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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Patriarchs, politics and ethnicity in the making of the Ciskei, 1945-1959 |
Author: | Mager, Anne |
Year: | 1995 |
Periodical: | African Studies |
Volume: | 54 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 49-72 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | South Africa Ciskei |
Subjects: | colonial policy indigenous peoples chieftaincy communal lands History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Politics and Government Women's Issues Ethnic and Race Relations Cultural Roles Historical/Biographical Sex Roles |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00020189508707815 |
Abstract: | In the scattered reserves of the Ciskei, South Africa, two administrative systems existed side by side in the 1940s: the Ciskei General Council or Bunga and its elected local councils, bodies of educated men presided over by white native commissioners, and 'inkundlas', forums of older men, including the headman's advisers and presided over by headmen. Afrikaner nationalist victory at the polls in 1948 heralded a dramatic change in the two-tiered administrative structure of the Ciskei. The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 placed the administration of Africans firmly under the control of the Native Affairs Department (NAD). Its purpose was to 'obtain the active participation of the Bantu in the running of their own affairs in an indirect way'.' In the Ciskei, winning over support for the Bantu authorities required the destruction of the Bunga system. It also meant boosting the power of headmen and 'inkundla' leaders. Implicit in the process of reinventing ethnicity was the expectation that African men's power over women would be reinforced. This article describes the process of restructuring power and authority relations in the Ciskei up to 1959. The first three parts lead up to the implementation of the Bantu Authorities Act and the last part follows the first steps of its implementation. Notes, ref., sum. |