Tuesday, February 26, 2008

New York Times 1882 - Historical Sources

Just about everything written about the original "White Shaka" is out of print. But recently, the New York Times added the original stories written about him in the 1880's to their archives.

There are other sources, including his own biography.

But they are long out of print.

The best recent source is the very popular American study of the Zulus, "The Washing of the Spears."

The bigger question is: how and why was this story so overlooked?

The answer has a lot to do with political and social constructs of South Africa - when the white racist, apartheid government ran the country, a story of a mixed race clan was technically illegal. In the post-apartheid, African Government, the mixed race story is still awkward.

But in a world of blending races and culture - this story is extremely relevant.

White Shaka, the Graphic Novel, brings it all up to date and ties together the historical sources with the current perspectives of life, culture and conflict in the New South Africa.

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