Last Respects: Exploring the Place of Funerals in a Rural ...

Last Respects: Exploring the Place of Funerals in a Rural South African Community

Vanessa Nicolai

A Thesis

in

the Department of

Sociology and Anthropology

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada

November 2007

? Vanessa Nicolai, 2007

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ABSTRACT Last Respects: Exploring the Place of Funerals

in a Rural South African Community

Vanessa Nicolai

The dramatic rise in AIDS-related deaths in South Africa in recent years is making funerals a prominent part of the cultural and economic landscape. In rural communities such as Hamburg, in the Eastern Cape, they tend to cost at least five times the monthly income of the entire household. Based on seven months of fieldwork, this thesis explores how funerals are conducted in Hamburg, as well as many people's ambivalence about the seemingly necessary expense involved. Funerals are found to be a site of tension tied to gender, inter-generational relations and material inequalities. They also reveal the extent to which HIV/AIDS is still taboo. At the same time, they perform an important cohesive role, helping to keep the community together in the face of difficult realties. Using the twinned cultural norms of 'helping each other' and 'building the homestead,' the thesis examines the ways in which funerals are materially and symbolically engaged in a complex choreography that both contains and explores the potentially disruptive aspects of the present. Finally, it is shown how local practices and understandings related to funerals speak to broader issues in the building of a new South Africa.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A thesis is a work of many hands. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Carol and Justus Hofmeyr, and their sons Graeme and Robert, for their exceptional kindness, hospitality and generosity. None of this would have been possible without you and I am greatly indebted. My warmest thanks to the many people in Hamburg who welcomed me into their community and who taught me so much--in particular: Nomvuyiseko (Vuvu) Gusha; Mzwandile (Atwell) Ndlondlo, his wife Nomonde and their family; Mr. and Mrs. Zita ("tatazala" and "mamazala"); Juliet Mapuma; Nomvuyo (Florence) Plaatje; Susan Paliso; Noluvo (Jacqueline) Nobongwana; Eunice Mangwane and her family; Lindiwe Cuka and her family; Nozeti Makhubalo; Nokwanda Makhubalo; the late Novumile Mapuma and her family; Mandlakayise (Stanley) Nolakuhlola; and Boniwe (Constance). My thanks also to Pam and Malcolm Driessel, and Claudia Davies; to Rob Kraft in Grahamstown for his kind hospitality; and to Miki Redelinghuys and Tim Wege.

I am grateful to my research assistant, Liberty Mapuma, for all his help and all the laughs; to Gladys Makhubalo and Nonzame Solwandle for their great work on the survey; to Lindiwe Cuka for lending a hand when I most needed it; and to my talented and courageous friend, Zukiswa Pakama.

My thanks to my family in South Africa for their support and hospitality--Julie and family; Mel and Lynne; Carol and Beryl; David, Val and family; Suzi, Tony and Libby; Marjorie and Kirsty.

Thank you to my dear friends and family in Canada who have given so much, in particular: to Farid Sandoghdar, for his help with the survey--and everything else; to Jorge Martinez, for his help with video editing; to Lesley McCubbin, for the great maps; and to Vusi Moloi, for all the helpful comments. For their support, encouragement and feedback at various points along the way, thanks to my peers at Concordia University, particularly Karoline Truchon, Isabelle Goulet, Veronique Allard, Maja Romano and Shannon Dow. To Lyn McFadzen, Esther Lartey-Dancey, Francois Croquette, Catherine Flores, Rita Hamel, Tatiana Garakani, Pierre Doyon, Jonathan Kotcheff, Glenda Miralles, Caroline Marcoux, Valerie Vanstone and Claudia Kraft. To my brother and sister, John and Jean, and my parents, Margaret and Mike.

I am very grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Sally Cole, for being so encouraging and inspiring, and for never once doubting that this thesis would, in fact, get written! Thank you also to my committee members, Dr. Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc and Dr. Katja NevesGraca.

Funding for this research was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Fonds quebecois de la recherche sur la societe et la culture (FQRSC). I am most grateful for this support.

Last but not least, my sincere thanks to all of the people in Hamburg I interviewed whom, for reasons of confidentiality, I cannot name, but whose stories and thoughts are, for me, the most precious and meaningful parts of this work. Enkosi kakhulu.

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