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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Beasts to beer pots: migrant labour and ritual change in Willowvale district, Transkei |
Author: | MacAllister, P.A. |
Year: | 1985 |
Periodical: | African Studies |
Volume: | 44 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 121-135 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Transkei South Africa |
Subjects: | Xhosa labour migration customs Urbanization and Migration Labor and Employment Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00020188508707639 |
Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the persistence and radical modification of a Gcaleka ritual called umhlinzeko or umsindleko, performed in celebration of the return of a migrant worker to his rural home. The earlier form of the ritual (umhlinzeko) is described and this is followed by an outline of the present-day form (umsindleko). The bulk of the paper is taken up with an attempt to explain why the one form gave way to the other. In this respect the analysis concentrates on the relationship between the two forms and their socio-economic contexts, and relates the changes in the form and meaning of the ritual to the changing economic and political circumstances affecting the Gcaleka and other Xhosa-speakers. Notes, ref. |