Submitted for the fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts In the Department of IsiZulu Namagugu at the University of Zululand, 2002. / The topic of this thesis is informed by the writer's observation of the trend wherein modemist and traditionalist Zulu women tend to wear. as style, colourfully beaded outfits to decorate their fashion and wear. The colourful regalia is found in ceremonial dress, like isidwaba (cow-hide skirt) and other forms of dress made of cloth and textile. and decorated in beads. The decoration. as observed, is often designed to fit in a particular mode of interpretation, thus promoting the notion of fashion as form of communication interaction and definition of status. It is the hypothesis of the present writer that beads. designed and patterned in a specific way tend not only to communicate certain literal and figurative or poetic meanings, but also to declare fashion as a medium of communication, very much like ordinary speech does. In the context of this thesis Zulu womens' beadwork is a form of colour coding, literary and poetic speech communication and a declaration of fashion as a medium of social interaction, status, and social display. Thus, wearing their colourfully designed beadwork and fashion, Zulu women are always highly visible and recognisable. The thesis is thus confined to introducing the angle of fashion as statement and medium of literary and poetic communication in the creation of the modem and traditional status of a Zulu woman through beadwork. Colourcoding is key because the power of beadwork to communicateThe focus on Zulu Women is for the sake of creating a focus group of study and more so due to the observation by the present writer that in the context of modemist and traditionalist Zulu society, real or imaginary, it is women who wear more beads compared, to any other social group. meaningfully very much depends on the design and patteming of colours.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, 2005. / The commoditization of Zulu culture has become commonplace in the tourism industry in South Africa. Zulu culture and cultural products like music; dance, crafts, landscapes and others are often packaged and consumed in the tourism attractions in Zululand and elsewhere. This thesis examines culture and gender issues related to the commoditization process of Zulu culture and cultural products. Focusing on specific case studies in selected tourist attractions in Zululand, the thesis concludes that rural Zulu women play minor roles as dancers, crafters, cooks, and waiters in the tourist attractions in Zululand. Their junior roles make them to play no role in decision making, neither do they own any assets in their work places, and may not, therefore, influence the commoditization and product authentication process of their own culture.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Fine Art (Sculpture), Durban Institute of Technology, 2002. / Cloth bead sculptures are art objects made by female artists from cloth, beads, wood, wire and other materials that are stitched by hand. They are freestanding representations of the human figure, animals and inanimate objects and have traditionally been important ritual, as well as aesthetic, objects in Zulu communal life. The research for this dissertation was based on qualitative methods which brought together information from the women discussing their life and work. These discussions with individuals and groups looked at the women's own explanations of their work, including its traditional, ritual and communicative functions in rural Kwa Zulu Natal. They also discussed their experiences in selling their artwork in relation to the past discriminatory practices of apartheid South Africa, which was the context for their lives. From the 1970s some rural women brought some of these figures to Durban for sale in the streets to supplement their meagre resources. Later the African Art Centre became the main retail outlet for selling African Art and Craft and white people associated with it became the 'official' spokespersons and interpreters of such their art work. This had the consequence of depriving the rural women artists of their own voice. They were thus not able to give their own interpretation and explanation of their work. Interpretation of these sculptures in the dissertation has taken into account the traditional communicative role of bead figures and the symbolic function of colours, patterns and textures created by the beads and other materials. Cloth bead figures brought in for sale to local and international buyers always represented more than simple decorated figures to the artists themselves. Indeed these bead figures, like other works of art produced by black South Africans, became a vehicle for the / M