‘Topless’ tradition for tourists: Young Zulu girls in tourism.

Abstract

This study works through the ethnographic narratives of two young girls who perform in a tourist cultural village, and probes how certain cultural constructions of ‘Zulu girl’ or maiden are enacted in the context of cultural tourism. The article demonstrates that the girls live with a certain level of cultural discordance between their own experiences as young Zulu-speaking girls and how they are positioned in tourism consumption as 'Zulu maidens'. The study situates the narratives of the two performers, Zodwa and Pumi [pseudonyms] alongside the perceptions of a group of Zulu-speaking girls as an outside audience and how they see the dancers.