Zulu Culture
Essay Preview: Zulu Culture
Report this essay
The Zulu people resided in Southern Africa. Zulu has made a mark in history that goes back many centuries. They were a well-established and cultured group that history of the Zulu tribe is recognized for their intricate of economic organization, social organization, and also beliefs and values.
Zulus position on social organization by tradition is condensed and is very valued in regard to leadership and kinship. There were many tribes that made up the Zulu culture; each tribe has an individual chief that handles the political aspect for all that he has power over. The Zulu tribes were built to be a strong nation at the start of the 19th century. After awhile to strong hold came to an end and slowly crumbed when they started to lose money as well as majority of their land. The over-extended war the Zulus had going with the European settlers is the blame for all that they lost. They scattered over the land so that they could hunt, take care of their cattle, and grow their grains. The bigger the tribes got, some of its pieces of land would pull away systematically independently with a close or far away kinsman of the chief. Many that breakaway was done in a manner of peace, while others chased behind disobedience where a kinsman of the chief attempted to take leadership and the now independent group of people. The surrounding tribes for the most part were okay with one another, no negativity, even though there was instances where cattle was stole or living and non-living things being held until a ransom was fulfilled.
The social organization of Zulu is built on true or presumed ties with family. They combine many family units patrilineally, under the power of its individual clans chief having power over their own lands and animals. The Headman is of close relation to the chief, and hold down areas of the land. Majority of chiefs are kin to each other in some shape or form. Many men do practice multiple marriages at once and categorized their wives by the length of their marriages. It is also a custom that the dead mans wife to go stay with her dead husbands brother so that she could continue to have children to keep his name going.
The Zulu was not a meaningful tribe up until the beginning of the 19th century, when Chaka took on leadership by dictatorship and defeat, in which to mold them into a strong tribe (Logan, 2012). His goal was to take control of surrounding tribes so that all Zululand would not be at risk. This deadly war that he began opposing on others was to gain power of the entire area. He was able to accomplish this by implementing new methods for his army to deal with situations and learn to utilize more enhanced, stronger weapons. He housed them according to their age and where they would be trained in the manner of discipline.
The Zulu make up about 22% of South Africas population, roughly 9 million people whose language is Bantu. Zulu was first a tribe who resided near the Tugela River (Gluckman, 2012). Over time, the Zulu people grew in numbers and scattered across South Africa and were known as the biggest ethnic group. There are small groups of self-acclaimed Zulu that lived mostly in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia.
Tradition is usually is a source and a tool utilized by contending cultural groups in hopes of gaining a large amount of followers. Traditions are set in motion and developed from knowledge of the past, not newly created, whether knowingly or not. In order for tradition to be considered as rightful, it ought to have a resemblance of replication. It is vital that people hold the belief that it carries on experiences from the past. Traditions must satisfy the society for them to be acceptable and implemented by others.
To a certain degree the Zulu have been swayed by individuality. In the older generations it was known that the community helped raise the children of the younger generation, even though many chose to not meddle in other families.
When it comes to family and church influence they have little say over how people act but, restrictions are not enforced as commonly as the earlier generations make it seems.
Economic diversity coincides with in various standards of living: A traditional Zulu way of life based on religion, rebellious approach against Western values and characteristics, and an alternate Western industrial way of life. The growth in agriculture still proved to be difficult even though Zululands climate was adequate enough due to the preservation of land. At one point the region was highly inhabited, that maize and livestock was the only option for mode of subsistence. Even with apartheid being abolished they continued to do so.
Economy within the Zulu culture usually came from growing grains and raising cows. Having more than one wife is condoned but most relationships are monogamous