Zulus Abroad: Cultural Representations and Educational Experiences of Zulus in America, 1880-1945 1

This article broadens the study of cultural representations of the Zulu from within South Africa to the United States by exploring the experiences of Zulu performers and students in America between 1880 and 1945. In American exhibitions, carnivals, circuses and fairs, whites celebrated and re-enacted Anglo-Saxon military victories over darker-skinned peoples with stark contrasts of 'civilised' whites and subjugated 'uncivilised' Zulus. African Americans, struggling to secure basic political and socio-economic rights in America, had more varied and ambiguous views of Zulus. Some impersonated Zulus for monetary gain and to fashion new identities, others created cultural distance between themselves and Africans by advancing stereotypical images of Zulus as exotic African primitives, while some politically-minded blacks portrayed Zulu resistance to British aggression as 'the greatest revolt against white supremacy' in modern history and as a potential model for diasporic black political activity. Meanwhile, Zulu students in America countered negative stereotypes with their intelligence and industriousness, self-consciously framing their continued acquisition of education, Christianity and entrepreneurial capitalism as part of the larger goal of collective racial uplift of their 'benighted' brethren in Africa. Whereas most American portrayals of the Zulu depicted Africans as permanent primitives, Zulu students shared the view that any African primitivism was due not to inherent inferiority but to a lack of exposure to the civilising influences of Christianity and education. Ironically, they pointed to recently emancipated African Americans as proof of black capabilities. Thus this article provides an empirical case study that offers a more expansive framework for African history, redresses the relative neglect of Africa and Africans within African Diaspora studies and contributes to the rich postcolonial literature that illuminates the cross-cultural trans-Atlantic traffic of peoples, ideologies and images along the global colour line. Adapted from the source document.