Campbell,mare,and walker study - Essay Example

Order 209424 Topic: Campbell, mare, and walker study: Introduction: The study of Campbell discusses the nature of ethnic consciousness among Zulu-speaking in Natal. They did it through 24 open-ended life history interviews with residents in Umlazi Township. They had four issues before them: The evidence for Zulu ethnic consciousness; how the urban life molded them. The impact of global materialistic civilization; the relationship between the preset day politics and the ethnic identity! The strong influence is seen about the commitment of the people to Zulu language.

The authors find a wide gap between politicalisation of ethnic issues and its importance in their day-to-day lives. They feel that more research is needed on the subject. The complex ethnic problem:The industrial and internet revolution is continuously creating profound changes in the ethnic areas. There is nothing is fixed about it. The processes of changes, the making and unmaking are ongoing processes.. Ethnic issue needs to be viewed from two contexts. The personal aspect as applicable to the day to day lives as well as the ethnic context exploitation by the politicians, for their vote-bank politics.

Campbell etc. found that a strong sense of Zulu as for the personal lives prevailed. The crisis of identify is found in every community on account of rapidity of social change and Zulu community is no exception, the authors point out. The younger generation, especially moves with the social changes, adopts and amenable to modification on account of university education, migration to the cities, inter-community marriages, and several such factors. Fundamental changes are seen in the traditional society.

Old family values are rapidly disintegrating. The transition from the joint families to nuclear family also has deep impact on the overall structure of the Zulu ethnic community.Tackling the issue….The area of survey/research has been cleverly selected by Campbell etc. The majority of the people were adult workers who lived in the outskirts of Durban, twelve men and twelve women, between the age group of twenty and late fifty. They were unskilled or semi-skilled workers. The authors specifically targeted them as they would have been exposed to a wide range of experiences, during their interaction with other workers, involvement in trade union issues, marriage, and education of children—that is to say, they would have been tested on the ethnic identity from every angle.

Their education level varied considerably, there was a B.A. Degree holder on the one end, some of them had not entered the portal beyond that of a primary school! Most of them had incomplete school education. The questions asked during interviews were intensely Zulu, their love for the Zulu Culture, Zulu language, Zulu History and what traditional customs they observed in their lives etc. The enquiries about their political affiliation were side-tracked. The period of the interview was not favorable on the count that, 1992 was the year when more than 1700 people lost their lives in the ethnic violence and the revelation of the ethnic identity was a matter of life and death for many.

Ethnic loyalties in that area were fierce. But the drawback of the survey was that no generalizations could be made on the strength of findings from a small section of the ethnic group.The changing faces of the family affected the women a lot. It was difficult for them to rework their gender identity with men. The insecurities related to the township life caused problems for them economically and emotionally. The younger generation was no more the good obedient children; they had their own problems and aspirations.

The traditional demands were ignored by the educated youth. They were not enthusiastic about the Zulu past about which they did not possess adequate knowledge. Christianity made inroads in to their tough and costly Zulu customs. Conclusion:The conclusions are simple and direct. The importance of ethnicity is there amongst the Zulus but it is getting diluted in more than one area due to constant interaction with various forces. Such negative impact is more in the urban set-up. ================ Works Cited:Article: Evidence for an ethnic identity in the life histories of Zulu.doc.