Publisher's Synopsis
This study traces the construction of the heroic, demonized and realistic Shaka from the earliest colonial texts to the Africanist idealization, and the modern uses of the story by the Inkatha and the apartheid regime. Since his assissination in 1828, Shaka - founder of the powerful Zulu kingdom that later challenged British colonial rule in South Africa - has lived on in popular imaginations. Shaka today is the hero of Zulu nationalism, the centrepiece of Inkatha ideology, even the namesake of a South African theme park. Terrific Majesty explores the reasons for the potency of Shaka's image, examining the ways it has changed over time. Its special contribution lies in its sophisticated rehabilitation of colonial sources for the precolonial period, demonstrating that colonial texts were critically shaped by indigenous African discourse. The book will also have a resonance in the fields of history, anthropology, cultural studies, and post-colonial literature.
