The Courtship Dance.

Performing ‘Traditional Xhosa Culture’ in Grahamstown.

by
Stuart Hardman

Plate 1.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for an Ethnomusicology Major of a Bachelor of Arts degree,
Rhodes University of Grahamstown, November 2005.
.

Supervised by Dr D. Thram
 Table of Contents

Introduction 3
Objective 4
Methodology 5
Theoretical orientation 7
Introduction to 'The Field' 10
Description of the dance 10
„The Spirit of Uhadi‟ 16
Mrs Budaza‟s life history 19
The importance of dance for Mrs Budaza 21
Clan identity 22
The importance of virginity 25
Promoting traditional practices 28
Thandeka's personal ambitions 28
Core teachings 29
Conclusion 33
References 35
Appendix 1: Video footage from the field 40

2
Introduction
The Mafikizolo Dance Group is a 'Traditional Xhosa Dance' group consisting of
twelve (but sometimes up to seventeen), six to twelve year old Xhosa children. Mrs
Thandeka Budaza, their teacher, drummer and choreographer, is a primary school
teacher - and also a fully initiated igqira (a healer/diviner in traditional Xhosa
culture). As such she brings a wealth of knowledge of Xhosa customs into the
teaching and choreography of her dances. Mrs Budaza and the members of the group
are all residents of the Rhini location. This is one of the (historically) black suburbs of
Grahamstown, situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

My ethnographic research has entailed attending and video taping

performances of the courtship dance, interviewing Mrs Budaza, as well as referencing
some of the broader socio-cultural processes within which 'The Courtship Dance' is
constructed.

In this discussion I focus on one particular dance performed by the

Mafikizolo Dance Group: 'The Courtship Dance.' This dance, following my literature
review, which is oriented towards Practice theory (Bourdieu (1977; 1990)) and
Performance theory (Drewal (1991)), is, I suggest, a construction of 'traditional
Xhosa values' constituted in the performance of the dance. 'The Courtship Dance'
therefore is a dance choreographed in the idiom of traditional Xhosa practices, as they
are understood and interpreted by Mrs Budaza and the dancers in the Mafikizolo
Dance Group.

My interpretation of The Courtship Dance is that it is an activity which

actively constructs a cultural ethos. This is achieved in terms of behavioural ethics
and bodily praxis which explicitly promote sexual abstinence while still valuing the
role of courtship within children lives. As it teaches the children about the sexual
values of traditional Xhosa culture in this idiom of dance and play it is similar to the
intonjane ritual which traditionally fulfilled the same purpose.

The promotion of sexual abstinence today can only be understood through

referencing the broader socio-cultural landscape. Such references include the
HIV/AIDS pandemic, teenage pregnancies, the so-called African Renaissance which
3
has links to the increasing interest in indigenous knowledge and the increasing threat
to the constitution of lifeworlds (Shutz and Luckmann 1973) in the face of increasing
processes of globalisation.

Currently one of the most controversial issues in South Africa is that of the
„virginity testing1‟ of young girls of a traditional Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu and Swazi)
background. It is controversial because although it is in line with the general drive to
promote sexual abstinence due to AIDS and it is also a „traditional practice‟; but it is
also contrary to (new) constitutional rights set out for the rights of children in South
African.

The Courtship Dance, in terms of „virginity testing,‟ can be seen as one

„solution‟ to the problem of bridging the divide between „traditional‟ and „modern‟
practices.

Objective
The objective of this project is to explore the references to traditional Xhosa culture
made in the performance of The Courtship Dance of the Mafikizolo Dance Group. In
this fashion I hope to be able to explore some of the particularities of what it means to
be a bearer of Xhosa culture and postulate why this form of dancing is being
practiced and supported in the Rhini township of Grahamstown.

The Courtship Dance of the The Mafikizolo Dance group is a self-consciously

traditional Xhosa dance and the performance of this dance is a public expression of
Mrs Budaza‟s, and the performers,‟ interpretation of the Xhosa courtship aesthetic. It
shows boys and girls the traditional Xhosa customs and values relating to sexual
relationships. It is, however, more than this; it a construction of the „traditional,‟

1
Lauretta Ngcobo, for example, an Inkhata Freedom Party Member of Parliament has recently
published an article in The Witness (10 October 2005) called: „Virginity testing: “an African solution to
a pressing African problem” (Ngcobo 2005). The article was in reaction to a Xhosa nurse‟s comments
in the newspaper which called the procedure of virginity testing degrading. Ms Ngcobo cites „liberal
domination‟ as the cause of for the criticism of this traditional practice, which she promotes. She said:

“The new Children's Rights Bill, compiled by…[liberals], passed by the National
Assembly and awaiting the approval of the National Council of Provinces, amounts to
an uncompromising ban on virginity testing, as we knew it. The bill is an undisputed
victory for the liberals. Undisputed, because the draft law was never taken for feedback
to the communities which it primarily concerns” (Ibid).
4
based upon historical and socio-cultural circumstances which are interpretively re-
produced in this performance of the courtship dance.

The objective is therefore to offer a “thick description” (Geertz 1973: 29) of

my interpretation of some extraneous factors influencing the construction of the
dance.

Methodology
Focusing on the performance of the courtship dance, I have written fieldnotes
(descriptive, introspective and analytical) and made video recordings to record how
dancers and other participants practice, perceive and experience „the dance.‟ After
observing what the dancers did in the performance, I recorded interviews with Mrs
Budaza which focussed on her interpretations of the dance. These interviews
progressed from lose to more structured interviews as my understanding of the dance
and my relationship with her deepened. These interviews were recorded, transcribed
and then analysed.

I witnessed The Courtship Dance on two separate occasions. The first time
was when they performed at the science festival at Rhodes University on the lawns
near the Rhodes Chapel. The second occasion was when I attended and video taped
the performance at the 150th anniversary of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown
(Video 15/08/2005).

Prior to my starting to research the courtship dance of the Mafikizolo Dance

Group I journeyed to East London. There I attended and video taped a two hour
school song and dance concert performed for backpacker tourists at the Buluka farm
School just outside Cintsa (Video 15/03/2005). I also attended a rural Xhosa
homestead in Mooi Plaas, East London, where I was hosted by Mama Tofu and her
daughter Zinzi (Video 16/03/2005). This homestead is part of a tourism drive to bring
tourists into Mooi Plaas and promote local crafting enterprises. There I was shown
traditional Xhosa beadwork2, children‟s dances and various aspects of traditional
Xhosa customs where discussed.

2
I bought a traditional Xhosa outfit which I later gave to Mrs Budaza as a gift .
5
Methodological Issues
I have self consciously attempted to situate my research within the so called fourth
paradigm of Ethnomusicology as discussed by Titon (1997). The first two paradigms
are from an era before the institutionalization of ethnomusicology (namely
Comparative Musicology and Musical Folk lore) and these will not be discussed here.

The third paradigm is derived from Ethnomusicology as it was established as a

discipline with links to Anthropology starting in the 1950s. This emphasizes the
native point of view, distrust of nationalism, a focus on acculturation and change, a
scholarly discourse, and generally an increase in field data in accordance to
Merriam‟s (1964) method which emphasizes “ideas, behavior and sound” (Titon
1997: 91).

The fourth paradigm is, according to Titon (1997), an emergent paradigm

situated within the phenomenological or reflexive turn (in Anthropology) and is
envisioned as the study of “people making and experiencing music” (Ibid: 92). It
shows an increased scepticism toward the 'culture of science' and the self-conscious
adoption of many aspects within critical theories – such as those born out of feminist
and post-colonial theory. This is because as he says,

“if we believe that knowledge is experiential and the intersubjective

product of our social interactions, then what we can know [about people
making music] arises out of relations with others, both in the field and as
colleagues” (Ibid).

Ethnographic texts therefore become an invitation to the “reader to share,

imaginatively, in the experiences [of the author, as] represented in the text” (Ibid).

In this formulation the field researcher seeks to understand the “world

suggested by the musical sounds, performances and contexts... and not the inner
experience of people” (Ibid). Therefore the field researcher cannot claim objective
knowledge of the Other in a fixed or static fashion.

Believing in reciprocity, as payment for her generously sharing her time and
experiences with me I gave Mrs Budaza a traditional Xhosa outfit with many different
types of beads (as can be seen in the video) that I had bought in a rural area in Mooi

6
Plaas while conducting research there. She was absolutely thrilled with this gift. In
addition I also gave her a Thandiswa Mazwai, a Mdosisni and an Inguni CD from
I.L.A.M. I was always asked to bring some food (chicken and cool drinks) with me
when I went to visit her and as a final parting gesture was asked to pay for a trip to the
beach for the group for an end of year ritual.

My strategy of bringing gifts allowed me to conduct the research in an ethical

manner and not be tied into a relationship that would become overly restricted by
financial obligations. Mrs Budaza openly asked for payment for her time and initially
I did feel that I had been somewhat unscrupulously 'othered' as being a rich white
male South African. However as I negotiated my relationship with Mrs Budaza I feel
that this situation changed over time. I was able to discuss intimate details regarding
my own relationships with Mrs Budaza and believe that we have a firm friendship.
She did explain to me that she did not like asking for gifts or money and that she was
constrained by poverty to do what she could for her family.

I used the gifts that I brought in a very strategic fashion because they all
opened up avenues of investigation relevant to the research at hand. The traditional
outfit and all the music all referenced the current negotiation of Xhosa-ness in the
current milieu. In addition to this, I showed and discussed video recordings which I
had made of the Mafikizolo Dnace Group and other groups (a rural so-called 'Red
Blanket' Xhosa homestead, a rural school group near to East London, and the
Thathawena Dance Group). These all opened up interesting lines of questioning and
allowed me to gauge Mrs Budaza‟s response to and situate her own performance
group in relation to these other groups.

Theortetical orientation
In this section Bourdieu‟s (1977; 1990) Practice theory, his notion habitus, and
Performance theory are discussed to show how they articulate with the study of dance.

Drewal highlights the importance of studying performance because, as she

argues, it raises “fundamental issues about bodily praxis, human agency, temporality,
and discursive knowledge” and therefore “calls into question conventional
understanding of tradition, repetition, mechanical reproduction, and ontological
7
definitions of social order and reality” (Drewal 1991: 1). Studying performance
therefore
“privileges process, the temporally or [the] processually constructed
nature of human realities, and the agency of knowledgeable performers
who have embodied particular techniques and styles to accomplish it”
(Ibid).

Dance, can, in this view, be interpreted as both a fundamental dimension of

culture itself and as well as a potent site for the production of knowledge about
culture – it therefore can allow people to construct their social world, and in doing so
they may either reinforce, resist or subvert prevailing social orders (Ibid: 2).

Following this line of thinking I hope that by studying the practical application
of embodied skills and knowledge through the medium of dance to open a small
window into the understanding of how a particular conception of „traditional Xhosa
culture‟ is being deployed and constructed by and through the performance of the
Mafikizolo Dance Group.

Broadly, then, according to my reading in the dance theory, dance is the

application of embodied skills and knowledge to the task of taking action for the
purposes of “the enactment of the poetic function” as well as the authoritative display
of communicative competence in the social sphere and it is therefore a potent site for
the inculcation of habitual dispositions into the habitus (Ibid).

Bourdieu‟s concept of habitus is important because it recognises the

dialectically structured and structuring nature of individual subjectivities within
culture and cultural events (Bourdieu 1977: 85). The concept of habitus is used in his
analysis of social identity and is a way of theorising how the self is produced through
the subjective experiences of a particular social environment. It is a way of analysing
how social relations become constituted within the self, but also how the self is
constitutive of social relations. The habitus is manifest in styles of “standing and
moving, taking up space, in ways of speaking (idioms, as well as accent), in styles of
dress, and so on” (Ibid: 89). It is not, however, confined to the body since it also
consists of a series of dispositions, attitudes and tastes (Ibid).

Habitus also carries the concept of history – both personal history and social,
or collective, history (Ibid: 94). The emphasis on history can make the concept of
8
habitus appear as the carrier of the solely prescriptive force on personal identity, a
means of more or less straightforward reproduction of individuals through socio-
environmental contextualisation. However, it is important to note that habitus is not
solely determining; it is also generative. Although reproduction across generations
does occur within this formulation, it is however the dynamic character of the social
world which resolves that it will not occur perfectly. Therefore a more or less
identical habitus can generate widely different outcomes.

For Practice Theorists, “cultural continuity is not best thought of as stasis, but
as a recursive process” (Christopher Waterman 1992: 50). The recursive process is
then how performances are transformed. Therefore change in performance traditions
may be attributed to situations when performers are “confronted with contradictions
generated by the unintended consequences of their actions or changes beyond their
control in the material and social world” (Ibid).

Since what performers do reflects their assessments of the moment, it would

be naive and reductionistic to think of their performances as a preformulated
enactment or of some authoritative past – or even as the reproduction of societies
norms and conventions (Ibid). Performance is not a rigid structure that performances
adhere to mindlessly out of some deep-seated desire for collective repetition in
support of some dominant social order (Ibid). If that were true then perhaps culture
itself should itself be defined as hegemonic (Ibid). As Drewal says:

“[w]henever improvisation is a strategy, it places performance

squarely in the domain of play. It is indeed the improvising, that
engages people, drawing them into public action, constructing their
relationships, thereby generating multiple and simultaneous discourses
always surging between harmony and /disharmony, order/disorder,
integration/opposition, and so on”(Ibid).

This theoretical view explains how the dance which is self consciously
choreographed, according to Mrs Budaza, to reflect and promote traditional practices
which she learned as a child growing up in a rural Xhosa homestead. Therefore the
dance that she has taught the children is partly derived from unconscious dispositions
which she has inculcated while growing up practicing a „Xhosa way of life.‟
Furthermore the children who improvise certain aspects of the dance can also be seen
to actively create the performance based on what they bring to the dance. Mrs Budaza

9
stresses this when she says that they dance for their own ancestors when doing the
dance. In this way, in terms of culture, the dance is at once a reflection, a form of
constituting cultural practice and also a confirmation of it.

Introduction to 'The Field'

The first time I attended a performance was on a hot summer day on the lush lawns
behind the Music department at Rhodes University. I had been attracted by the
drumming and when I arrived at the performance I joined a small but enthusiastic
audience.

I had arrived close to the end of an hour‟s performance. The children were hot
and sweating but not deterred by the heat. The final dance was, as I was to later find
out because none of the dances were announced, was The Courtship Dance. After the
dance I approached the dance teacher and drummer who introduced herself as
Thandeka Bhudaza in Xhosa. I greeted her back in my broken Xhosa but soon moved
onto conversing in English. She said that she would love to talk to me about „her
children‟ and that I should call her any time day or night.

Description of the courtship dance

The children are wearing orange dance uniforms, fashioned out of calico-like
material, the boys in shorts and the girls in wrap around short skirts with bikini-like
bras. The outfits were orange with black trim, some of the older girls are
unselfconsciously but visibly outgrowing their bikini tops. All the dancers have
traditional rattles bound around their ankles.

There are six young girls lined up in front of six young boys who stand behind
them3. The dance is not introduced to the audience. Thandeka4 meters out two
powerful drum beats on her Xhosa drum. She stands to the right of the Group and
controls the dance from there through her drumming and gestures.

3
There are sometimes more children depending on the size of the stage and each individual
performance.
4
I refer to Mrs Budaza as Thandeka during this chapter as it suits this style of descriptive writing
better.
10
 Plate 2
Photographed by Dr Thram (2003)

A young girl dancer on the far right breaks the line and strides out in front of
the rest of the Mafikzolo Dance Group who stand with their arms stretched out in
front of themselves, their hands clasped together with interlocking fingers.

The young girl sings loudly in Xhosa while doing an exaggerated prowl like
walk and gesticulating with her hands by pointing at her eyes and the audience (acting
out what she is saying):
“Sibabonile la bafana besiza nendaba endlini”
“Sibabonile la bafana besiza nendaba endlini”
(Video 15/08/2005).
This means in English that:
“We have seen the young men who have
brought this 'news' (or this matter) into the house”
(Interview 11/10/2005).

As the dancer re-enters the line the whole group starts singing
“Hayayayah” [all]
“Eyo” [the girl on the far right]
“hayayayah” [all]
“Eyo” [the girl on the far right]
“hayayyaya” [all]
11
 “Iyelele” [the girl on the far right]
(Video 15/08/2005).

This sung three times while still standing in formation. On the fourth time, the
“Eyo” is sung loudly by one of the boys, which signals that it is time to start dancing.

Thandeka starts beating the drum “dukduk [pause] dukduk” (Ibid) while they
all sing “Hayayayah” (Ibid) and she pauses during the “Eyo” (Ibid) and “Iyelele”
(Ibid) (which is now sung by one of the boys).

As this happens the whole group starts dancing. They clap their hands to the
beat of the drum whilst kicking their right leg high into the air, first to the front then
the right, continuing in an anti-clockwise direction, pivoting four times times, until
they again kick out to the front. The girls use an exaggerated and very high kick while
the boys lift their right leg, bending it at the knee in a less flamboyant fashion.

This kick is performed whilst the beat pauses and the lone boy singer sings
“Eyo!” (Ibid). In between this when everyone is singing “Hayayayah” (Ibid) and
clapping in unison with the four drum beats, they all stamp their feet with an
exaggerated hip and shoulder movement (their hips swaying from side to side while
their shoulders rotate up and down). During these four movements, coordinated with
the beat, they all rotate 90 degrees into position for the next leg kick.

After having rotated through the full 360 degrees and having completed a final
leg kick towards the front of the stage they jump up in unison and fall into a low
crouch from which they rise up, their right arm extended and pointing, shouting
“Heey!” (Ibid).

They pause in this position while Thandeka performs a slow drum roll and
then ceases.

At this point a boy on the back right-hand corner of the stage starts singing and
moves through the immobile dancers, their right arms raised, to the front of the stage
where the girls are line up. He sings
12
 “Madoda Ndaza ndalhlekelwa intombi” (Ibid).
“Please men I have lost my girl” [the right girl]
(Interview 11/10/2005).

He walks through the girls, bumping them to make sure that they are firm and
thereby that they are virgins. Mrs Budaza explained to me that in Xhosa custom the
virginity of unmarried girls is very important, this is linked to the practice of lobola,
which is the dowry price paid by the father of the groom in the form of cattle.
Virginity very closely linked to the firmness and flexibility of a girl‟s bodily
disposition. Therefore being firm means that they are good girls and that their parents
are looking after them. The young boy looks up their skirts too for the same reason –
to see if they are virgins.

Then the boy returns to his position and they all start singing:
“Ndiboniseni netombi yam, ndalahleka ulwa madoda”
(Video 15/08/2005).
“Please help me find my girl or I have lost the „right‟ girl,
please help me look for her”
(Interview 11/10/2005).

The rest sing

“Saza sathula tina bengasiqondi eyoyo ma Kuba Kunzima”
(Video 15/08/2005).
“We kept quiet because the boys don't understand
because the girls situation in the home is difficult”
(this is because the parents are watching them)
(Interview 11/10/2005).

Then the boys sing

“A yo yo yo!”
(Video 15/08/2005).
“Please come or make away with us”
(but the parents mustn't know)
(Interview 11/10/2005).
13
 The girls look „outside of the house‟. Their arms showing that they are looking
everywhere. They go down onto their haunches showing that they are „hiding from
the parents‟ - so that the parents cannot find them when they are together.

Then the boys sing

“Eyoyo!”
(Video 15/08/2005).
(This is because the boys are happy and
the girls are hiding from their parents)
(Interview 11/10/2005).

Thandeka then starts up the drum playing the same incessant “Doku Doku”
rhythm that the igqira dance to, as the dancers hold their arms up, elbows bent so that
their fingers almost touch under their chins. They stamp their feet in time with the
drum, bringing their elbow and shoulder down with the stamping foot in time with the
drumming. In doing so they rotate 90 degrees, all the time singing. After stamping
both feet they crouch down with their arms thrust forward and raise them selves up
while extending their arms like a bull thrusting it horns into the air.

After completing the full 360 degree rotation the dancers in the front shuffle to
the left of the stage, stamping only one leg now and continuing with the crouching
manoeuvre which incorporates the full arm thrust towards the front of them. They
repeat the move by moving to their right and then end by dropping to their haunches
in unison as the drumming ceases.

Thandeka then walks across the stage and starts singing. She sits on the far
edge of the stage and continues singing while the children join in and start clapping.

She sings
"Siza mbongamgani”
(Video 15/08/2005).
“How are we going to praise the ancestors and the parents”
(Interview 11/10/2005).
14
 “Sambonmagani oyingonyama”
(Video 15/08/2005).
“We will thank them obeying the ancestors and parents
because they are being strong like a lions by have these [traditional Xhosa] traditions”
(Interview 11/10/2005).

The boys then sing

“Eyoyo”
(Video 15/08/2005).
(meaning that they are happy that they have found the „proper‟ girls)
(Interview 11/10/2005).

Thandkeka says that this is part of the lesson that they show respect their
ancestors and their parents for being so strict. This is because they are being taught a
very good lesson.

They all continue to sing and start moving and dancing around the stage in a
slow almost sporadic fashion clapping along with Thandeka as she sings with them.
Suddenly Thandeka shouts
“Aya!”
(Video 15/08/2005).

The dances strike an individual pose and freeze, some crouching and others
standing. They enunciate a loud and strong Xhosa clicks (it‟s a “q” click). They start
stamping their feet out in front of themselves and move back into formation.
Thandeka plays the drum again while the girls stamp their left foot and then their right
foot before performing a pirouette of 360 degrees to face the front again. Some of the
boys do the pirouette while others stamp in time.

The drumming stops and they continue to stamp their feet while making space
for the finale of the courtship dance.

After the space has opened up in the front of the stage one boy and one girl
15
approach each other from either end of the stage. The girl dances extravagantly
showing her self and her skills off. The boy looks her up and down, dancing to the
beat. They do so for a few seconds and then another couple enters the front of the
stage.

Thandeka says that, imaginatively, this part of the dance is when the boys and
girls are alone, away from the protective eyes of their parents. The dance shows that
they are courting, showing themselves to be powerful but they do not touch or break
the rules – showing that they have learnt the lesson in that they respect their ancestors
and their parents. When they dance, as can be seen especially in the last dance they
give each other gifts to show their love for one another.

When I asked if the girl must display herself, Thandeka said “no, she must just
dance in way that she is sure of herself” (Interview 11/10/2005). The boy in turn will
look her over head to toe to see if she is strong and firm in their bodies. The boys also
show that they are sure of themselves and the arm movements often, she says, are
linked to wealth in the form of cattle. A man with cows has „lobola price‟. The last
boy by giving his partner beads is showing proof that he has „cows‟ and that he has
found his love.

In this movement he reaches out and touches the girl on the left hand side of
her face, he then moves his hand towards his chest as if to say that she is in his heart
now. Thandeka says that, in her culture, children are not supposed to kiss (at least not
in front of other people). He then takes some white beads from his neck and gives
them too her, all the while smiling very sweetly.

The courtship gift is called “umnyingo” (Interview 11/10/2005) and is part of

courtship – it implies that it is good to have a love, to give gifts but there must be no
sex. The symbolic importance of the beads is that the exchange of beads is part of the
traditional courtship ritual.

The Spirit of Uhadi5

Situating my research within the broader cultural currents of South Africa, I wish also

5
Video: The Spirit of Uhadi.
16
to discuss the recent phenomenonal success of Thandiswa Mazwai‟s album Zabalaza-
(winner of South Africa‟s Best Female Artist and Best African Contemporary Album
at the SA Music Awards 2005). This is because Thandiswa Mazwai seems to herald a
new or rather bourgeoning consciousness among the (Xhosa) youth of South Africa
for appreciating „their own‟ cultural heritage which is glossed in the political and
media circles as the „African Renaissance‟. This is particularly relevant to the
research at hand because Mrs Budaza is herself a fan of Thandiswa Mazwai's. I gave
this album to Mrs Budaza as a gift and discussed Thandiswa Mazwai's music in terms
of the modern/traditional dualism as well as the rural/urban dichotomies so apparent
in the South African socio-cultural context.

Plate 3.

The picture of Ms Mazwai (above) shows her in Xhosa traditional attire. Ms

Mazwai‟s lyrics on Zabalza encourage young South Africans to search for their roots
through their „culture.‟ Ms Mazwai - formerly of the hugely successful pioneer
Kwaito band „Bongo Muffin‟ - prior to the release of her award winning album
Zabalza journeyed into the depths of rural Transkei to meet and learn from the
custodian of traditional Xhosa music, Madosini Manqina (below) – the doyen of
amaXhosa traditional music.

Plate 4.
17
 Zabalza means to dance as an act of protest, a term used during the political
struggle against Apartheid. The use of this term along with the lyrics, content and
preparation which Ms Mazwai undertook for her award winning album suggests a
new meaning for this term. My interpretation is that it means “go back to your roots;
you are African, search your culture and you will find sound morals and strength to
believe in who you are.”

In my research Westernisation, Urbanisation and Modernisation in South

Africa seem to be blamed by many of the older generation Xhosas for a breakdown in
the moral fibre of the youth in South Africa. Ms Mazwai seems to bridging this gap
and pointing to a broader recognition of African culture - this time though from the
side of the youth and not the elders.

The lessons she learnt in the Transkei included “respect for others and self,
recognizing the spiritual realm as the true source of the music, and the key role of
nature in the creation of music” (Web 1).

Thandiswa Mazwai says, in her video Spirit of Uhadi, that as an urbanised

Xhosa person she has no information of what it means to be a (traditional) Xhosa and
is afraid that her African experience is a romanticised one.

In contrast to this, in the same video, Madosini Manqina (above) says that she
is a woman of the past and as such she was taught about respect and morals which are
so important to her conception of Xhosa traditions. She went on to say that whenever
she plays music she has sweet dreams. It is her ancestors who have brought this music
to her and music is a spiritual expression of her appreciation of her ancestors. She sees
modern urban culture as being disconnected from the original Xhosa religion.

The rural idyll, symbolic of traditional life, seems to be romanticised in urban culture
and is becoming more prominent as the search for history in the new South Africa
progresses under the auspices of the African Renaissance. There are however
significant cleavages which will not easily be resolved in the new South Africa.

Briefly stated, the postcolonial (-Apartheid) liberation is premised largely

18
upon liberal values – South Africa has one of the most liberal constitutions in the
world. This liberal view however to some extent clashes with the traditional
communitarian views held by traditional Nguni cultures, such as the Xhosa. Therefore
there is a new co-existence in the new South Africa which is being played out – it
may be being played out in a new context but its based on the past.

This is evident in the dichotomy of Red and School Xhosa discussed initially
by Phillip Mayer‟s (1961) following his research in an urban location near East
London in his book: Townsmen or Tribesmen. Conservatism and the Process of
Urbanization in a South African City. The so-called „Red‟ Xhosa groups
conservatively held onto traditional Xhosa values while the so-called „School‟ Xhosa
progressively aligned themselves with so-called modernity. Mayer (1961) attempted
to show that the urbanisation of the Xhosa migrants was based upon rural ideologies.
There was a third grouping identified by Mayer (1961), these were the town born
people.

This then sets the parameters within which my interpretation of the broad
socio-political currents is situated. Madosini Manqina could be glossed as a „Red‟
Xhosa, Mrs Budaza as a „School Xhosa‟ and Ms Mazwai as an urban born Xhosa – if
we followed Mayer (1961) in term of education and place of birth. These terms have
however been criticised by Magubane (1971) and Asad (1973) for not taking into
reaction to domination into consideration; and also for ignoring hybridity and gender
in the construction of identities by Bank (2002) in his Phd. Xhosa in town revisited:
from urban anthropology to an anthropology of urbanism. Therefore I use these
terms here with reservation and hope that they may serve for the purposes of this
research as a (hermeneutic) gloss for understanding differing orientations towards
cultural conservatism. For a more in depth (emic) perspective I have interviewed Mrs
Budaza extensively regarding the dance and its connotations regarding cultural
production in Rhini, Grahamstown.

Mrs Budaza‟s life history

Thandeka6 is a school teacher but her real passion is Xhosa cultural practices and the
performance of traditional Xhosa dance. Thandeka, as an igqira, is very proud of her

6
Please note that I use Thandeka here again instead of Mrs Budaza.
19
traditional background and has a very strong belief in the power of her ancestors, she
says – they saved her life when she had meningitis. In recounting her miraculous
recovery from meningitis she explained how when she was hospitalised in Port
Elizabeth that her two daughters thought she was going to die. However one night she
had a powerful dream. Her ancestors came to her and told her that she was not sick.
She described the experience:
“I was sleeping ..[in the hospital,] my grandmother came to
me and said: “You are not sick, you don‟t have Meningitis,
go and… [continue with] your amagqira thing, your
isangoma thing, don‟t eat those tablets and all those kinds of
things because you are going to die [if you continue], and
please go and look for a certain animal, „don‟t eat the meat
just drink the soup of it, as it comes from the [ancestors,
drink it]….while it is hot, and you will be cured‟” (Interview
05/05/2005).

She describes her cure as “very strange and amazing… [and now she doesn‟t]
even need tablets in [her] house” (Ibid). She said that at the time when she stopped
taking the medication and left the hospital that her daughters thought she had gone
mad. After her ancestors told her to stop taking the 'western medicine' and leave the
hospital she experienced an even greater respect for the ancestors and found the
courage to progress with the difficulties associated with training to become a fully
initiated igqira.

Thandeka‟s parents are both Xhosa, however her paternal grandmother was a
Zulu from Inkandla in Pietermaritzburg. She therefore does incorporate some of the
Zulu ancestral dances into her repertoire to honour these ancestors, however self-
consciously remains a „proper‟ Xhosa (because of her parents).

Thandeka seems to have been raised largely by her maternal grandmother or at

least attributes much of her understanding of traditional Xhosa culture to her. During
her childhood she was “very poor” (Ibid). After leaving school in 1978 she entered a
nurses training college but had to leave because she became pregnant. She married
and after the birth of her second daughter she wanted to go back nursing. Her husband
was however not happy with her being away for night shifts. Thandeka explains this
by stating that in those days she was “so beautiful” (Ibid) and so her husband wanted
her home. She and her husband settled on a primary school teacher.

20
 Tragedy struck when Thandeka‟s husband died. Thandeka, as a widow, in July
this year completed a final ceremony, which involved slaughtering a cow, in
consideration of her late husband.

Although Thandeka is a church goer, she says that it is really a „Western thing‟
and that she really believes in the ancestors. She perceives her membership in the
church, at least when speaking to me, a relatively „functional‟ thing. She says that she
has to be a member of the church essentially for the purpose of building and
maintaining a social network (my terminology not hers). Therefore the church is there
so that the children don't suffer if she passes away and also because burial is very
important in contemporary Xhosa life – these very important functions would
according to Thandeka not be taken care of if one was not part of the church.

To emphasise this point she, on a separate occasions, reiterated this by telling

a story about an occasion when she had an argument with an overtly Christian teacher
at her school who criticised her for teaching the children about the ancestors instead
of the Christian God. Thandeka responded by saying to this person that she had never
spoken to God, but she had spoken to her ancestors. Furthermore the ancestors were
„here‟ according to Thandeka before the white man came. So she sees Christianity as
an essentially Western thing and therefore not really empowering to Xhosa people
like herself.

The importance of dance for Thandeka

In my extensive interviews with Thandeka one of the major themes which came out
was that the enjoyment of the experience of the dance was a key element for her. She
associates books and writing as part of 'western culture' and in her experience of being
a teacher says that they are boring. For Thandeka, to present a cultural dance is to a
very large extent associated with the inculcating7 of traditional customs in her dancers
and their audiences – it should therefore, because of her own experiences of learning
these customs, be fun for the dancers and the audiences.

7
I use the word inculcate strategically here because Thandeka dislikes her teaching of the dance being
associated with teaching or instruction – which she sees as a „western thing.‟
21
 She says that the parents of the children in the Mafikizolo Dance Group
greatly enjoy their children dancing and especially learning the traditional customs.
Most these parents are have become 'urbanised' fairly recently she says and therefore
they appreciate the value of 'the old customs' far more than some of the Xhosa people
who have been 'urbanised' for generations.

The group practices up to four days per week when they have a performance
planned on the weekend. On the two occasions when I experience the courtship dance
there were six boys and seven girls in the group - however Thandeka likes to include
all the children who want to participate. Therefore trips or excursions include only
those who have attended practice most of the rehearsals.

Clan identity
The learning of one's clan name is very important for Thandeka, as for all
traditionally orientated Xhosa people, because of the particular Xhosa exogamous
practice of not marrying within the clan. It is for her a disgrace not to know your clan
name if you are Xhosa because this can result in the practice of incest.

She therefore teaches her dancers to know their clan name and furthermore to
dance not for themselves but for their ancestors. In this way the knowing of one's clan
name is a prerequisite to knowing one's ancestors. Thandeka says: “When you are on
stage your ancestors change you, and people can see when you are imitating... you are
not supposed to do something that is not you” (Interview: 13/05/2005).

This last statement clearly shows that in her estimation, for a Xhosa person,
'who they are' is directly linked to the clan and therefore to the ancestors and there it
is for this reason that dancing for your clan and your ancestors is what is meant by
being one's self on stage.

This is part of the reason why Thandeka insists on using the traditional drum
and focuses upon inculcating traditional customs in her dance choreography. She
made this point very clear when she criticised style of performance of another local
Grahamstown dance group whom both Thandeka and I both witnessed at the Albany
Museum‟s 150th anniversary celebrations.
22
 She took exception to the style of performance of the Thathawena Dance
Group (Appendix Video: N. Thathawena Dancers: 43:02 to 53:29) because as she
said, “They were beating a conga. That man is imitating what I am doing. That is not
the same, it cannot be the same – it‟s totally different because – it‟s not bad – do you
get my point” (Interview 10/09/2005).

Upon further questioning it became evident that the gentleman responsible for
the dance group was born and bred in Grahamstown. He attended University at Fort
Hare (about 120 kilometres from Grahamstown) and he had done courses in drama
there. Thandeka clearly didn't like his style of presentation. This was because there
was far too much dialogue in the performance and the children didn't tell the story
through the dance – that is through movement rather than dialogue. It was therefore
far more like a play in the western sense than a traditional Xhosa dance in her sense –
which is based upon Xhosa customs.

The message of the Thathawena Dance Group performance focussed upon the
social ills in township life rather than an invocation of traditional Xhosa practices.
The lead actor in the play stands on the stage and tells the audience how she was
fathered by a rapist and that her mother had died of AIDS – clearly pointing to social
ills in current „township life‟. She goes on to say that she was raped by her uncle
before the dancing starts and she is incorporated into the group by being invited to
dance with them. The meta- text of the play is that children who are abused should
talk about it and then they will be free from the ills of child abuse and be able to
dance.

There are a number of reasons why Thandeka sees this dance as totally
different to The Courtship Dance of the Mafikizolo dance group. To start with, the
songs and dialogue of the play are overtly English and the ills are said to come from a
breakdown in the moral fibre of the community. This can be seen in the themes of
rape, child abuse and murder. The solution offered by the play is that there should be
vigilante action taken against the perpetrators - that is the child abusers should be
castrated.

23
 In contradistinction to this, The Courtship Dance of the Mafikizolo Dance
Group is about social relationships between children. It is couched in gestures and
songs that are particular to the Xhosa culture. It is a lesson on how young boys and
girls should behave but most importantly it is a demonstration and not a lesson. It is
loosely based upon traditional customs and performed in a Xhosa idiom. As such it is
at once a practical demonstration and a construction of traditional values being
inculcated in the contemporary milieu.

For Thandeka each and every dance has a meaning; it tells someone about a
ceremony or a certain custom. In the case of the Courtship Dance it could be said to
be based upon the intojane ritual where as can be seen in the video Mama Tofu, from
Mooi Plaas, says that it is a place where young boys and girls go to learn exactly what
they can and can't do with regards to sexual relations with the opposite sex (Appendix
Video: C. Mama Tofu talking about children‟s dances and songs (10:14 to 12:35)).

For Thandeka one of the key elements of the dance is that according to Xhosa
performance tradition and custom people should be “shown and not told” (Interview
05/05/2005). This points out the problems she has with the staging of the Thathawena
Dance Group‟s performance – it tells people what to do instead of showing them.
Thankdeka chastises this form of dance as “boring” (Ibid) because it is a form of
teaching and therefore does not conform to Xhosa traditions.

In the Courtship dance the explosive thrust the girls do with their arms is
supposed to tell everyone how clean they are – meaning that they have not been
touched by the boys and are therefore virgins. It is also a bodily disposition orientated
towards empowering girls to fight for the integrity of their bodies. Thandeka says: “It
is our own way of checking - it is a way of looking at the little one – to make sure no-
one is touching her, so that she is protected until her parents get ilobola” (Interview
20/05/2005). She reiterated this by asserting that:
“You can see, really, they are not afraid to do it because I have already
taught them the meaning of it. They will just shew! [meaning that they
thrust their arms up explosively] And that – don't touch me, but
through the dance [as if to say] I am proud – ya – don't come too
close” (Interview 10/09/2005).

Of the other group she says:

24
 “The other group is a little boring because they are telling you
something. They want to speak but according to our [Xhosa] culture,
there were no schools, no writing, we were doing everything through
dance. So that is why when you are choreographing a dance – the
audience must learn out of experiencing the dance what the meaning is
– you mustn't tell a person this dance means this and this and this,
...unless that particular person come and asks you. But your action must
tell [the audience what the meaning is]. It is going to be a boring thing
when you pause and say blah blah blah, it must be interesting, you must
be interesting, you must attract people to your custom and show them
your custom and tell them through dance” (Ibid).

Thandeka often spoke about how, traditionally, Xhosa people would

communicate through dance – that is through movement and actions, in some cases
more than with words. She said that “in the old days people would talk to each other
through dance” (Interview 13/05/2005). She says that this can happen with her group
today when they have been dancing together for a long time, perhaps a year or so. She
calls this particular form of communication “communication without words” (Ibid)

She explains that her group “communicates on stage through dance and faces,
without words. They learn my face – if I say please put a smile on your face – I just
look and smile, while I am dancing I will keep my eyes on her while smiling”
(Interview 10/09/2005).

The importance of virginity

The Xhosa tradition stipulates that there should be no sex before marriage. This is a
strong feature of 'the message' of the dance. The dance teaches the boy to approach
the girl and the girl to 'push' him away. This was also taught in the cultural classes in
Xhosa which I took as part of my Xhosa 1 language class at Rhodes University
(2005). The lecturer clearly stated that the lowest rank in Xhosa society (traditionally)
is that of the boy (inkhwenkwe). As an uninitiated man, boys are foot loose and fancy
free. Therefore it probably does not really make sense to guard the chastity of the
young boys because they are believed to be very wild – that is in the traditional or
imaginative sense – but not necessarily in practice.

Traditional understanding of sexual relations is also very closely tied to the

understandings of the cattle kraal which is the symbolic home to the ancestors as well
as the cattle. The cattle are symbolic of wealth in rural Xhosa life because they are
very closely associated with dowry price (lobola) which is paid to the father of the
25
bride by the bridegroom and his family (Appendix Video: G. Zinzi in the Kraal
speaks about traditional values ('We are those People')16:14 to 20:56). Young men
traditionally had access to cattle and therefore wives only through two sources. The
first was through their fathers and the second was through cattle raids on
neighbouring clans or tribes (McAllister 1985: 130).

Upon the advent of colonialism and capitalism there was a third avenue,
migrant labour which leads to the cash economy (Ibid). I am introducing these issues
here because I believe that it could be fairly closely associated with the sexual politics
between the young boys and girls as it is traditionally conceived. This is because in
traditional life the young boy was set the task of look after and herding the cattle
belonging to his father. If he was brave enough he would go out and raid cattle to get
his own when the time came (Ibid). So symbolically he is imaginatively predisposed
to search or seek out the women and take them if he can. Clegg (1982) speaks of the
Zulu pastoral and agricultural idioms as being directly incorporated into Zulu dance
aesthetics as well (Clegg 1982).

I questioned Thandeka about the notion the women being represented as, and
indeed representing themselves imaginatively, as 'cattle' (in the best possible way of
course). She confirmed this and said that indeed many of the arm movements of the
dancers are symbolic of the cattle‟s horns. Also there is a strong linkage between the
domestic sphere of women and the cattle in the Kraal of the ancestors. The man who
is abusive of women is also symbolically associated with breaking into the cattle kraal
to steal the cattle (imaginatively women). The women however are not seen as
passive objects as they can figuratively 'gouge any potential interloper'. Furthermore
as they are central to the existence of the homestead and associated with wealth
(cattle) they should, according to traditional values, be constantly watched over (as
the cattle are watched over by the young boys and men in the traditional rural
economy).

The metaphor of course does not stop there because the virtue of the girl is tied
to the virtue of the father and the ancestors. Women represent wealth and their
protection is integral to the traditional symbolic economy. In the video Mama Tofu
spells out the „traditional line‟ when she says that any infringement upon the girls
26
virtue will be compensated by livestock and further more the boy is also disgraced
(Appendix Video: A. Mama Tofu talking about Virginity Testing and AIDS in
Mooiplaas 00:00 to 08:07).

In modern times HIV/AIDS along with teenage pregnancy are also a very
important reason for encouraging the observance of traditional customs because
sexual abstinence is promoted as a means to avoid HIV/AIDS.

As an igqira Thandeka claims to be able to tell by certain bodily signs that a

child has been practicing in pre-marital sexual relations. Thandeka speaks of a way in
which she can see if one of her dancers is being abused or if they are having under-
age or premarital sexual relations. Unlike Mama Tofu (Ibid) Thandeka does not and
would not use the method of penetrative testing to check if young girls were virgins or
not. Thandeka instead spoke of checking the girls‟ virginity by inspecting the specific
surfaces in their bodies, specifically their breasts and behind their knees, and also the
general disposition which is premised upon firmness of the body (especially the
buttocks) and the suppleness of their movement while dancing.

Thandeka spoke of when she was a girl, saying that her virtue was very closely
guarded by her grand parents. She told me that she would have to squat down before
them every single night and they would visually inspect her pubic area for any signs
that she had not only had penetrative sex but any kind of sexual interaction. She says
that in the old days parents guarded the girls of the family very closely. The visual
signs seem to structurally associate firmness with virginity and flabbiness or softness
with sexually promiscuous behaviour.

Thandeka says that checking for virginity through penetration is a Zulu custom
(although my own research has indicated otherwise (Ibid)), and to her knowledge
penetration was banned by civil law in South Africa and so she would not consider
practicing it for fear of criminal charges8.

Thandeka says that when the children know who they are, that is they know

8
Children's Bill which effectively banns penetrative virginity testing was recently passed by
the National Assembly (Mthethwa B., & Khumalo S., 2005)
27
their clan name and understand about the ancestors, and then they will be too proud of
their bodies to meddle with premarital sex. It is therefore learning about traditional
Xhosa customs that they can be free to love one another, having a boyfriend or
girlfriend is very strongly encouraged. However for children there are restrictions,
they should love one another and give each other gifts but they should not have sex
because aside from breaking with tradition, they would be at risk in terms of teenage
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, of which HIV/AIDS is of the most
serious concern.

The bridging motto of the Mafikizolo Dance Group is “Siya embo” (Interview
20/05/2005) (We are going home). This is a forthright statement of their intention to
hold onto their traditional customs and to live in the lifeworld which is associated
with the ancestors and the clans – even in this increasingly globalised and western
influenced world. Thandeka says that “before the white people came to this country
[]...people were full of customs and traditions ... it was 100% good” (interview
10/09/2005).

Promoting Traditional Practices

Many Xhosa practices and customs for Thandeka are self-consciously contrasted with
'the West'. For instance Thandeka says that there was “no sickness in the old days”
(Ibid), before the encroachment of western traditions. The oft stated pronouncement
of “you must respect your culture” (Ibid) (presumably because it is yours) is often
stated as a matter of fact. Thandeka's recovery from meningitis through listening to
her ancestors is a central tenet of her call to go back to traditional ways. This includes
her practice of never taking 'western medicine' and is part of her path as a fully
initiated igqira.

Thandeka's Personal Ambitions

Thandeka is an ambitious person who does not feel particularly drawn to teaching –
she would rather be a full time dance teacher. This has lead to her not performing
without being paid. She however does share the meagre income that she has been able
to earn with the children and at this stage has to address issues such as transportation
money, uniforms for the dancers. She berates her financial situation and is keen to
supplement her income. Her attempts at getting sponsorship for the group have all
28
ended in failure so far.

Core Teachings
According to Thandeka her core teachings are “respect your culture, respect yourself
and love each other” (Interview 05/05/2005) - if these teachings are adhered to then
“no-one will be powerless, everyone will be powerful” (Ibid).

When the children dance they must have their clan first in their mind. If they
do then they will be powerful. They must tell the ancestors that they are going to
dance – dancing is implicitly about communicating with their ancestors. The children
are also taught to trust, love, have and show affection (Thandeka has nicknames for
the children like “chicken and pumpkin” (Interview 20/05/2005) which she says they
love). In incorporating “mind, heart, body and soul” (Ibid) into the practice of the
dance Thandeka says that she can see when something wrong with one of “her
children” (Ibid) because as she says: “when there is a problem with one of them [the
child] cannot dance” (Ibid)- she can therefore tell something is wrong by looking at
the body.

There are two kinds of ancestors; the people of the forest and the water spirits.
It is the forest spirits which Thandeka says “give power to the dance” (Ibid). She says
that “their power, their energy, their minds have a certain way of healing [which] is
different to [that of the 'west']” (Ibid).

Another point of interest here is that Thandeka says that when she or the
children are dancing they have a combination of “many people [in themselves]”
(Interview 11/10/2005) and that “the ancestors are changing you while you are on the
stage” (Ibid). This being so she claims to be able to see when someone is imitating a
dance instead of embodying it. This seems to indicate that the dance is not an
expression of an intellectual and objectivist epistemology, as in the west, where
knowledge is a static 'thing' which can only be gained through separation from the
subject. In this sense the traditional dance escapes the Cartesian dualism inherent in
the construction of knowledge because doing the dance is a constitution of the
knowledge and not a representation of an intellectual idea of it.

29
 The background of the dance is then very important because the teachings of
the importance of clan identity are meant to undermine the experience Thandeka
associates with modernity and urbanisation, that is of being “a floating human being”
(Ibid). She says she is telling people everything about what that has happened to black
children since they have lost their traditions. This she said when we spoke extensively
about Thandiswa Mazwai and her journey back toward tradition that the urban
experience of being a “floating human being” (Ibid) is because
“they [i.e Xhosa people] don't know themselves, they don't even know
their clan name, but if you ask them about George Michael or Michael
Jackson, Barry White...that‟s what [Thandiswa Mazwai] is trying to
say. She is just like me, she is full of joloza” (Interview 10/09/2005).

Joloza can be glossed as the spirit of the ancestors.

She attributes the ills of modern life to the destruction of the traditional
lifeworld with its close association to the ancestors. She said:
“To tell you the truth, blacks now have forgotten about their ancestors
– that is why so many bad things are happening – during the olden
days, young girls were not treated badly – because they were
respecting the ancestors and the clan name – their homes and their
parents – but now they are being taken up by the western culture –
they don't even know themselves – sometimes they sleep with their
boyfriends, with the same clan – which was not there before. That was
called “mbulo”: incest. [But t]hey don't know the western culture, they
don't have a background in it. I don't know why they are doing it
(Ibid).

Many of the dancer‟s parents have been brought up in the rural areas and they
are very supportive of Thandeka's efforts in inculcating traditional values. A direct
correlation between Thandiswa Mazwai's romantic quest for the ancestors and those
espoused here in Grahamstown is not possible, however I do feel that they are both an
expression of a reaction against domination – this term, „domination,‟ is necessarily
vague here because the respective protagonists come from vastly different lifeworlds.

This domination, originally attributed to the Colonialist and Apartheid

regimes, seems now to have been rearticulated in the current milieu as a reaction
against global oppression by the North (Europe and America) over the South (the
developing world). It is couched in the currently fashionable idiom of indigenous
knowledge – although it is not necessarily a conscious representation of it. It is rather
a construction derived from the habitus in which the forces of domination are evident
30
to the individuals in an experientially lived fashion.

This is evident in that Thandeka asserts that when she dances on stage she says
that it is her ancestors who are dancing and that
“even the movement, the variants on the stage [are not repeatable and
she]... will be unable to repeat the dance, because [she doesn't] know
it [i.e. The dance]. My ancestors are dragging me to do it – even when
I smile it is different” (Interview 11/10/2005).

She went on to say that, in her own words:

I have got a funny thing, if I am dancing on the stage...I can dance for
four hours without stopping because my ancestors are pushing me,
they are making me so energetic...In my immune I don't feel tired.
They give me power when I am on stage because they want the
audience to see what I have got.. they can give you courage and
health. When I am on stage I don't feel or think about time, its in me I
don't even see time” [emphasis added] (Ibid).

In some ways I see this reconstruction of traditional values by inculcating

them through dance as a way to reconstitute a lifeworld which emphasises cyclical
time and shifts the order of being out of the scope of „western‟ domination. This is
why, perhaps, Thandeka asserts that before the white man came that everything was
perfect.

Following this argument, it is evident that the ontological grounding of the

performance in the idiom of being for the clan and the ancestors is an instantiation of
a traditional Xhosa lifeworld where time is cyclical and the self is reconstituted as
being a non-central locus of being (that is as opposed to the Enlightenment tradition
where innovation and creativity is posited to arise form the genius or muse which is
the spiritual essence of the disembodied self).

Therefore because of her training as an igqira, she is able to see if the children
are also no longer „seeing time‟9. It is based upon her own experience of dancing and
the experience of time as not being an objective 'thing.' She says that she has the
ability to make her fellow dancers feel the same way as she does:
“I tell you with my eyes and my body – and my blood will go straight
to you without you knowing it, by looking at me you will just catch it

9
„Seeing time‟ is meant here as a gloss on the modern idiom of constantly marking time which was not
available to the extent it was before the clock and was not as prevalent before the factory and
industrialisation.
31
 immediately, and absorb the heat from me. My kids are like that, even
if we are tired – when I say to them lets go and dance, I will look at
them and they will feel the same” (Ibid).

Thandeka says she has tried to teach teachers to teach the dance the way she
does to other teachers but says that they cannot get it, she doesn't know why but that
you shouldn't teach in the first place – “you should rather be a dancer, love them,
don't be harsh or rude, however you must be strict and disciplined, they must know
that you love them and they must get that love” (Interview 05/05/2005). This points
toward the intersubjective experience of 'living in another lifeworld' where the
ontological basis being is shifted in terms of an experience of time and
communication is intersubjectively embodied rather than disembodied and
objectified.

She reiterated this point when she insisted that one must remember that the
children have ancestors too. She said that the children often do the dance in their own
way, this is because their ancestors want them to do it that way. This is why she does
not see herself as a conventional teacher. It is because the knowledge in the dance is
built up intersubjectively – it is the dancing of an attitude realised in an embodied
fashion.

Highlighting the four things for the dance to go well: mind, heart, body and
blood, emphasises that the child multi-dimensionally and multi-focally constructs the
dance. To this end she said that to dance, the children must be free, “if they are free
and comfortable they will do it 100%” (Interview 13/05/2005) but of they are
chastised or criticised (in other words objectified) “they won‟t make it” (Ibid). She
went on to say:
“I don't say „you are wrong‟ – the children get discouraged [by that]. I
take my heart and give it to them. I change their hearts to me...if you
are „one‟ then you will feel it in its full force. So it‟s like that. When
they make a mistake I don't tell them stop but rather to do it in a
confident way so that no-one will know it‟s a mistake” (Ibid).

This then shows that unless a child has the confidence to be free and
dance, instead of being chastised and constrained, they cannot succeed in
constructing the dance multi-dimensionally and multi-focally.

32
 When I asked her if she could teach white children she said that there is no
difference between a white child and a black child. If she is going to teach a white
child she will sleep and her ancestors will tell her what to do with that child, what
kind of dance she should teach. In a mixed group there must be a dance for each
group, so that all can have their ancestors accepted - then she said, there will be
power. When she taught the white child, she had a dream about a dance before she
met him and the day she met him she realised that this dance was meant for him.

Conclusion
The dance shows, Thandeka said, that the dancers/children know their background,
they know the meaning of the dance and why they have been doing it. It means they
must love each other but they must not have sex, they should respect each other.

Thandeka said that this was not about AIDS, it is about not having sex before
marriage, however because it is important to have a boyfriend or girlfriend they
should love each other, give each other gifts but not have sex. If you don't have a
boyfriend or girlfriend, she said, then they call you Ibhulu or istuman (derogatory
terms).

She went on to say that sex is also dangerous and therefore when they link it to
AIDS they can see the dangers. In her days it was good to do this dance even before
AIDS because it was her culture. In those days they had the intonjane practice which
taught young girls how to behave with regard to sexual practices. Part of the old
intojane courtship ritual was that the youths would have to sleep in the forest together.
Here the girl was expected to “push the boy away” (Interview 13/05/2005). Thandeka
would often call it “that pushy pushy thing” (Ibid).

The moral lesson of the dance is in part that children should be full of
themselves as a person; they should have confidence. Xhosa traditional dance, as
Thandeka knows it, is about showing yourself, how fit you are, how clean you are,
how unique you are.

By looking at a person's ability you can tell if they are powerful. She reiterated
that opening your mouth you lose power, you should show strength through using
33
your body, being energetic - your body should say:
“„I am a virgin, you are not going to get me‟ and the dance must be
interesting and have meaning, you need to tell the people your custom
through dance – even if the audience doesn't really understand, they
will feel it” (Interview 20/05/2005).

Thandeka has been teaching Xhosa dance to „her children‟ since 1996 so this
is not part of a fashionable return to Xhosa culture as discussed under the rubric of
Thandiswa Mazwai. However initial research suggests that her philosophies show a
close correlation – she is a great fan of Ms Mazwai‟s herself. If this trend, which can
be seen through the acclaim for Thandiswa Mazwai‟s recent music, continues, then
the notions of what traditional Xhosa culture really is will become all the more
contested as the increasing penetration of commercialisation occurs.

Researching the performance of „Xhosa Culture‟ through „The Courtship

Dance‟ of the „Mafikizolo Dance Group‟ has I believe shed some light upon this
broader social phenomenon. That phenomenon can be glossed here as „moral
regeneration through returning to the ways of the past‟. Mrs Budaza describes the
meaning of her dance as “siya embo” (let‟s return home). I take „home‟ to be the
lifeworld of traditional Xhosa values.

The Courtship Dance can be seen in this fashion to be at once a construction

and a constitution of an interpretation of a traditional way of being in the world which
is also a reaction to broader social processes of the domination and delegitimation
which tends to invalidate a traditionally orientated life world.

The allusions to virginity are at once traditionally inspired and instrumental in

their orientation as they address current issues in society in terms of HIV/AIDS and
teenage pregnancy as well as broader issues associated with urbanisation,
modernisation and westernisation. It is therefore impossible to determine the locus of
the inception of this dance because it is by being traditional, that is being inspired by
the ancestors and dreams, which places this dance beyond the instrumental rational
understanding upon which most western thought is premised. On the other hand Mrs
Budaza herself acknowledges that she has no choice but to live in the current world
and so is also a self conscious and rational actor in terms of the schemes and strategies
she employs to constitute her lifeworld with this world, constrained as she is by
34
external realities which impinge on her choices.

Through the dance she can, however, construct a hybrid notion of what she
conceives her ideal world to be – this is then constituted in the dance. According to
her epistemology with regards to the grounds of knowledge production, as I have
interpreted them, it is fitting that this should be through an embodied expression in
which knowledge is intersubjective. This why it is important to “show and not tell”
(Interview 05/05/2005) the meaning of the dance. „Showing‟ here means, within the
framework of this discussion, that knowledge is subjective and embodied and
therefore it is a waste of time to objectify the meaning of the dance, for Mrs Budaza,
because knowledge cannot stand alone in the world but can only exist within the
relations between people (and the Ancestors).

(Words 11 576)
References:
Books and Journal articles

Asad, T., (ed.) 1973. Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter. London: Ithaca
Press.

Bank, L.J., 2002. Xhosa in town revisited: from urban anthropology to an

anthropology of urbanism. PhD Thesis: University of Cape Town.

Bourdieu, P., 1977a. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Bourdieu, P., 1990. The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Clegg, J., 1982. An examination of the Umzansi dance style. ILAM: 4th Symposium
on Ethnomusicology.

Drewal, M., 1991. The State of Research on Performance in Africa. African Studies
Review, 34, 3, 1-64.

Geertz C., 1973. The Interpretation of Culture. NY: Basic Books.

McAllister, P., 1985. Beasts to Beer Pots: Migrant Labour and Ritual Change in
Willovale, Transkei. African Studies, 45, 4, 171-197.

35
Magubane, B., 1971. A Critical Look at Indices Used in the Study of Social Change in
Africa. Current Anthropology, 12, 4-5, 419-446.

Mayer, P., 1961. Townsmen or Tribesmen. Conservatism and the Process of

Urbanization in a South African City. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

Titon, J. T., 1997. Knowing Fieldwork. [In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives
for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology. Edited by Barz, G. F., & Cooley, T. J., pp.
87-100. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.]

Rice, T., 1997. Toward a Mediation of Field Methods and Field Experience in
Ethnomusicology. [In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork
in Ethnomusicology. Barz, G. F., & Cooley, T. J., (eds.) pp. 101-120. New
York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.]

Shelemay, K. K., 1997. The Ethnomusicologist, Ethnographic Method, and the

Transmission of Tradition. [In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for
Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology. Barz, G. F., & Cooley, T. J., (eds.) pp. 189-
204. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.]

Shutz A., & Luckmann T., 1973. The Structures of the Life-World. (Trans.) Zaner
R.M., & Engelhardt T.) Evanston: Northwestern University Press, and
London: Heinemann.

Waterman, C., 1993. Juju' History: Toward a Theory of

Sociomusical Practice. [In Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History.
Blum, S., Bohlman, P., and Newman, D., (eds.) pp. 49-67. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.]

News Papers
Ngcobo L., 2005. Virginity testing: 'an African solution to a pressing African
problem.' Pietermaritzburg: The Witness, 10 October. [Cited in
<http://www.ifp.org.za/Releases/101005apr.htm> accessed 28/10/2005.]
Mthethwa B., & Khumalo S., 2005. Uproar as state moves to ban virginity testing:
Bill said to tamper with the heart of African tradition. Joahannesburg: The
Sunday Times, July 10. [Cited in
<http://www.aegis.com/news/suntimes/2005/ST050705.html> accessed

36
 28/10/2005]
Internet sources
Web 1: <http://www.music.org.za/artist.asp?id=172> [accessed 06/06/2005]

Pictures
Plate 1: <http://www.sacape.co.za/im_ecw_geo/grahamstown.jpg> (foonote # 1)
[accessed 28/10/2005].

Plate 2: Dr Thram, D., 2003. (foonote # 4)

Plate 3. <http://www.music.org.za/artist.asp?id=172> (footnote # 8) [accessed

28/10/2005]

Plate 4: <http://www.gatewayofafrica.com/artists/biography/196.html> (footnote # 9)

[accessed 28/10/2005]

Videos
The Spirit of Uhadi, 2004, (video recording) Mazwai, T., Groenewald L. (director)
Viewed on SABC 1, 22:00 (+- 1Hr) Monday, 16 February 2004.

Video recording 15/03/2005: Buleka Primary School, Cinstsa East. S., Hardman. 2
hrs.

Video recording 16/03/2005: Mama Tofu and Zinzi‟s homestead in Mooi Plaas.
Stuart Hardman. 1 ½ hrs.

Video recording 15/08/2005: Albany Museum, Grahamstown. Stuart Hardman. 2 ½

hrs.

Video recording: Appendix: Footage from the field. 2005. Stuart Hardman. 1 hr 20
minutes

Interviews
Interview: 03/05/2005, Thandeka Budaza, telephone, Grahamstown.
Interview: 05/05/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.
Interview: 13/05/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.
Interview 20/05/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.
Interview 01/07/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.
Interview 10/09/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.
Interview 11/10/2005, Thandeka Budaza‟s home, Rhini Location, Grahamstown.

37
Additional Sources (not cited in the text)
Blacking J., 1983. Movement and Meaning: Dance in Social Anthropological
Perspective. Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research.
1, 1.

Blacking J., 1986. To Dance is Human: A theory of non-verbal communication; The

performer audience connection: emotion to metaphor in dance and society
Ethnomusicology, 30, 3, pp. 584-587.

Blacking J., & Howard K., 1991. John Blacking: An interview conducted and edited
by Keith Howard. Ethnomusicology, 35, 1, pp. 55-76.

Bovin M., 1988. Provocation Anthropology: Bartering Performance in Anthropology.

TDR, 32, 1, pp. 21-41

Coplan D., 1986. Performance, Self-Definition, and Social Experience in Oral Poetry
of Sotho Migrant Workers. African Studies Review, 29, 1, pp. 29-40.

Desmond J. C. 1997. Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance. Durham,

NC: Duke University Press.

Desmond J. C., 1994. Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies.
Cultural Critique, 26, pp. 33-63.

Drewel M. T. 1997. The politics of Cultural Performance. American Anthropologist,

New Series, 99, 2, pp. 416-417.

Eastman E. A., 1986. Nyimbo za Watoto: The Swahili Child's Worldview. Ethos, 14,
2, pp. 144-173.

Elkin F., 1958. Socialisation and the Presentation of Self. Marriage and Family
Living, 20, 4, pp. 320- 325.

Farnell B., 1999. Moving Bodies, Acting Selves. Annual Review of Anthropology, 28,
pp. 341-373.

Graham L. R., 1994. Dialogic Dreams: Creative Selves Coming into Life in the Flow
of Time. American Ethnologist, 21, 4, pp. 723-745.

Hanna J. L., 1965. Africa's New Traditional Dance. Ethnomusicology, 9, 1, pp. 13-21.

Hanna J. L., 1983. Dance and the Child. Current Anthropology, 24, 2, pp. 222-224.

Hanna J. L., 1973. African Dance: Continuity and Change. Yearbook of the
International Folk Music Council, 5, pp. 165-174.

Hanna J. L., 1968. Field Research in African Dance: Opportunities and Continuities.
Ethnomusicologist, 12, 1, pp. 101-106.

38
Hanna J. L. 1979. Movements toward the Understanding of Humans through the
Study of Dance. Current Anthropology, 20, 2, pp. 313-339.

Hanna J. L. 1975. African Art in Motion: Icon and Act. ASA Review of Books, 1, pp.
5-9.

Hanna J. L., 1980. African Rhythm and African Sensibility. Aesthetics and Social
Action in African Musical Idioms. ASA Review of Books, 6, pp. 15-18.

Martin R. 1985. Dance as a Social Movement. Social Text. 12, pp. 54-70

Martin R., 1992. Dance Ethnography and the Limits of Representation. Social Text,
33, pp. 103-123.

McDonald B., 1996. The Idea of Tradition Examined in the Light of Two Australian
Musical Studies. Yearbook for traditional Music, 28, pp. 106-130.

Reed S. A., 1998. The Politics and Poetics of Dance. The Annual Review of
Anthropology, 27, pp. 503-532.

Royce A. P., 1977. The Anthropology of Dance. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press.

Sweet J. D., [Review Author] 1987. Society and the Dance. American Ethnologist,
14, 3.

Willis R. 1990. Some Spirits Heal, Others Only Dance: A Journey into Human
Selfhood in an African Village. Oxford: Berg.

39
Appendix 1

Field research video

The following video is made up of excerpts from my ethnographic research.

When I started my research in Easter 2005 I journeyed to Cinsta East just

north of East London. There I stayed with friends of mine who own one of the most
successful backpackers in South Africa. They cater almost exclusively for
international travellers and have a host of activities for their guests to partake in.

They are very involved with the local communities surrounding them. I went
along with them on two excursions. The first was to a local rural school they have
been supporting. This excerpt is at the end of the video.

The first except was filmed when I joined Anne Price, the owner of
Buccaneers Backpackers, to Mooiplaas. This is a rural area about fifty kilometres
south of the Transkei. The homestead is part of a tourist initiative and local craft
centre. It is however quite remote and Mama Tofu and Anne were meeting up again
after a fairly long period of not seeing each other. Anne was primarily interested in
purchasing traditional Xhosa craft for her backpackers and seeing if they could help
out in the future by possibly bringing some of their guests to the project some time in
the future.

I regarded this as prospecting at the time because I was 'just along for the ride'.
I did ask if it was alright for me to film the meeting and they agreed warmly. I am
aware that I was framing the experience by filming it but it has since turned out to be
useful because I have not been able to return. Another reason I filmed so much of it
was that at the time I was thinking of integrating tourism into my research but have
since then narrowed my focus down significantly.

A. Mama Tofu talking about ‘Virginity Testing’ and AIDS in Mooiplaas

00:00 to 08:07
The first scene was quite shocking for me, as you can here by my vocal expressions.
Incidentally this was the first time I interviewed with the camera in this fashion and so
tended to vocalize too much to my own liking, a lesson learnt. What I found out about
was 'virginity testing' among the Xhosa. These are he so called 'Red Blanket People'
who have reacted against colonialism and Apartheid by emphasising their Xhosa
customs and values. Further discussion is in the main text.

B. Purchasing Traditional Xhosa Regalia and Sampling the Xhosa Beer

(umqombhoti)
08:07 to 10:14
In this scene I purchase the outfit would later give to Thandeka as a gift and I also
sample some of the local Xhosa Beer.

C. Mama Tofu talking about children’s dances and songs

10:14 to 12:35
Mama Tofu kindly discusses some of the traditional dances and songs.

D. Mama Tofu introduces the Sangoma or Igqira

40
 12:35 to 13:59
This Igqira talked to us about her initiation and danced for us. Please note the beat
which is the same as the one used for the children‟s dance.

F. Zinzi's Children Dance

13:59 to 16:14
The children of the homestead show off their dances. Zinzi explains that they have
been modernised the boys dances as can be seen by the incorporation of breakdancing
and even poses from Wrestle Mania. I love the songs they sing.

G. Zinzi in the Kraal speaks about traditional values ('We are those People').
16:14 to 20:56
Zinzi here explains the fundamentals of the 'traditional' Xhosa belief system. She is an
amazing person and I think that this comes out beautifully here. Again please excuse
the quality and my commenting. Note also that she calls me Stututu which was my
“Zulu name” when I was a child. I told them about this earlier. I was given this name
because of my stutter.

H. Stick fighting dance done outside the Kraal

20:56 to 24:18
This TshoTSho stick fighting traditionally performed when young boys leave for the
circumcision ceremony. Note how much freer the boys are compared to the girls.
Here one can see how the domestic space is divided with the boys practicing their
skills extrovertly while girls remain close to the family and are watched by their
parents to a far greater degree.

I. A 'taste' of the Courtship Dance performed by the Mafikizolo Dance

Group at the Albany Museum (13/05/2005)
24:18 to 29:01
Note that the courtship dance usually comes at the end of an hour‟s performance.
Here they were struggling with the small stage. For a transcription of the vocal and a
description please see the text. The courtship dance only starts properly at 27:17,
when the girl on the left starts with: Sibabbonile abafana... Again please excuse the
quality as I was being jostled by the audience. The dance was cut short.

J. Igqira dancing at the Albany Museum

29:01 to 30:24
Here some local Igqira dance. Please note the similar dance beat to the last
performance. The young girl who joins them is a potential initiate (she has not yet
found a trainer), according to Thandeka, who works at the museum.

K. The Mothers (or OoMama) sing and dance

30:24 to 31:33
Dressed in traditional attire some mothers show off their talents.

L. A Mother talks about traditional values with regard to childhood gender

relations.
31:33 to 36:01
Here Mrs Nobebe talks of the values she learnt in her childhood. She discusses how
virgins were identified by the firmness of their bodies and how back then children
were not 'caught up' in western culture. Accordingly they were free to expose their
41
breasts. She also discusses the protection of girls called umciwo. This is the giving of
gifts and is similar to the courtship dance and the intonjane ritual (Intonjane in my
translation means „the way things are‟ so it could be glossed as a ritual where children
are taught about sexual matters). Mrs Nobebe links girls chastity to being watched by
their parents and threat of the loss of labola (dowry cattle) which would be a disgrace
to the parents and the daughter. She talks about going back to the original Xhosa
culture specifically for the protection of children (especially girls).

M. Courtship Dance of the Mafikizolo Dance Group: Full version

36:01 to 43:02
Please excuse the black and white footage. For a full description please see the main
text.

N. Thathawena Dancers
43:02 to 53:29
This is one of the 'rival' dance groups. Their dance teacher is also a school teacher.
Note how the theme of the dance is staged like a play. Furthermore the message of the
dance is more about society's ills rather than about the performance of an ethic. This
is a contemporary style and not couched in the traditional idiom. It is also in English
and not Xhosa.

O. A local Government official talks about Coexistence and the history of the
Albany Museum
53:29 to 56:44
Please excuse the quality. This highlights some of the issues regarding coexistence
discussed in the body of text. Very interestingly note the trainee Igqira/Mbobgi (or
Xhosa Bard) style of spontaneous performance. I included this because I think it
shows some of the strains between traditional values and the modern values which are
being inculcated through the apparatus of the new Nation State.

P. The Buluka farm school School Concert.

56:44 to 1:10:20
This is the school concert which is performed by the scholars of the rural Buluka
School in Cintsa. The Buccaneers Backpackers take tourists to visit the school once a
week. At this performance they raised R 900. I have inserted this to show how culture
is presented to outsiders in other situations. The teachers are very involved and the
three German volunteers help at the school while staying at the backpackers. The
school has been helped enormously by foreign and local donations of time and
money. This was a two hour concert and I found it exhausting to sit through. Note the
interactive nature when the tourists tell the children of their origins.

I have included this here to show some of the potential avenues that the
Mafikizolo Dance Group could pursue in raising funds for their school.

Q. Easter Concert of the United Apostolic Church

1:10:20 to 1:18:47
This is some footage I took during the 2003 (48 hour) choir vigil over Easter week
end in Joza location, Grahamstown. I have included this here because I mention it
briefly during my descriptive passage where I portray Grahamstown. I also wanted to
introduce it because the movement of the women I think signifies some of the deeply
42
held cultural values related to pastoralism and the practice of Labola. Note how the
men 'surround' the women as if they are inside the kraal (of the cattle and the
ancestors) and how the women move their arms as if they were cattle.

Thandeka confirmed that to some extent this is the case with Xhosa dancing.
Besides this I think these are beautiful songs. Ngonyama (a lion) here represents
strength as I have also discussed in relation to the courtship dance. Incidentally I love
the 'blues lament at 1:15:12.

I have also included this here because I am struck by the freedom of expression as
opposed to the bodily comportment at the museum or at the school.

43