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Abstract
This article documents the history of black male surfers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and explores the ways in which the figure of the ‘Zulu surfer’ has assumed a range of meanings from the mid-1960s to the present. The appropriation of the iconography of Zuluness by the (white) mainstream surfing community means the Zulu surfer has had an ambivalent presence in surfing histories. The Zulu surfer was historically co-opted by (white) surfing as a form of staged exoticism, echoing similar tropes of the fascination with the Other in international surfing. On the other hand, the image of the ‘Zulu surfer’ has in more recent years been appropriated by young black male surfers in KwaZulu-Natal, as an expression of a subcultural lifestyle and identification. In the film Otelo Burning these meanings of Zulu surfing are sometimes in conflict. Despite the projected progressive politics of Otelo Burning, I argue, the black surfers in the film do not entirely escape the tropes associated with the eclectic exoticization of Zulu masculinity.
Leli phepha lichaza ngomlando wabantwezi besilisa abaMpisholo abakwaZulu-Natali eNingizimu Afrika. Lihlolisisa izindlela umuntu obizwa ‘ngomtwezi onguMzulu’ azuze ngazo izincazelo eziningi kusukela nge-1960 kuze kufike isikhathi samanje. Ekusetshenzisweni komfanekisomqondo wobuZulu emehlweni abamhlophe kulowomkhakha lapho bekhonya khona kulomphakathi wabantwezi kuyabonakala ukuthi umtwezi onguMzulu ubenesikhala esiphikaphikisanayo kwimilando yokuntweza. Emlandwini wezokuntweza, umtwezi onguMzulu wemukelwa wathathwa ngabamhlophe njengombukisi oqhakambisa okwamandulo, bese kube ngathi uvuselela lowo moya wezinto zasemazweni akude ngezikhathi zamandulo. Le ndlela yokubuka umtwezi onguMzulu kwenanela izindlela ezazinesasasa ezasezemukelekile zokuhlukahlukaniswa kwesintu kwezokuntweza emhlabeni wonke jikelele ngokuthi kugcizelelwe lokho okungumehluko esintwini. Ngakwelinye icala, lomfanekisomqondo ‘womtwezi onguMzulu’ kuleminyaka yamanje usuthathwe wasetshenziswa ngabasha besilisa abansundu KwaZulu-Natali njengobuciko nendlela yokuphila nokuzazisa emasikweni entsha. Kwifilimu i-Otelo Burning le mifanekisomqondo womtwezi onguMzulu ngesinye isikhathi ivezwe yaba nokuphikisana. Noma-ke leli filimu likhombisa indlela ephucuzekile yokucabanga ngobunjalo bepolitiki ethintana nesintu esinsundu ikakhulukazi, mina ngibona ngenye indlela. Engizoqophisana ngakho wukuthi ifilimu i-Otelo Bruninga ayigudlukanga kangakho kuleyandlela eyayinesasasa eyayemukelekile yokubona ubudoda boMzulu njengalokho okuhlukile okuyinto yamandulo yasemazweni akude.
Acknowledgements
This article has benefited from the comments of Carli Coetzee, two anonymous reviewers, Meg Samuelson and David Johnson.
Notes
1 Nevertheless, conservative white public opinion called, in clearly racialised statements, for the controlling of ‘overcrowding’ and ‘unacceptable behaviour’ on the beaches (SAIRR Citation1990, 8–9).
2 See Mwandla (Citation1995, 30), Hemson (Citation2001), Desai and Veriava (Citation2010), and Xaba's reminiscences (interview with Sara Blecher and Sihle Xaba, available in this issue of Journal of African Cultural Studies).
3 The ‘crocodiles’ made reference to white upcountry holidaymakers.
4 Similarly, Carton has noted that ‘[c]orporations continue to manufacture fantasies of Zulu physical prowess’ in their advertising of commodities, for example, toys and novelties by Zulu Quality Games in 1926 and Champions women's sports shoes in 2005 (Citation2008, 10 and 15).
5 The same can be said of black surfing in general along the South African coast.
6 The gendered nature of these constraints is noted for the apartheid and post-apartheid periods, as black girls have been invisible in the surf.
7 Mbubeki was among those involved in one of the Lamontville community workshops that informed research on the writing of Otelo Burning's beach house scenes (see interview with Blecher and Xaba).
8 Sex Wax is a popular Californian brand of surf wax, used to prevent slipping when standing on a surfboard.
9 Race trouble, while acknowledging the blurring of social, spatial, and cultural boundaries, points to ‘how race and racism are reproduced in the post-apartheid context’ (Durrheim, Mtose, and Brown Citation2011, 23).
10 This symbolic imagery was already established for soccer (Bafana Bafana) in 1992 (Alegi Citation2004, 146) and rugby (Amabokoboko) in 1995 (Grundlingh Citation2013, 135–136).
11 See the ISA interview with Ntando Msibi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfYDalmwuQM (accessed on 16 June 2014).
12 Ishiwata's elaboration of the term ‘anticipatory optimism’ draws on the cultural logic of surfing: ‘As fantastic as it may be, to someone who surfs it makes perfect sense because surfing is by its very nature an anticipatory and optimistic endeavour: the next swell, the next wave, the next ride’ (Citation2002, 269).
13 Further demonstrating its contemporary popular appeal in surfing culture, mastering the aerial move signified a top competitive surfer in Blue Crush Citation2 (Citation2011), filmed at the same time in KwaZulu Natal as Otelo Burning. A point to note is that the spectacle of the aerial is closely bound to surfing's commercialized promotional culture as it places a surfboard with brand logos in full view of a camera and hence is privileged in surf media advertising.