African-Americans embrace Zulu culture

The Research Office and its Project for the Enhancement of Research Capacity recently hosted a workshop by Assoc Prof Benedict Carton of George Mason University in Virginia, US. In his talk, titled Shaka's Progeny: Historical reflections on global Zulu culture in the modern Atlantic world, Carton described how African-Americans enthusiastically embraced images of ritualised Zulu masculinities in the 19th and 20th century. These elements of Zulu culture, he said, influenced the racial ideologies and popular entertainments shaping modern South Africa and the US.