A homestead ( Xhosa: ''umzi'') in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

is a cluster of several houses, typically occupied by a single extended family and often with an attached

kraal Kraal (also spelled ''craal'' or ''kraul'') is an Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch word, also used in South African English, for an pen (enclosure), enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within a Southern African Human settlement ...

. Such settlements are characteristic of Nguni-speaking peoples. A house within a homestead is known as an ''indlu'', plural ''tindlu'' ( Swati) or ''izindlu'' ( Xhosa and Zulu). Traditional housing is a feature of rural communities across southern Africa. A rural community may live in a homestead built using locally sourced materials. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, as of 2022, 4.3% of households were classified as traditional dwellings. Homesteads may make use of commercially available materials, but nonetheless inherit traditional construction methods to retain an often semi-circular arrangement of

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...

. For example, among Xhosa, the roofs of a main rondavel (Xhosa, ''indlu enkulu'') may be constructed of sheet metal, rather than thatch.

Traditional relevance

Archaeologists have demonstrated that the physical organization of the south-eastern Bantu residential unit has been continuous for perhaps a thousand years. The forms of traditional living and societal organization influence each other, including through the homestead. British anthropologist Adam Kuper posits the political systems of the

Zulu Kingdom The Zulu Kingdom ( ; ), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of So ...

of the early 19th century took organizational influence from the homestead as social unit, which was one based around the traditional pan-Nguni homestead. This system, common among northern Nguni groups, inspired strategies of political organization, succession, and military regiments. He offers, for example, the prominence of spacial division (left-right) as being reflected in the Zulu regiment’s classification, with those quartered rightmost always of higher status than the left. Similar divisions in royal settlements were structured dualistically.

Historic societal function

Debates over the historicity of a general structure of the homestead and its use determining ethnographic and archeological significance makes characterizations on form and function difficult. Zulu homesteads are typically the standard analog for Nguni homesteads, embodying their spatial, social, and hierarchical organization. This effect is in part due to studies by anthropologists who have contributed prominent ethnographic data on Zulu settlements, such as Eileen Krige, William David Hammond-Tooke, Nicolaas van Warmelo, and

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

. Regardless, the homestead in general has traditionally retained different military, agricultural and social significance across ethnic groups. Various styles of organization have been identified across southern Africa and associated with Northern and Southern Nguni,

Sotho-Tswana The Sotho-Tswana, also known as the Sotho or Basotho, although the term is now closely associated with the Southern Sotho peoples are a meta-ethnicity of Southern Africa. They are a large and diverse group of people who speak Sotho-Tswana ...

, Ndebele, Swazi and Ngoni variations, including differentiation between (Zulu) ''umuzi'' and ''ikhanda'' homesteads.

References

Society of South Africa Human habitats Nguni {{South-africa-stub

Traditional relevance

Historic societal function

See also

References