This study contains a variety of oral traditional formulae found in various places in KwaZulu-Natal which are used in the imbeleko ceremony and these formulae are analyzed in their traditional form and in a number of new formulations. The imbeleko ceremony is a celebration to introduce and welcome a newborn child, but occasionally even an adult newcomer may be introduced to both the living and the ancestral spirits. A full description of the imbeleko ceremony, the reasons for performing it, the procedures followed, an analysis and comparison of mnemotechnics used in the formulae and finally the application of orality-literacy theories to the rites and the text are provided. Variations observed in my research in the manner in which this rite is celebrated from family to family are pointed out. Zulus regard it as a must to perform the imbeleko ceremony for every child in the family. The reasons for this ceremony vary from (a) thanksgiving ceremony, (b) the official introduction of the child to ancestors, (c) the rite performed late to protect the child from misfortunes, (d) and to provide an opportunity for naming the child. There is also the imbeleko ceremony that may be performed in the life of the child when there are indicators that there is a need for it to be done i.e. when there is illness that seems incurable, and psychological crisis which occur even though the imbeleko had been performed. There is also a type of imbeleko ceremony for the first child that combines the child's maternal and paternal families. This dissertation concludes by comparing and contrasting the imbeleko and the Christian baptism. It is possible changes have taken place in the imbeleko ceremony as a result of external influences of the western Christian life. (NB This dissertation is accompanied by a video) / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, 1996.

The overall questions that were provided in the higher degrees proposal have been fairly answered throughout this doctoral dissertation. The following questions have been asked and answered throughout the thesis: What has been identified a's changes from traditional naming practices to Western naming practices? What morphophological comparisons can be made in naming practices? What influenced the cultural and historical background and language of the Shangase clan? Every social group of people has certain norms of behaviour. How does this culturally and structurally affect the system of naming within the Shangase Clan? Since there are different language names, how are these names related, or can any: system of their relationship be found within the Shangase Clan? From which parts of speech are different names (which are nouns) normally derived and what prefixal and suffixal elements are applied? What poetic techniques can be used to analyse the personal praises or praise names of Kings, Royal Family Members and the ordinary people? It has therefore, been realized that the personal names and place names are well known to have played a more substantial role in the identification of different people and places of different clans. Surnames and address names have promoted the identification and classification of different clans. The researcher has used both the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies as tools for data collection. Research methods have entailed verbal descriptive practices, which include oral inquiries, questionnaires, interviews and observational information. The purpose of this research has been to locate the study within the context of the topic and the historical background of the Shangase people which eventually deals with personal names, place-names and personal praises. The literature has been reviewed according to the recommendations of the researcher's supervisor Prof S.E. Ngubane. Five scholars were chosen and the focus was on history, genealogy, linguistic, onomastics of personal names, place-names and how these names are derived and changed from time to time with naming practices changing from generation to generation. This has enabled every member of the Shangase clan to identify himself easily with the founder, Shangase (Mkheshane), son of Vumizitha, of Mthebe of Mnguni 1. The researcher's main objective has been to focus on the history and genealogy of the Shangase clan from the time of Vumizitha (d.c.l688) to the present time (AD 2006), how personal names and place names are given when one looks at the circumstances of naming and history surrounding the names and the linguistic analysis of the onomactic elements. The personal names, place names and praise names are analysed and synthesized within the parameters of word formation, and as words they are isolated or syntactically used to assign a particular meaning in Zulu. Lastly, the researcher is mostly interested in this study because, as a member of the Shangase Community, he has a thorough knowledge of where the Shangase clan is located. The researcher's method of interviews using interview questionnaires assisted him to accomplish the main objectives. Through these interviews and observations, the researcher highly recommends that those who might be able to read this thesis, and feel interested and create new challenges in the field of onomastics, which the researcher hopes this thesis has done, should further undertake a study of personal praises within the Shangase clan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

Thesis (M.Agric.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: History is often manipulated to achieve contemporary goals. Writing or narrating history is not merely a recoding or a narration of objective facts, but a value-laden process often conforming to the goals of the writer or narrator. This study examines the ways in which the history of the Mabudu chiefdom has been manipulated to achieve political goals. Through an analysis of the history of the Mabudu chiefdom and the manner in which that history has been represented, this study illustrates that history is not merely a collection of verifiable facts, but rather a collection of stories open to interpretation and manipulation. In the middle of the eighteenth century the Mabudu or Mabudu-Tembe was the strongest political and economic unit in south-east Africa. Their authority only declined with state formation amongst the Swazi and Zulu in the early nineteenth century. Although the Zulu never defeated the Mabudu, the Mabudu were forced to pay tribute to the Zulu. In the 1980s the Prime Minister of KwaZulu, Mangusotho Buthelezi, used this fact as proof that the people of Maputaland (Mabudu-land) should be part of the Zulu nation-state. By the latter part of the nineteenth century Britain, Portugal and the South African Republic laid claim to Maputaland. In 1875 the French President arbitrated in the matter and drew a line along the current South Africa/ Mozambique border that would divide the British and French spheres of influence in south-east Africa. The line cut straight through the Mabudu chiefdom. In 1897 Britain formally annexed what was then called AmaThongaland as an area independent of Zululand, which was administered as ‘trust land’ for the Mabudu people. When deciding on a place for the Mabudu in its Grand Apartheid scheme, the South African Government ignored the fact that the Mabudu were never defeated by the Zulu or incorporated into the Zulu Empire. Until the late 1960s the government recognised the people of Maputaland as ethnically Tsonga, but in 1976 Maputaland was incorporated into the KwaZulu Homeland and the people classified as Zulu. In 1982 the issue was raised again when the South African Government planned to cede Maputaland to Swaziland. The government and some independent institutions launched research into the historic and ethnic ties of the people of Maputaland. Based on the same historical facts, contrasting claims were made about the historical and ethnic ties of the people of Maputaland. Maputaland remained part of KwaZulu and is still claimed by the Zulu king as part of his kingdom. The Zulu use the fact that the Mabudu paid tribute in the 1800s as evidence of their dominance. The Mabudu, on the other hand, use the same argument to prove their independence, only stating that tribute never meant subordination, but only the installation of friendly relations. This is a perfect example of how the same facts can be interpreted differently to achieve different goals and illustrates that history cannot be equated with objective fact.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (PhD (Science of Religion))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

Mgaga, an informal settlement in KwaZulu, south of Durban, on Cele-Zulu polity land, had an indigenous, albeit urban, system of Zulu land tenure in 1980. Mgaga's transformation, from an area with scattered homesteads in 1959 to an informal settlement, was linked to local and external factors. The external factors were, regional industrialisation, urbanisation and apartheid policies which involved, the division of South Africa into ethnically based 'homelands'; controlled Black access to 'White' cities; an urban management system for 'homeland' townships, like Umlazi township which abutted Mgaga. Umlazi's development and urban management system involved, the resettlement of members of the polity; the removal of their office bearers from their posts; and the phased building of the township; which caused cumulative effects in Mgaga. I link these external factors to the behaviour of Mgaga's residents, who transformed the area's land tenure system, by using Comaroff's dialectical model (1982), where the internal dialectic interacts with external factors to shape behaviour at the local level. I analyze the Zulu ethnography to show that the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation, and in Mgaga, is centred around fission and integration; and that the integrating hierarchy associated with Zulu social organisation and the Zulu land tenure system is composed of groups with opposed interests in the same land. Within this hierarchy entrepreneurship and coalition formation influence the transfer of land rights. Also, rather than rules determining the transfer of land in the land tenure system, processes associated with the interaction of external factors with the internal dialectic, within terms of the cultural repertoire associated with the system, shape local behaviour; and the system's rules are manipulated within this cultural repertoire by individuals striving for gain. This results in different manifestations of the internal dialectic in the Zulu land tenure system, i.e. a range of variations in the Zulu land tenure system, including different local level kinship groups; a variety of terminology and rights held by office bearers; and communal and individualised land rights. The external factor of urbanisation interacted with the internal dialectic in Mgaga, manifested in terms of an ongoing izigodi (wards) dispute -including its boundaries, to shape residents' behaviour, so that some introduced an informal settlement and others resisted its geographical spread. This informal settlement development, where eventually purely residential land rights were transferred for cash to strangers by strangers, with no role for polity officials, was an urban variation of the Zulu land tenure system, because of the continued existence of the internal dialectic in Zulu social organisation in the local system, with the integration side being expressed by the community overrights. Characteristics found in Mgaga, such as kinship diminution; the individualisation and sale of land rights; and the ongoing influence of polities; are found elsewhere in Africa where informal settlements have developed on indigenous land tenure systems. Therefore the transformation of Mgaga's land tenure system to urban forms is not an isolated phenomenon, and my dialectical ransactional approach may have an applicability beyond the context of the Zulu land tenure system.

Please read the abstract (summary) in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Alternative and Augmentative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication / MA / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the 00front part of this document. See also General Summary and Opsomming after chapter 7 (pp162-165) / Dissertation (DPhil (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted

Submitted to the Facu1ty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Zululand, 1982. / Old age is a neglected area of anthropological research despite the widespread interest in the human life cycle that has characterized much work within the discipline.- With the notable exception of the early pioneering work of Simmons, the anthropological literature on old age in preliterate cultures is sparse, with little attention having been devoted either to the collection of ethnographic data or to the formulation of gerontological theory. As Clerk observes: 'If one is to judge from typical anthropological accounts, the span of years between the achievement of adult status and one's funerary rites is either an ethnographic vacuum or a vast monotonous plateau of invariable behavior. Maxwell & Silverman hold the same opinion: 'Anthropologists have not, on the whole, shown much interest in ageing. With few exceptions, ethnographic reports seem to mention the. aged only in passing, if at all, and then only in the context of quite general statements. One of the reasons to which they attribute this neglect is the distaste with which old age is viewed in our culture. The aged tend to suffer from physical or mental disabilities which are unpleasant to contemplate; death is imminent; and the role of the aged in culture is ostensibly less distinctive than that of younger men and women.

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Department of Theology and Religion Studies At the University of Zululand, 2006. / The existence of a ' spirit world' is acknowledged by many world religions such as Christianity, Hinduism and African Traditional Religion. Of particular interest to religionists is the personal and corporate response to such a world. A proper understanding and relationship to the spirit world helps religionists to better regulate their spiritual lives thereby allowing them to find purpose for their existence in this present world and the world beyond. To Christians, a sound knowledge of the spirit world greatly impacts on how they relate to God and others and the meeting of their holistic needs in this present world. As children of God, they already stand in opposition to the evil spiritual forces that make up part of the spirit world. Believers are cautioned by Scripture (Ephesians 6:11) not to live in ignorance of the spirit world. Man's obedience to God will mean blessing and hope while disobedience will spell sorrow and hopelessness in this life and the life to come. To this end, while examining the Christian perspective of the spirit world, the thesis also provides insightful information on the similarities and differences of the belief system pertaining to African Traditional Religion and Hinduism. Ample evidence exists of similarities rather than differences between these two religions. Some of the similarities include their view of God, the role of intermediaries, the importance of appeasing the spirits of the dead and the value of symbolism and rituals. One reason for such commonality is perhaps due to similar cultural patterns. Both these religions offer valuable principles and guidelines to practitioners in response to the spirit world. The Christian perspective concentrates more on Satan and evil spirits, their role in the universe and particularly in the lives of believers. For Christians any negligence towards the principles of God's Word leaves them vulnerable to the attacks of the evil forces. Although subjected to debate by some demon possession is one of the ways that Satan uses to disrupt the holistic wellbeing of a person. Research in the region of Isipingo in Kwazulu-Natal verified the existence of demon related problems and their hindrance to spiritual growth among churches. In the light of biblical teachings made in reference to the spirit world it is imperative that a believer's walk with God is always a walk of victory.