Academic literature on the topic 'Zulu kingdom; American Zulu Mission'

The Zulu kingdom holds a special place in both popular culture and historical scholarship. Zulu—a famous name, easy to spell and pronounce—is as recognizably American as gangster rap. The website of the “Universal Zulu Nation” (www.hiphopcity.com/zulu_nation/) explains that as “strong believers in the culture of hiphop, we as Zulus … will strive to do our best to uplift ourselves first, then show others how to uplift themselves mentally, spiritually, physically, economically and socially.” The Zulu Nation lists chapters in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, Miami, Virginia Beach, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Haven, Hartford, New Jersey, and Texas. Mardi Gras in New Orleans has featured a “Zulu Parade” since 1916. The United States Navy underscores its independence from Britain by using “Zulu time” instead of Greenwich Mean Time. Not to be outdone, the Russian Navy built “Zulu Class” submarines in the 1950s and Britain's Royal Navy built a “Tribal Class Destroyer,” HMS Zulu. The common factor linking black pride, Africa, and prowess in war is the Zulu kingdom, a southeast African state that first attained international fame in the 1820s under the conqueror Shaka, “the black Napoleon.” His genius is credited with innovations that reshaped the history of his region. “Rapidly expanding his empire, Shaka conquered all, becoming the undisputed ruler of the peoples between the Pongola and Tugela Rivers … In hand-to-hand combat the short stabbing spear introduced by Shaka, made the Zulus unbeatable.” In South Africa Shaka's fame continues to outshine all other historical figures, including Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger. A major theme park, “Shakaland,” commemorates his life and Zulu culture. A plan was unveiled in 1998 to erect a twenty-story high statue of the Zulu king in Durban Harbor that would surpass the ancient Colossus of Rhodes.

AbstractMuch of the credit for the vitality of Christianity in southern Africa has gone to the African Initiated Churches that date their birth to earlier 'Ethiopian' and 'Zionist' movements. Yet far from being compromised, as they are often portrayed, those African Christians remaining in the mission churches often played a critical role in the naturalization of the faith. In the churches of the American Zulu Mission, the largest mission body in colonial Natal, one of the most important moments in this process occurred at the end of the nineteenth century when participants in a revival, led in part by a young Zulu Christian named Mbiya Kuzwayo, employed the theology of Holiness to dramatically alter the nature of their lived Christianity and bring about an internal revolution that gave them effective control of their churches.

Seek ye the political kingdom and all shall be yours.No minority tyranny in history ever survived the opposition of the majority. Nor will it survive in South Africa. The end of white tyranny is near.In their Portraits of Nobel Laureates in Peace, Wintterle and Cramer wrote that “the odds against the baby born at the Seventh-Day Adventist Mission near Bulawayo in Rhodesia in 1898 becoming a Nobel Prize winner were so astronomical as to defy calculation. He was the son of a proud people, the descendant of Zulu chieftains and warriors. But pride of birth is no substitute for status rendered inferior by force of circumstance, and in Luthuli's early years, the native African was definitely considered inferior by the white man. If his skin was black, that could be considered conclusive proof that he would never achieve anything; white men would see to that. However, in Luthuli's case they made a profound mistake--they allowed him to have an education.”If there is an extra-royal gentry in Zulu society, then it was into this class that Albert John Luthuli was born. Among the Zulus, chieftainship is hereditary only for the Paramount Chief; all regional chiefs are elected. The Luthuli family though, at least through the 1950s, monopolized the chieftainship of the Abasemakholweni (literally “converts”) tribe for nearly a century. Luthuli's grandfather Ntaba, was the first in the family to head the tribe and around 1900, his uncle Martin Luthuli took over.

“Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu” translates into a person is a person because of people. There is an idea of unity in this frequently used Zulu proverb that is posted boldly next to the Afrocentric logo on the African Union International School (AUIS) website in Midrand South, Africa. All these words are factors within Pan-Africanism, and AUIS is more than an international school in South Africa, but it is one of two schools created by the African Centered Educational Foundation (ACE). The other school is called the African American Academy in Douala, Cameroon. Under the auspice of ACE, both schools share a very special mission implied within its vision that includes an education for the African Renaissance. Through a content analysis, this paper will illustrate how the African Centered Education Foundation represents Pan-Africanism through the institutionalization of African Centered Education illustrated by their technological media (school websites, facebook, online articles), educational tools (brochures, teacher evaluations, lesson plans, teacher’s introduction package), and their African diaspora volunteer teacher program.

In the first few decadesof the nineteenth century, the experience of missionaries among peoples as diverse as the ancient civilizations of India, the highly organized Zulu kingdoms, and the cannibal tribes of the South Seas had sparked a national debate concerning whether or not the “civilization of the heathen” was necessary before they could be converted, or whether Christianity would be the best means of civilizing them. Unresolved as far as public policy was concerned, this question entered discussions of the 1835 Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements), a committee convened to address problems arising between British settlers and indigenous communities, including important trade sites in Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the Pacific. As with several other areas where significant British imperial pressure never took the form of direct colonial rule, the trade ports in China fell outside the committee's explicit considerations. Along with forbidding foreign settlements, Chinese culture did not fit the terms or assumptions of the committee's conversation. Since the first Jesuit mission to China in the late sixteenth century, there had been little doubt in Europe that Chinese civilization was far advanced. As a tightly controlled bureaucratic state confident of its own position as the Middle Kingdom of the world, China simply did not work within the discourse of civilization. This essay explores one attempt to adjust the terms of that British discourse in order to accommodate a civilized China.

This article provides a critique of the role played by progressive missionaries in securing land for the African people in some selected mission stations in South Africa. It argues that, in spite of the dominant narrative that the missionaries played a role in the dispossession of the African people of their land, there are those who refused to participate in the dispossession. Instead, they used their status, colour and privilege to subvert the policy of land dispossession. It critically examines the work done by four progressive missionaries from different denominations in their attempt to subvert the laws of land dispossession by facilitating land ownership for Africans. The article interacts with the work of Revs John Philip (LMS), James Allison (Methodist), William Wilcox and John Langalibalele Dube (American Zulu Mission [AZM]), who devised land redistributive mechanisms as part of their mission strategies to benefit the disenfranchised Africans.

This thesis examines the work of the American Zulu Mission in Natal from 1835 to 1910. Of the institutions controlled by this mission, the most famous was that known in the 20th Century as Adams College, named after one of the founders of the Natal work, Dr Newton Adams. Although other research work has been done on this institution and this mission in general, this thesis attempts to examine the work in the light of the mission's own view of its educational purpose and the expectations of the Colonial Government of what could be expected of missionary education. To meet this purpose particular stress was laid first on the actual development of the mission's educational institutions, especially when reports and letters assessed the aims of the developments and the ways in which these aims were being met. Secondly, the aims of missionary education were explained through five capital Colonial Government Commissions, which looked, in a number of different ways, at the current position and future of the Zulu peoples of Natal. These Commissions reported in 1846, 1852-1853, 1881-1882, 1892 and 1902. Two major findings emerge from the investigation. The first was lack of clarity, not only on the part of what the mission was trying to do, but also on what the Colonial Government expected it to do. To this absence of clarity must be added the continuous shortage of finance, the reluctance of the Zulu themselves to accept the combination of education (which they wanted) and conversion (of which they were often suspicious). In these circumstances, their slow progress of the 75 years from 1835 to 1910 becomes understandable. Had these years been the total extent of the mission' s contribution to Natal, there would be little justification for any extended investigation, or any reason behind the high prestige which the mission enjoyed. It is shown, however, that from 1902 onwards a new, more incisive and directional policy, especially on the question of education, came from the mission. This emerged particularly under the leadership of Le Roy, Principal from 1903 to 1925. The last part of this thesis assesses this new direction. The detailed investigation comes to an end at 1910 when with the creation of Union, an entirely new organisation and dispensation came into being. In the last years of Le Roy's principalship the promise of the period of 1902 to 1920 came to fruition and in the final chapter a brief summary of these developments are given

Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2008.
Vita: p. 203. Thesis director: Benedict Carton. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 3, 2008'). Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-202). Also issued in print.