Private Transgressions: The Visual Voice of Zulu Women

This eight-page study reports on the ways in which Zulu women of Camper-Ndwedwe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, express a range of social and cultural messages, including silent protest, via dress codes and bead work.

The study is based on interviews and questionnaires with 58 informants, as well as four years of research and fieldwork. The author grew up in the area of Camper-Ndwedwe (Camperdown and Ndwedwe) and uses the premise that the concept of ethnicity encompasses a cultural category recognizable in lifestyle, race, language, and clothing choices and explores how women subvert the protocol of clothing and beadwork in Zulu attire to convey messages that they may not verbalise. According to the author, “The discussion is framed by recognition of the limits placed on Zulu women as a result of gender inequality in the family and the wider society”. The paper reports that Zulu women are taught clearly that certain kinds of behaviour, manners and tastes are acceptable and proper. These form the framework via which they are able to express dissent.

The writer maintains that in situations where women suffer limited freedom of expression, they find ways to deal with their limitations. “Rural and illiterate women are not passive about their situations: they employ dress in ways that not only signify their compliance with traditionally ascribed status, but also their displeasure, as a form of non-verbal protest.” She uses two examples to portray this. She provides photos of two women who combine traditional dress, beadwork and the evoked ritualistic associations, to create non-verbal protest. In the first case, an unmarried woman wears an outfit of a married woman to the wedding of her former suitor, who has chosen to marry another woman. She chooses her outfit, “to let everyone know her predicament, sympathise with her and shame the man concerned”. The writer points out that for the message to be successfully conveyed, it depends upon particular contextual interpretation and the dynamics of the social context. In the second example, the woman chooses a particular beadwork bracelet and a man’s skirt to protest against the fact that her boyfriend has broken his promise to her and started paying lobolo (bride price) to the family of another woman. She wished, “to let it be known so that he would be shamed into rectifying his errant behaviour”.

The paper describes the role of the tradition of Zulu beadwork. "Though serving commonly understood objectives, each individual may choose to use beads to express her personal, aesthetic preferences in a peculiar way. It is, however, expected that her expressions be made within cultural guidelines, which are informed by beadal symbolism and patriarchal ideologies.” The paper discusses the role of beads as they convey non-verbally one’s geographical origins, age group, marital and social status, desire to be considered at a certain stage of one’s life and particular social event.

The paper concludes that women’s use of dress has importance on the individual, social and cultural levels. It is common for women to modify or combine dress items, the way they are worn and used, as a personal expression, to form a socially legitimated ‘transgression’ and private protest in the public space. “Despite gender bias and socially prescribed control over dress, women who were interviewed at Camper-Ndwedwe view traditional dress as a means to reaffirm their identity.” The writer maintains that it is vital for these “silent voices” of women to be heard, explored and given recognition. Affirmation of these private, individual expressions may encourage women to verbalise their perceptions of their roles in male-dominated relationships.

With regret, this article is no longer available online. To request a copy of the document, please contact the author.