Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 390-410).

Dissertation (DMed)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

From conclusion: This study has had a twofold objective, to present ethnographic data on a people who belong to the Xhosa tribal cluster and more specifically, to throw light on aspects of the ancestor cult among the Xhosa. In particular an attempt has been made to explore the nature of the interrelation between the social structure and the ancestor cult. Attention has been focussed on the lineage as an institution, on the rituals devoted to the ancestors and on the means of explaining misfortune. Though the Ndlambe, in common with other groups of indigenous people in the Eastern Cape, have been experiencing developments brought about by social change during the better part of two centuries, the recent implementation of the Betterment Scheme has resulted in drastic demographic changes. The former settlement pattern of scattered homesteads has given way before village formation. Beyond the fact that it has resulted in the closer proximity of homesteads, with the opportunities for cooperation and conflict that this situation implies, nothing is known of the direct organizational influence of this development. More…

The boundaries of the territory occupied by the Xhosa fluctuated considerably, but in the period 1700-1835 they did not often extend west of the Sundays River, or east of the Mbashe River, along the coastal strip which separates the escarpment of South Africa's inland plateau from the Indian Ocean. It is an area of temperate grassland, permitting the cultivation of cereals and light crops, such as maize, millet, tobacco and pumpkins but better suited to stock-farming than intensive agriculture.

This study is an exploration of the making of Xhosa historiography from the end of the eighteenth century to the close of the nineteenth century. Continuity and change are key features that are identifiable in the writing of Xhosa history over the period. Selected documents provide evidence on how different writers built on the works of their predecessors. At the same time, over a period of hundred years, due to changing socio-political contexts, new ideas and perceptions crept into Xhosa history. European writers, who dominated the writing of Xhosa history, were made up of colonial officials, missionaries, and travellers. Sharing a common European Christian background these writers brought along their particular understanding of history, and held assumptions about the indigenous people and their past. However such assumptions were always in a state of flux. South-east Africans were also major contributors to the making of Xhosa history. Their oral traditions were important sources from which Xhosa history was produced. The African and European encounter in the making of Xhosa history meanHhat historioracy and historiography came together in the production of Xhosa history. At the end of the eighteenth century there were a handful of European travellers who explored the interior of southern Africa and recorded their observations of indigenous communities. These observations of south-east Africans, whom they divided into three racial groups, formed the basis of later writings about the indigenous communiti~s. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought the establishment of British rule at the C,ppe. This introduced new players into the African-European drama that was being acted out on the frontier. Colonial officials set out to inform themselves about the indigenous people, and this meant writing up their history. From the 1820s missionaries were a main source of information on amaXhosa. Xhosa history produced under the missionary influence included works by African converts, among whom Noyi was the most noteworthy. As British imperialism gained ground from the middle of the nineteenth century, history was increasingly used by British officials as a tool to justify their colonial expansion. Under Governor Grey there was a deliberate production of a Xhosa history that depicted amaXhosa as having a barbaric past and in need of civilisation. Theal who consulted Dutch and British archives as well as oral tradition made a major contribution to the writing of Xhosa history. But Theal later began to select evidence to show that amaXhosa were recent immigrants into southeast Africa. During the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century a band of literate Africans, using newspapers like Isigidimi and later Imvo Zabantsundu, embarked on writing African history. This study highlights the development of certain themes in Xhosa history, themes which remained central in later years. The royal theme became pivotal and in the process displaced other histories in African communities, like clan histories. This study has also traced the roots of some historical myths. For example claims by early travellers about an empty land fed into the migration theme which sought to explain amaXhosa as recent immigrants into south-east Africa. Xhosa historiography, just like its European counterpart, marginalised ordinary people, especially women, and became primarily an account of the lives and activities of ruling men.

Transcultural studies of psychological states may be seen as falling within two schools, one adopting a position in which universal criteria of "mental health" are assumed, the other a cultural relativist position in which phenomena are understood in terms of the context in which they occur. The present study, in adopting the latter position, examines categories of experience amongst the Xhosa in terms of their meaning within Xhosa cosmology. The thoughts and practices of a Xhosa Iqgira (diviner) were extensively examined using an idiographic approach. This was corroborated by in-depth interviews with his consultees who were undergoing the categories being studied. Three categories, thwasa, phambana and amafufunyana are explicated. Thwasa is seen to be related to the individual- shade communion. Phambana is predominantly related to custom and witchcraft. Amafufunyana is related to disharmonious interpersonal situations within the community. The universalist position, derived from descriptive psychiatry, has often viewed the mental status of amaqgira {diviners) as neurotic or even psychotic. This finding is not supported in the present study. The implications of the research for community mental health in Southern Africa are discussed.

No description available.

Thesis(M.Mus.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, Wits School of Music, 2013. / Music-Making of the Xhosa Diasporic Community: A Focus on the Umguyo Tradition in Zimbabwe This dissertation is an ethnographic study that focuses on the music of one of the Xhosa ethnic groups, the Mfengu who are settled in Zimbabwe. Taking into consideration that the bulk of the Xhosa ethnic group is situated in South Africa, predominantly in the Eastern Cape Province, I consider the small group of Xhosas in Zimbabwe as a diasporic community. While much has been written on the music of South African Xhosas, ethnomusicological scholars have paid insufficient attention to this group. When this group left the homeland, South Africa, it did not leave its musical traditions behind. One such tradition is the umguyo, the boys’ circumcision ceremony. My major intention therefore was to find out how this diasporic group makes music for the umguyo tradition. By closely analysing the lyrics of the umguyo musical repertoire, I discovered that the Xhosas in Zimbabwe archived their history in the song lyrics. Even though the majority of creators of this music have lived and departed, the constant performance and general continuity of this musical tradition assures both the present and future generations of a firmly established source for their identity. Looking at the lyrics once more, I found out that the Zimbabwean Xhosa music-making reflects on gender issues. I state that while Zimbabwean Xhosa men enjoy their patriarchal benefits, through music, women are socially taught to conform to stereotypical gender roles in their society. Thus, Zimbabwean Xhosa women, through their song performance, declare themselves as commodities for Xhosa patriarchy. In addition, this enquiry demonstrates how this diaspora community has deviated from the common way most diaspora communities make music. I mainly attribute this divergence to the ‘dominant/subject’ or ‘master/subordinate’ relationship that existed during the colonial period.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--Rhodes University, 2005. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology.

Revised Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Amsterdam, (2002). / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-189) and index.