BEADWORK IDENTITY AS BRAND EQUITY: AN ANALYSIS OF BEADWORK CONVENTIONS AS THE BASIS FOR CRAFT ECONOMIES IN KWAZULU-NATAL, WITH SPECIFIC EMPHASIS ON THE BEADWORK OF AMANYUSWA. BY ROWAN CHRISTOPHER GATFIELD STUDENT NUMBER 211560381 SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR V. B. OJONG CO-SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR M. P. SITHOLE September 2014 THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF A THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) IN ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL. September 2014 II COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES DECLARATION REGARDING PLAGIARISM I, Rowan Christopher Gatfield, declare that 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons’ writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other sources have been quoted, then: a) Their words have been rewritten but the general information attributed to them has been referenced. b) Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source is detailed and referenced in the thesis. Signed…………………………………………………… Date……………………………………………………… III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My gratitude to my wife Yvonne for your encouragement and quiet strength and support. I know that you have sacrificed much for this study to be realized. To the amadlozi, or ancestors, who I believe have granted me access to participants and to data, and who have guided me on this journey. I hope I have done your will. I would like to thank Douglas Mduduzi Fuze, whom I regard as man of great stature. You have given me belief in this study. Thank you for introducing me to amaNyuswa and for giving me the respect and time whenever I asked for it. I will always regard you as my friend. Equally, I am most grateful to Apostle Siyabonga Mkhize for his time and guidance, and for introducing me to abaMbo. I believe you are a true man of God. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Vivian Ojong and Professor Pearl Sithole for their guidance and assistance in this study. In addition I would also like to thank the traditional leadership at MaQadini for allowing me to work in the KwaNyuswa region. Further I would like to thank Rick Andrew, who inspired this study, Piers Carey, Surprise Basson, Elizabeth Mazibuko, Linda Ireland, Lucky, Angel, Zamuntu, Busi, Gabi, Agrippa Hlophe, Nathan Thomas, Mdu Khumalo, Melisha Subramani, Thando Mchunu, Candy Belcher, William Sibiya, Lawrence Khoza, Vumi Mchunu; the women of Zamimpilo, Sigaba Ngezandla and Simunye craft collectives; Dunlop, Universal Bolt and Nut, Plascon, Royal Adhesives and Sportsmans Warehouse; for their support. My thanks also to Vasantha Govender of Durban University of Technology and Bonga Musa, of Ethekwini Municipality, for facilitating Workspace’s presence, at the two Exhibitions in which testing for this study was facilitated. IV . DEDICATION To my father, Arthur Gatfield; my mother, Anne Gatfield; my sister, Brenda Gatfield; my wife, Yvonne Gatfield and my son, Christopher Gatfield. V ABSTRACT The Zulu identity appears to have enjoyed precedence over other polity identities in KwaZulu- Natal for what is largely viewed as time immemorial. Yet, a cursory glance at emergent literature on the Zulu and what has come to be called ‘Zuluness’, the reification of this identity, reveals that in every instance, where the term ‘Zulu’ is perpetuated as if an overarching singular socio-political entity, ethical questions emerge. In economic terms these questions become inflamed, particularly within Tourism related industries, where products and services are being sold as authentically ‘Zulu’, thereby negating other potential for varied brand offerings. Much of the body of literature on beadwork appears to be similarly ‘framed’, by this seemingly unopposed view of the Zulu. When juxtaposed against the dire poverty within the province, compounded through HIV/AIDS, and retail sites saturated with ‘Zulu’ product, such as beadwork, the value of brand diversification emerges. Based on this premise, this study examines how polity identity within the Zulu might translate into the alleviation of poverty through micro-economic approaches, by capitalising on visual anthropologies in the form of beadwork identity. To this end, this thesis examines whether the people within one such polity, the amaNyuswa at KwaNyuswa, in the region known as the ‘Valley of a Thousand Hills’, in KwaZulu-Natal, continue to maintain the use of this identity and elect to define that identity through a beadwork convention. Further, it examines whether such forms of denotation can serve as a basis for a departure from the existing position on beadwork and its relationship to the Zulu brand. This study therefore examines the historical, political, cultural and socio-economic factors that continue to impact on the survival of amaNyuswa identity, from numerous theoretical perspectives. Methodologically this study draws on the training and experience of the researcher as a visual communication design practitioner and educator, employing a reflexive ethnographic research framework through which to interpretivistically deepen understanding on beadwork conventions of amaNyuswa, in relation to other beadwork conventions within the Zulu. Drawing on qualitative data gained through unstructured interviews and participant observation, by attending numerous traditional events, and in design- based engagements with three craft collectives - Sigaba Ngezandla, Simunye and Zamimpilo, in KwaNyuswa, and with Durban Beachfront Craft retailers and Rickshaw Pullers, it discusses various prototype handbags and Rickshaw cart and outfit designs developed to test the value of beadwork denotation in serving micro-enterprise and polity-based brands. The findings of this study point to the value of polity-based branding and product development, but also represent the value of visual ethnographic analysis towards understanding the material culture of those from the amaNyuswa, the extended amaQadi, and the larger amaNgcobo polity. Many of these groups elect to denotatively represent themselves through isijolovane , the beadwork convention said to look like colorful ‘peas’ floating in a black ‘soup’, examples of which were found across KZN province. These findings not only point to a new way in which oral records might be validated through beadwork, but also serve to challenge the commonly heralded view, particularly in the Tourism sector, that the Zulu are a singular identity represented by a single beadwork convention known as isimodeni, or the view held by many scholars that Zulu beadwork is simply comprised of a limited number styles, or as merely denoting large regions in the KZN province. Instead the outcomes of this study represent a step towards a reconstituted perspective of beadwork as being a denotative tool for communicating polity allegiance and for representing the diaspora of identities within the Zulu, displaced through time and circumstance across South East Africa. These findings are underpinned through the analysis of secondary data, accessed in museums; in beadwork archives, across KwaZulu-Natal; online; and in relevant texts. VI PREFACE Published in the period that followed the fall of Apartheid, in which much celebration and uncertainty no doubt prevailed, and in which the positivistic approach to Anthropology had served those intent on classifying and dividing racial groups, Boonzaier and Sharp (1998:1) in their book South African Keywords: The Uses and Abuse of Political Concepts comment that, “to many South Africans it is self evident, a matter of common sense, that society consists of different racial and ethnic groups, each of which form a separate community with its own culture and traditions. It is believed that such groups actually exist objectively in the real world and there is nothing anybody can do to change this”. The authors continue that the bases on which such arguments are founded, “are social and cultural constructions”. It may be assumed that the authors are plainly offering that the converse to this argument is a society comprised of a dynamic confluent societal menagerie, without borders or constraints. Instead the book, written as an educational tool for anthropology students, appears to strike at the ‘heart’ of cultural and ethnic generalisations and the manipulation of differences in serving control. The authors speak to the idea that ‘culture’ is defined only by its effect and affect. Claims that one’s culture is defined by cultural difference can be interpreted by first understanding that culture is “not simply a knowledge of differences, but rather an understanding of how language, thought, use of materials and behaviours have come about”. In other words culture is a product of historic events (Boonzaier and Sharp 1998:25). This preface, written sixteen years later, acknowledges the necessity, as detailed by social scientists, to proceed with caution when addressing concepts of identity and ethnicity in anthropological studies. It is therefore noted that there is danger in simply of perpetuating existent