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Nicola Comninos

Zulu Nation

Talent
Nicola Comninos
Director
Nicola Comninos
Status
finished
Running time
24 min
Genre
Creative Documentary
Country of Production
South Africa
Production Company
e.tvThe internationally recognisable notion of ‘the Zulu’ has been used as a marketing tool for the province of KwaZulu-Natal – the Zulu kingdom. The decision to market “the Zulu Kingdom” reportedly came after extensive research which showed that the word, “Zulu”, has international recognition beyond any other African ethnicity (witness the inclusion of “Z for Zulu” in the NATO phonetic alphabet, along with Alpha, Romeo, etc.). What effect has this had on popular culture within the province? Has it helped to preserve it, or has it contributed to the commodification of Zulu culture? Through the lens of longstanding tourist attraction: the cultural village, probing questions will be asked about what it means to be African and indeed Zulu.