This article tracks my intellectual journey in trying to understand the role played by craft specializations before the colonial era in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), which is the area where I come from. I do this by a comparative look at how craft specializations happened in other parts of the African continent, an approach prompted by the absence of older written or documentary sources on KwaZulu-Natal, prior to the advent of European colonialism. A key finding of the research is that the cultural and ritual repertoires of craft specialists reveal conceptual domains of expertise that are derived from intra-African regional dynamics. This contrasts with the colonial belief that implied that notions of expertise were as a result of European or Asian human contacts. In looking at craft guilds, I am interested in how ritual, technological skill and the mastery of certain musical/creative acts played a part in the formation of regional blocs in ancient Africa. Such a historical understanding may be crucial to our present-day understanding of emergent processes of regionalization and identity formation.
Articles by Thokozani N Mhlambi
Thokozani Ndumiso Mhlambi, a musician, songwriter, and cultural pioneer, was born in South Africa on September 18, 1984. Mhlambi became well-known for his concert-lecture performances, which he began doing in 2016 at the Mazisi Kunene Museum in Durban. For the performance at the museum, Mhlambi was nominated for the National Institute for Humanities and Social Science Creative Prize in 2018. Mhlambi has created his own distinctive presentations that blend engaging performances with critical thought. He frequently does solo concerts on his baroque cello and vocals on stage. He frequently works with orchestras and groups in North America and Europe. Mhlambi is a cultural thinker who has a strong sense of community and how the local and global connect. He builds artistic visions using an internationalist methodology, which is inspired by the ground-breaking work of Pan-African philosophers like C. L. R. James, W. E. B. Du Bois, H. I. E. Dhlomo, and Paulo Freire. Mhlambi's creative influences come from those who created the tradition of African anthems, such as Reuben Caluza, Ntsikana, John Knox Bokwe, and Enoch Sontonga, to name a few. These individuals modernized tradition in the same way that the Ancient Greeks did by creating an ethos of mousike. He draws inspiration from folk musics from throughout the world to develop his own unique style.