Abstract:
This paper tries to place the contemporary dress of married Zulu women
into a broad historical framework. It therefore addresses the the
problem of why, despite radical economic and political transformations,
some of the present conventions of female dress have remained virtually
unchanged since Shakan times.(1) By looking particularly at the history
of the institution of marriage, it attempts to demonstrate how the
meanings ascribed to, but also the roles of these conventions have been
affected by the codification of so-called customary law and the growth
of migrant labour. Given the paucity of information on past perceptions
and interpretations of female dress it must be pointed out, though, that
many of the observations which follow are necessarily speculative.
