This choice by Biko’s father has been suggested to attribute Biko as being a person for other people. ‘Bantu’ has also been used as a name separate from ethnic meaning, most famously presented by Bantu Steve Biko. The term was therefore used to describe the unity of black people. In Umsebenzi, a 1940s ANC periodical, the following phrase is used “The Bantu must demand equal economic, social and political rights. ĭiffering from this view, there are instances where Bantu was used in a positive light by black people. The Department of Native Affairs changed its name to the Department of Bantu Administration and Development, and the word became despised by Africans as it was associated with Apartheid and inferior treatment. 1960, ‘Bantu’ replaced the word 'Native' in official government usage in South Africa. Bruwer, Die Bantoe van Suid-Afrika, emphasized the idea that ‘Bantu peoples’ were primitive. ] This 1935 survey mapped out different chieftancies and led to the systematic separation of people from their land. Van Warmelo who worked for the Department of Native Affairs. The Preliminary Survey of the Bantu Tribes of South Africa was compiled by ethnologist N.J. Eiselen’s lectureship, an academic foreground to the ‘separate development’ policy was cemented. In 1921, the University of Witwatersrand established a Bantu Studies Department. Wihelm Bleek first used the word 'Bantu' in his 1862 publication Comparative Grammar of South African Languages as a classificatory name. Whites first encountered Bantu-speakers in the eastern Cape in the 16th century, and in the central interior at the beginning of the 19th century. These fortresses are also found at Mapungubwe and other places in the northern regions of South Africa. They built beautiful structures, pits and fortresses, including the Zimbabwe Ruins, which spread across Zimbabwe into Botswana. Today archaeologists agree that the forbears of such Bantu speakers as the Kalanga, Karanga, and Venda achieved a height of material cultural development in the tenth and fifteenth centuries. How these languages spread into southern Africa remains uncertain. They comprise more than a 100 million Negroid people who live in southern and central Africa, ranging from Nigeria and Uganda to South Africa, and who speak about 700 languages, including many dialects. (2) It identifies those Bantu-speakers who spoke that group of closely related languages which linguists divide into four categories: Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Venda and Tsonga-speakers.Īlthough the linguistic and grammatical structure of the different languages had similarities, it is important to note that the Bantu-speaking peoples are not a homogenous group. (1) It named a major linguistic group in Africa, and more locally, to identify the sizeable group of Nguni languages spoken by many Africans in sub-Saharan Africa, and It is a term used in archaeology, history and anthropology: It is the plural of the word 'umuntu', meaning 'person', and is based on the stem '-ntu' plus the plural prefix 'aba'. This original meaning changed through the history of South Africa. Abantu (or 'Bantu' as it was used by colonists) is the Zulu word for people. In Anthropology, the term was used to refer to the people that spoke these languages. In its indigenous sense, it relates to kinship between numerous African languages. It has had both positive and negative meanings, depending on the “historical moment, social positionality and experience of users”. The term ‘Bantu has gone through various shifts in meaning. The following article is based on an essay from Kees van der Waal’s chapter in “Critical Essays on Afrikaans Places of Memory”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |