Clothing Dry Bones: The Myth of Shaka

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Periodical article

Title:	Clothing Dry Bones: The Myth of Shaka
Author:	Worger, William
Year:	1979
Periodical:	Journal of African Studies (UCLA)
Volume:	6
Issue:	3
Period:	Fall
Pages:	144-158
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	traditional rulers history Zulu polity Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration
About person:	Shaka king of Zululand (ca. 1787-1828)
Abstract:	This article attempts two tasks. One is a study of some of the main evidence relating to Shaka (founder of the Zulu state) presented in nineteenth-century European and African-derived sources; to see what it can tell about the first Zulu king and what it can suggetst about the motives of those who presented it. The second task is a study in the historical methodology of previous students of Shaka and the early Zulu state. The article does not attempt a wholesale reinterpretation of the career of Shaka in relation to the origins of the Zulu state and subsequent Southern African history. This study is a necessary first step prior to a much more comprehensive undertaking. Notes, fig.