A glimpse at historical narratives of respect practices known as hlonipha. Questioning linguistic-stereotyping of colonial-era writings and its consequences on contemporary academic knowledge

Résumé En

In this presentation, I show how colonial and armchair academics writings from the 19th and early 20th centuries are responsible for the gender-stereotyping and linguistic-stereotyping of ukuhlonipha (or hlonipha), an avoidance-based custom of respect traditionally applied to in-laws among Nguni-speaking communities in Southern Africa. I engage in the historical recovery process by suggesting that the knowledge circulation from colonial-era South Africa to philological and anthropological theories of imperial-era Europe is evidence of a knowledge erasure about the practices of ukuhlonipha. Moreover, I demonstrate how looking at local narratives from the 20th century can shed light on local understandings of ukuhlonipha as wider respect practices applying to each social actor. This presentation aims to show how contemporary scientific knowledge of hlonipha should include local narratives, whether historical or contemporary, to limit erasure of a complex set of respectful strategies ordering social life in Xhosa-speaking and Zulu-speaking societies in South Africa.