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Anthropology

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7700

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Browsing Anthropology by Subject "African traditions."

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    Death, religion, and cultural schemas of South African indigenous societies: a case study of funeral services and burial rites of households and families of e-Macambini Community during the alert level 5 of National Lockdown.
    (2023) Vundla, Ntokozo Howard.; Zondi, Balungile Prudence.
    This thesis anthropologically and qualitatively explored death, religion, and cultural schemas of the eMacambini community during the COVID-19 alert level 5. A sample of 20 participants were recruited through the purposive snowballing technique. Through the Social Constructivism Theory and Cultural Relativism Theory, this study revealed that the eMacambini community was heavily threatened by COVID-19 which affected patterns of their burial rites, cultural schemas and rituals. This study recommends that government authorities together with advisory committees (the South African government and the World Health Organization) should in times of the pandemic be considerate of indigenous knowledge systems that guide the process of death, cultural schemas and rituals of indigenous communities. This study recognized the use of isiZulu language by research participants as a phenomenological expression of painful experiences. It further validates that it is possible to study indigenous communities in their own languages which falls within decolonial ethnography. This study recommended that the content of this research and all other related studies on pandemics versus Africa cultural schemas and rituals should be integrated into the content of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Anthropology (102) Culture and Societies and Anthropology 201- Culture, Health and Illness curriculum as a new section which will deal with the impact of pandemic outbreaks in African traditions, cultures and religion. This study concludes that cultural schemas, rituals and burial rites shape or socially construct one’s identity and promote one’s cultural relativism which is the sense of pride and belonging.
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    An examination of the significance of the cow body parts during traditional rituals of AmaZulu households in the Mpola community.
    (2022) Khanyile, Noxolo Princess.; Zondi, Balungile Prudence.; Kgari-Masondo, Maserole Christina.
    The absence of documented literature that explains the attached meanings to cow body parts during traditional rituals of AmaZulu households remains a notable gap in the existing body of knowledge. This anthropological study aims at studying and understanding the attached meanings of the cow body parts during traditional rituals from the viewpoint of AmaZulu in the Mpola community. For this study to bridge the gap and provide an in-depth understanding, qualitative case study using semi-structured (one-on-one-interviews) with fifteen (15) participants between the age of eighteen (18) to seventy (70) and two theoretical frameworks which are cultural relativism theory and indigenous knowledge were employed. The study findings reveal that culture and ancestors informs how AmaZulu slaughter cows when performing traditional rituals. The meanings attached to the cow body parts during traditional rituals are contributed as cultural epistemics in the decolonial literature of African countries as well as in the cultural and linguistic anthropology literature. The findings further portray that indigenous knowledge that is passed down from each generation by indigenous people illustrates cultural gender inequality between both genders (males and females). The males are educated and well-informed about cultural traditions compared to females because males are believed to be heads of the households who will oversee the performing of traditional rituals within the households. These findings indicate the need for indigenous knowledge of AmaZulu, traditional rituals and meanings attached to the cow body to be preserved.