Last month Siboniso Langa, one of our enthusiastic Ulwazi fieldworkers, reported on the different clothes that Zulu men and women wear at different times of their lives, and in different contexts. Siboniso discussed everything from bridal outfits to the clothes that a Zulu prince wears, as well as everyday attire for traditional Zulu girls and boys. Follow the … Read more
One of the core principles of the Ulwazi Programme is that information be collected in as democratic a manner as possible, with members of the public working in conjunction with fieldworkers to create content, many of which were previously unrecorded. Working along similar lines, Proclamation 73 is a not-for-profit project that is currently calling for the … Read more
It doesn’t seem possible, but Ulwazi is ten years old! A whole decade! Conceptualised by the ex-Head of Information Systems at eThekwini Libraries, Betsie Greyling, Ulwazi was initially run as a library project before joining the Local History Museums family where it now happily resides. The motivation for starting Ulwazi was threefold: Increase the volume of … Read more
Proverbs are found in all languages. They act as colourful lessons, offering advice that’s passed down from generation to generation in the guise of a clever sentence or two. In English there is a well-known saying, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’, implying that some things are better done alone. The Zulu equivalent, as explained … Read more
Culture is something that is dynamic. We talk about ‘preserving’ culture, but in truth culture is something that is always changing and adapting, so at best we are are recording culture at a point in time. One of the stories that Nqobile researched last month is a good illustration of this point. In contemporary Zulu culture a … Read more
We had the most eventful Ulwazi meeting this month! Neli wrote about some of the traditional games that Zulu children play, and instead of telling us about them, she had us play them! It was great fun! What was interesting was how similar these games are to Western children’s games, and I wonder if you … Read more