Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

‘You Are Tearing My Skirt’ :Labotsibeni Gwamile LaMdluli

  • Chapter
Agency and Action in Colonial Africa

  • 68 Accesses

Abstract

The purpose of this study of Labotsibeni Gwamile LaMdluli is to examine human agency in historical processes and to demonstrate how one individual helped shape and forge a new collective consciousness. This is an inquiry into the dynamics of how LaMadluli initiated, moulded and coordinated change in Swaziland.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Traditional practice among the Swazi allows married women to retain (for public use) their paternal surnames. This is consistent with conventional references to males in most societies in the world. Scholarly works often identify authors through use of surname. In following this practice, LaMdluli will be used to identify the subject of discussion. This is a departure from historical works on Swaziland that refer to her by her first name, Labotsibeni, or Gwamile. This was appropriate before gender studies and its corresponding consciousness became a staple in academic work.

    Google Scholar 

  2. B. A. Marwick, The Swazi (London: Frank Cass, 1966) p. 262; see also H. Kuper, An African Aristocracy: Rank Among the Swazi (London: International Africa Institute, 1947) p. 55.

    Google Scholar 

  3. H. Kuper, The Uniform of Colour (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1947) p. 101.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Christopher P. Youé, Robert Thorne Coryndon: Proconsular Imperialism in Southern and Eastern Africa, 1897–1925 (London: Colin Smythe, 1986) p. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  5. A. M. Kanduza, ‘Monarchy, Peasant Differentiation and Politics of Production in Swaziland, 1941–1972’. OSSREA Research Report, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  6. T. T. Ginindza and H. Kuper, ‘The Power Behind the Swazi Monarchy: The Indlovukazi Labotsibeni Mdluli’, Part I and Part II, Dzadze, vol. I (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  7. H. Kuper, Sobhuza II (London: Duckworth, 1978). Re-evaluations of Cecil Rhodes include: John E. Flint, Cecil Rhodes (London: Hutchinson, 1974); I. R. Phimister, ‘Rhodes, Rhodesia and the Rand’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 2 (1974); C. Newbury, ‘Out of the Pit: the Capital accumulation of Cecil Rhodes’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 10 (1981).

    Google Scholar 

  8. See for example, a special issue of the Journal of Southern African Studies, 21, 4 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  9. See for example, C. P. Potholm, ‘The Ngwenyama of Swaziland: The Dynamics of Political Adaptation’ in R. LeMarchand (ed.), African Kingships in Perspective: Political Change and Modernisation in Monarchical Settings (London: Frank Cass, 1977); H. M. Jones, A Biographical Register of Swaziland to 1902 (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  10. P. Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth-Century Swazi State ( Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1983); Leroy Vail and L. White, Power and the Praise Poem: Southern African Voices in History (London: James Currey, 1991) pp. 155–97.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Marwick, The Swazi, p. 263.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kuper, Sobhuza II, pp. 3, 18–21.

    Google Scholar 

  13. S. Marks and R. Rathbone, ‘Introduction’, S. Marks and R. Rathbone (eds), Industrialisation and Social Change in South Africa (London: Longman, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  14. A. M. Kanduza, ‘Ambiguities in Woman History: The Case of Swaziland’, Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 12, 1 (1996) 35–45.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Personal Communication. In an informal social setting one Inkhosikati (wife of a prince) stated that her husband represents a tradition laid by Mswati II’s mother and Labotsibeni which Sobhuza II followed faithfully. Thus, a section of Swazi aristocracy belong to the progressive camp.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Jones, Register, pp. 400–2.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kuper, Sobhuza II, pp. 59, 129.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ibid., p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Youé, Coryndon, pp. 52–3; Kuper, Sobhuza II, pp. 73–4.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  21. M. Genge, ‘The Role of the AmaSwazi in the Destruction of the BaPedi State, 1876–1879’, unpublished paper, n.d.’. Genge is doing a PhD on the period of LaMdluli’s reign.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ginindza and Kuper, ‘Power behind the Swazi Monarchy . . . ’

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kuper, Sobhuza II, pp. 18, 28.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Jones, Registrar, pp. 95–101.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 28.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ibid., p. 30.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Although the King and the Queen Mother are co-rulers, their relations face creative tension in the early years of the King’s reign. A total breakdown in relations is rare but serious conflicts are inevitable, and it is in that situation that the Swazi say ‘two bulls cannot live in the same kraal’.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 31.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Kuper, African Aristocracy, p. 9; H. W. Macmillan, ‘Swaziland: Decolonisation and the Triumph of Tradition’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 23 (1985).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 39.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Ibid., p. 40.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Jonathan Crush, The Struggle for Swazi Labour, 1890–1920 (Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 1987), p. 158.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Ibid., p. 157.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  36. A. Pim, Report on the Financial and Economic Situation of Swaziland (London: HMSO 1932), p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Crush, Struggle, p. 159.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Crush, Struggle, pp. 159–60.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Vail and White, Praise Poem, p. 160.

    Google Scholar 

  40. SNA (Swaziland National Archives) RCS 478/13: Minutes of Meeting between Resident Commissioner and Chief Regent and Council, 26 Aug. 1913.

    Google Scholar 

  41. SNA, RCS 475/14: Queen Regent to Resident Commissioner, 16 June 1914.

    Google Scholar 

  42. SNA, RCS 126/15: Meeting of Resident Commissioner and Swazi Chiefs, 6 June 1915.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Crush, Struggle, p. 163.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Kanduza, ‘Monarchy’, p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 43.

    Google Scholar 

  46. J. S. M. Matsebula, A History of Swaziland (London: Longman, 1976) pp. 163–5.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Kuper, Sobhuza II, p. 110.

    Google Scholar 

  48. SNA, J61/02: Swazi Queen Sends Deputation to Commissioner for Native Affairs, 30 June 1902.

    Google Scholar 

  49. SNA, S.3: J. J. Ferreira to T. Shepstone, 21 Jan. 1890.

    Google Scholar 

  50. SNA, J50/1904: Report on Swaziland by Special Commissioner.

    Google Scholar 

  51. SNA, 45/07/1418: Resident Commissioner to High Commissioner, 22 Aug. 1907; High Commissioner to Resident Commissioner, 2 Sept. 1907. File RCS/178.12: Queen Regent to Resident Commissioner, 18 June 1914; 19 Aug. 1913.

    Google Scholar 

  52. There are probably more community primary and high schools in Swaziland than those built by the government. In rural areas, where about 80 per cent of the population lives, every chiefdom aspires to have its own school.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Ackson Kanduza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, Canada

    Chris Youé (Professor of History) (Professor of History)

  2. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

    Tim Stapleton (Assistant Professor of History) (Assistant Professor of History)

Copyright information

© 2001 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kanduza, A. (2001). ‘You Are Tearing My Skirt’ :Labotsibeni Gwamile LaMdluli. In: Youé, C., Stapleton, T. (eds) Agency and Action in Colonial Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288485_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288485_6

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-41796-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28848-5

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation