The other Zulus: the spread of Zulu ethnicity in colonial South Africa

gendered and developmental (as well as theological) perspective, have recently been uncovered by Hadfield (2010), who shows how BC ideas played out on the ground, in women’s leatherwork collectives and rural clinics; an interplay of ideological and material worlds not treated by Magaziner. He does, however, cover wide territory and does it well, though consideration of other figures spanning religious and political realms, such as Cyril Ramaphosa, would make for an interesting counterpoint. In an intellectual history, I wished for more attention to Biko’s Black Review, the organ that articulated BC ideas, and to what was said in vernacular columns or sermons. Yet this is compensated by the richness of empirical data, boldness of theorising, and ability to incorporate gender, race and ideology into the narrative. There are a few minor errors. The Treason Trial was much longer than the 1974 trial claimed to be “the longest, to that date” (1) of apartheid’s courtroom farces. The Expansion of University Education Act (19) should read “Extension”. There are imprecise marketing claims; “the 1970s are a decade virtually lost to South African historiography”; the book is “an intellectual history of the resistance movements” (cover). A considerable corpus already plumbs the 1970s, and there were other intellectual movements in rural and urban areas (such as collectivism, rationalism, socialism, millenarianism, and unionism, many of which interacted with religious movements in the underground or civic society) which are not addressed here. Various questions arise. Were ideologies of Christ and self-esteem primary in generating the 1976 revolt, or were deteriorating conditions and repression more influential? If the United Democratic Front (UDF), with its many church affiliates, was able in the words of Buti Tlhagale to easily “crush” the BCM and “move it to the margins” (cited in Moore [1994]), what does this signify for BCM’s long-term significance? Was its role merely to set the country ablaze, or was its resuscitation of the principles of equality, fraternity, love and hope a beacon that continues to shine in the political, economic and ethical atmosphere of gloom?