J. Cabrita, 'Politics and Preaching: Chiefly Converts to the Nazaretha Church, Obedient Subjects, and Sermon Performance in South Africa', Journal of African History, 51, 1 (2010), pp. 21–40. 63 Matthew 22: 21; Esther Roberts, Shembe: The Man and His Work (University of Witwatersrand, MA Thesis, 1936), p. 94. 64 J. Cabrita, 'Isaiah Shembe's Theological Nationalism', Journal of Southern African Studies, 35, 3 (2009), pp. 609–25. 65 Natal Mercury, 27 July 1927. 66 Roberts, Shembe, p. 62. 67 Roberts, Shembe, p. 62, p. 64. 68 B. Mthethwa, The Hymns of the Nazaretha: Composed by Isaiah and Galilee Shembe (University of Natal, Uncompleted Doctoral Dissertation, 1996), p. 10. 69 Interview with Minister Mpanza, September 2006, Ebuhleni, KwaZulu-Natal. 70 Mthethwa, 'Hymns', p. 10. 71 E. Gunner, The Man of Heaven and the Beautiful Ones of God (Leiden, Brill, 2002), p. 201. 72 NTS 1431 24/214, Report of Carl Faye to Chief Native Commissioner, 28 April 1939. 73 E. Gunner, 'Power House, Prison House: An Oral Genre and its Use in Isaiah Shembe's Nazareth Baptist Church', Journal of Southern African Studies, 14, 2 (1988), pp. 209–10. 74 Cabrita, 'Theological Nationalism', p. 615. 75 Papini, 'Protoscriptures', p. 1. 76 Hughes, First President, pp. 246–8. 77 Dube, UShembe, Preface. 78 Dube, UShembe, Preface 79 Papini, 'Protoscriptures', p. 2. 80 Dube, UShembe, p. 98. 81 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, p. 6. 82 Dube, UShembe, p. 98 83 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, p. 88. 84 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, p. 91. 85 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, p. 92. 86 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, pp. 60–2. 87 Dube, UShembe, p. 98, p. 83. 88 The Bantu World, 7 December 1940. 89 Ilanga lase Natal, 29 March 1929. 90 R. Edgar, 'The Prophet Motive: Enoch Mgijima, the Israelites and the Background to the Bulhoek Massacre', International Journal of African Historical Studies, 15, 3 (1982), pp. 401–22. 91 Ilanga lase Natal, 22 July 1921. 92 Ilanga lase Natal, 1 July 1921. 93 Ilanga lase Natal, 15 July 1921. Address from DDT Jabavu to students at Fort Hare. 94 Hexham and Oosthuizen, Story of Isaiah Shembe, pp. 242–4; Hexham and Oosthuizen, Acts of the Nazarites, p. 194. 95 NTS 1431 24/214, Interview with Mag. Ndwedwe, 15 January 1923. 96 NTS 1431 24/214, Interview with Mag. Ndwedwe, 15 January 1923 97 Gunner, Man of Heaven, p. 149. 98 Gunner, 'Power House', p. 210. 99 Pietermaritzburg Archive Repository (hereafter NAB), CNC 77 917/1912, Sergt. Natal Police to Asst. Magistrate Ndwedwe, 21 May 1912. 100 R. Papini, 'Carl Faye's Transcript of Isaiah Shembe's Testimony of His Early Life and Calling', Journal of Religion in Africa, 29, 3 (1999), pp. 243–84. 101 Natal Mercury, Tuesday 30th July 1929. 102 Natal Mercury, Tuesday 30th July 1929 103 SAB NTS 1431, 24/214 Ass. Health Officer to Secretary for Public Health, 13 June 1931. 104 The Illustrated London News, 8 February 1930. 105 N. Wells, Undated MS for film, pp. 5–7. 106 Gunner, 'Power House', p. 210. 107 Gunner, 'Power House', p. 210, p. 210. 108 NTS 1431 24/214, Report of Carl Faye to Chief Native Commissioner, 28 April 1939. 109 Papini, 'Protoscriptures', pp. 4–7. 110 Hexham, Scriptures of the AmaNazaretha, p. 7. 111 Hexham and Oosthuizen, Isaiah Shembe, p. 22. 112 'Histories and Laws' in Gunner, Man of Heaven, pp. 57–135. 113 Gunner, Man of Heaven, pp. 156–7. 114 Sundkler, Zulu Zion, p. 176. 115 Dube, UShembe, p. 62. 116 Dube, UShembe, p. 62, pp. 65–7. 117 Dube, UShembe, pp. 33–7. 118 Roberts, Shembe, pp. 40–41. 119 Dube, UShembe, Preface. 120 Roberts, Shembe, p. 71. 121 SAB NTS 1431, 24/214 Sgd Craddock to District Commandant South African Police, 31 July 1922. 122 Papini, 'Protoscriptures', p. 2. 123 Hughes, First President, pp. 150, 171, 204, 214–15. 124 Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, pp. 129–30. 125 Papini, 'Protoscriptures', pp. 8–12. 126 Roberts, Shembe, pp. 29, 42. 127 Dube, UShembe, p. 87. 128 Dube, UShembe, p. 87, p. 81. 129 SAB NTS 1431, 24/214 Chief Native Commissioner to Secretary for Native Affairs, 2 September 1932. 130 Sundkler, Bantu Prophets, pp. 100ff. 131 SAB NTS 1431, 24/214 Carl Faye to the Chief Native Commissioner, 28 April 1939. 132 Dube, UShembe, p. 1. 133 Gunner, 'Power House, Prison House', p. 210. 134 Hexham and Oosthuizen, Isaiah Shembe, p. xii. 135 Edited by Irving Hexham, G.C. Oosthuizen, Hans Jurgen Becken and Robert Papini for Edwin Mellen Press. 136 Gunner, Man of Heaven, Preface. 137 Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos, 'Violence au KwaZulu-Natal', Afrique Contemporaine, 180 (1996), pp. 95–97. 138 K. Schlosser, Eingeborenenkirchen in Sud- und Sudwestsafrika (Kiel, University of Kiel, 1958), p. 287. 139 Gunner, Man of Heaven, p. 1. 140 A. Heuser, 'Memory Tales: Representations of Shembe in the Cultural Discourse of African Renaissance', Journal of Religion in Africa, 35, 3 (2005), pp. 362–87

Art · Art history · Biography · Theology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Philosophy · Religious studies · South African History and Culture

• Annual Bibliography of Works about Life Writing, 2011-2012

  Phyllis E Wachter, Aiko Yamashiro•Biography•2012

  Incluir item