Continuity and change in Ciskei chiefship

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented August 1977The conventional wisdom of South African ethnologists, whether liberal or conservative, has been dominated by the idea that African politics operated according to certain fixed rules ("customs") which were hallowed by tradition and therefore never changed. A corollary of this is that if these rules were correctly identified and fairly applied, everyone would be satisfied and chiefship could perhaps be saved. It is, however, fairly well established that genealogies are often falsified, that new rules are coined and old rules bent to accommodate changing configurations of power, and that ‘age-old’ customs may turn out to be fairly recent innovations; in short, that "organisational ideas do not directly control action, but only the interpretation of action". The conventional wisdom was successfully challenged by Comaroff in his important article, ‘Chiefship in a South African Homeland’, which demonstrated that by adhering too closely to the formal features of traditional government and politics among the Tswana, especially those concerning succession, the Government wrecked the political processes which had enabled the Tswana to choose the most suitable candidate as chief. And yet Comaroff’s article begs a good many questions. Let us imagine that the Government ethnologists read the article, and as a result allow Tswana chiefs to compete for office as before, permitting "consultative decision-making and participation in executive processes". Would this prevent the Tswana chiefship from dying? Can we, in fact, discuss chiefship in political terms alone without considering whether the material conditions in which it flourished still exist? The present article will attempt to situate the question of chiefship in a somewhat wider framework than that usually provided by administrative theory or transactional analysis

The implosion of Transkei and Ciskei

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 4 May 1992The South African government’s policy of granting "independence" to the black reserves within its borders evoked considerable initial interest, particularly with regard to Transkei, the first black territory to be so blessed. Liberal writers approached the so-called "homelands" with sympathy, giving serious consideration to their possible viability, and exploring their potential as an engine for future change. Three well-known American academics went so far as to dub Transkei as ‘virtually the only ground where Africans can voice non-violent opposition to (the South African) regime’…. It is naturally impossible for me to give a comprehensive account of the entire collapse within the limits of a single paper. My object is the more modest one of relating the hitherto uncompiled history of the Transkei and Ciskei 'independent' homelands which spearheaded the process. By implosion, I do not mean to denote a catastrophe of literally astrophysical proportions. I merely use the word to imply comparison with the physical process whereby a weakness at the centre is unable to support the outer facade of a structure and results in its inward collapse. The weakness at the centre may be found in the disjuncture between the homeland leadership and the homeland bourgeoisie, who might have constituted their local class base. I will return to this subject in my conclusion

“Ndiyindoda” [I am a man]: theorising Xhosa masculinity

Masculinity studies in South Africa depend on Western gender theories to frame research questions and fieldwork. This article argues that such theories offer a limited understanding of Xhosa constructions of masculinity. Xhosa notions of masculinity are embodied in the concept of indoda, meaning a traditionally circumcised person. This article explores the nuanced meanings of indoda and its relationship to other masculinities, like uncircumcised boys [inkwenkwe] and medically circumcised men. The discussion reveals that indoda is the most “honoured” form of masculinity. A traditionally circumcised individual is regarded as indoda, a real man, irrespective of his sexual orientation or class, and this affords him certain rights and privileges. Inkwenkwe and medically circumcised men embody “subordinate” forms of masculinity and are victims of stigma and discrimination by indoda. This requires us to revisit some Western theories of masculinity which place heterosexual men at the top of a masculine hierarchy and gay men at the bottom. It furthermore requires us to pay attention to the body when theorising Xhosa masculinity, since it is a principal way of “proving” and “defending” Xhosa manhood.IBS