South African Zulu Widows in a Time of Poverty and Social Change

Interviews were carried out with 16 South African Zulu widows. Much of what the widows had to say seemed like what one might hear from widows in economically developed countries, but there were also striking differences. All the widows lived in poverty, and for some their grief seemed much more about the poverty than about the husband's death. Most widows observed a year of traditional ukuzila mourning practices, which made them a threat to others and which is difficult to carry out in the social upheaval of modern South Africa. Widowhood was in some cases a struggle with witchcraft--as cause of the death or as an accusation directed at the widow.