The gendered construction of mourning and cleansing rites of widowhood was studied
amongst the Zulu community of Ndwedwe, 70 kilometres north of Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal
province of South Africa. These cultural rites were investigated through in-depth
interviews with six widowers and twelve widows. Respondents were asked about their
experiences and perceptions regarding their compliance to the two rites. An analysis of these
experiences, which were translated and transcribed into English, was carried out, using
studies from other cultures internationally and locally as reference point, for the study. It was
revealed that mourning rites, which follow death of a spouse can be stressful for both genders
and must be observed strictly by the use of black or any mourning dress. The period of
mourning is characterised by isolation and stigmatisation especially for the widows.
Cleansing is a symbolic act that purifies all members of the household from defilement by
death. This is done for all relatives following burial but a widow remains impure not less than
one year of 'successful' mourning in most cases, before she is cleansed and is then absolved
into society's normal life. This study has revealed that mourning and cleansing rites have
psychological and physical health implications for both genders but with more negative
impacts on widows than widowers. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 2003.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/4375 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Daber, Benedicta N. |
| Contributors | Magwaza, Thenjiwe S. C. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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