“King Cetshwayo”

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King Cetshwayo

Photographer: Alexander Bassano

1882

Daguerreotype

A portrait of Cetshwayo which stresses his nobility and is a long way from the notion of the Zulus as a primitive and savage race. The King is dressed in western clothes, but still wears the isicoco, a head-band only worn by braves who have killed men in battle. [Click on the image to enlarge it; commentary continues below.]

Image scan and text by Simon Cooke]

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Cetshwayo died of a heart-attack within a year or so of this photograph being taken, an anti-climactic end to an distinguished life. The photographer’s lighting emphasises his handsome features and aligns him with the idealization that was applied to the British heroes of the Anglo-Zulu War – a mark of parity that honoured the Zulu’s status as a ruler and military commander. On the other hand, such conformity with western tropes of beauty could also be seen as a racist act, a process of normalization which takes the sting of the foreigner’s threat by converting him into an honorary Englishman – complete with a smart and snugly-fitting suit. Clearly, this was a concept of Zulus that had moved away from British hostility which marked all such indigenous peoples as uncivilized and absorbed them into the fold of European culture.

Created 27 February 2025