Selling Dolls to Outsiders
Arts and Crafts in Rural South Africa
Many dolls are now made for sale to the tourist market. Especially among the Zulu, women commonly produce beaded dolls and figurative groups depicting scenes from the life experiences of both rural communities and the urban white market for which these sculptural tableaux are made.
Some Zulu dolls intended for outside buyers include carefully chosen details such as the headdresses, leather skirts and aprons traditionally worn by married women.
Among the Ndebele, women make dolls carrying firewood on their heads for external buyers. These dolls are decorated with beaded panels and blankets similar to those worn on ritual occasions, but rural women never actually collect wood for domestic use dressed in clothing of this kind.
Among both the Zulu and the Ndebele, dolls intended for sale to outsiders are generally much larger than those associated with rituals linked to female fertility.
Among the Ndebele, the more abstract dolls traditionally used in ritual contexts differ significantly from those produced for sale to outsiders.
Regardless of whether they are now made for indigenous use or for external buyers, dolls often represent married women wearing traditional forms of dress. This is because most dolls of this kind served originally to secure the fertility of these women.
By
Professor Sandra Klopper
