Hilda Kuper Explained

Hilda Kuper
Birth Date:23 August 1911
Birth Place:Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
Death Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality:Swazi (1970–1992)[1]
Spouse:Leo Kuper
Awards:Rivers Memorial Medal (1961)[2]
Guggenheim Fellowship (1969)[3]
Alma Mater:University of Witwatersrand
London School of Economics
Thesis Year:1947
Doctoral Advisor:Bronisław Malinowski
Discipline:Social anthropology
Workplaces:University of California, Los Angeles
Doctoral Students:Dawn Chatty

Hilda Beemer Kuper (née Beemer; 23 August 1911 – 23 April 1992[1]) was a social anthropologist most notable for her extensive work on Swazi culture. She started studying the Swazi culture and associating with the Swaziland's royal family after she was awarded with a grant by the International African Institute of London. She studied and illustrated Swazi traditions embodied in the political vision of King Sobhuza II, who later became a close friend. King Sobhuza II personally awarded Kuper with Swazi citizenship in 1970.

Early life and education

Born to Lithuanian Jewish and Austrian Jewish parents in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, Kuper moved to South Africa after the death of her father. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and, afterwards, at the London School of Economics under Malinowski.

Doctoral fieldwork and anthropological career

In 1934, Kuper won a fellowship from the International African Institute to study in Swaziland.[4] In July of that year, while at an education conference in Johannesburg, she met Sobhuza II, paramount chief and later king of Swaziland. With assistance from Sobhuza and Malinowski, Kuper moved to the royal village of Lobamba and was introduced to Sobhuza's mother, the queen mother Lomawa. Here Kuper learned siSwati and pursued her fieldwork. This phase of Kuper's researches into Swazi culture culminated in the two-part dissertation, An African Aristocracy: Rank among the Swazi (1947) and The Uniform of Colour: a Study of White–Black Relationships in Swaziland (1947).

In the early 1950s, Kuper moved to Durban. During that decade, she focused her studies on the Indian community in the Natal region, as summarised in Indian People in Natal (1960). In 1953, Kuper received a senior lectureship at the University of Natal in Durban. In addition to her academic work, together with her husband, Leo Kuper, she helped to found the Liberal Party in Natal

In 1961, the Kupers moved to Los Angeles, to escape the harassment of liberals that was increasingly prevalent in apartheid South Africa, and to enable Leo to accept a professorship in sociology at UCLA. In 1963, Kuper published The Swazi: a South African Kingdom and was herself appointed professor of anthropology at UCLA. Kuper was a popular teacher, and in 1969, won a Guggenheim fellowship.

In 1978, Kuper published an extensive, official biography of Sobhuza II, King Sobhuza II, Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland.[5]

Awards

Award Awarding body Year
1961
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1969
University of Swaziland 1990

Personal life

Kuper married Leo Kuper in 1936. They had two daughters, Mary and Jenny. Her nephew, Adam Kuper, is also an anthropologist.

Publications

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. 1994. Obituary: Hilda Kuper, 1911-92. Africa. 64. 1. 145–149. 1161098. 19 October 2019. 10.1017/S0001972000036986. free.
  2. Web site: University of California: In Memoriam, 1994. University of California. 24 October 2016.
  3. Web site: Hilda Kuper. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 7 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20110603233916/http://www.gf.org/fellows/8254-hilda-kuper . 3 June 2011.
  4. Kuper, Hilda Beemer. Macmillan. Hugh. May 2008. 24 October 2016. 10.1093/ref:odnb/95674.
  5. Web site: Swazi History : Books To Read On Swazi History. Swaziland National Trust Commission. 7 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160919045803/http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/swazihistory4.html. 19 September 2016.
  6. Book: Kuper, Hilda. An African aristocracy; rank among the Swazi.. 1 January 1961. Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University Press. 233856.
  7. Book: Kuper, Hilda. The uniform of colour, a study of white-black relationships in Swaziland.. 1 January 1947. Witwatersand Univ. Press. 822668.
  8. Book: African systems of kinship and marriage. Hilda. Kuper. E. E. Evans-Pritchard. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. Isaac. Schapera. Cyril Daryll. Forde. Max. Gluckman. Monica Hunter. Wilson. A. I. Richards. Meyer. Fortes. F. S. Nadel. 1 January 1950. Oxford University Press for the International African Institute. 637784232.
  9. Book: The Shona and Ndebele of Southern Rhodesia. Hilda. Kuper. A. J. B. Hughes. International African Institute. 1 January 1954. International African Institute. 1830712.
  10. Book: Kuper, Hilda. An Ethnographic Description of a Tamil-Hindu Marriage in Durban. 1 January 2000. 901498513.
  11. Book: Kuper, Hilda. An ethnographic description of Kavady, a Hindu ceremony in South Africa. 1 January 1959. Witwatersrand University Press. 820108098.
  12. Book: Kuper, Hilda. Indian people in Natal.. 1 January 1960. University Press. 3484795.
  13. Book: Kuper, Hilda. The Swazi: a South African kingdom.. registration. 1 January 1963. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 386761.
  14. Book: African law: adaptation and development. Hilda. Kuper. Leo. Kuper. Los Angeles. University of California. African Studies Center. 1 January 1965. University of California Press. 1002464.
  15. Book: Kuper, Hilda. Bite of hunger; a novel of Africa.. 1 January 1965. Harcourt, Brace & World. 292042.
  16. Book: Urbanization and migration in West Africa. registration. Los Angeles. University of California. African Studies Center. Hilda. Kuper. 1 January 1965. University of California Press. 170511.
  17. Book: A witch in my heart: a play set in Swaziland in the 1930s;. Hilda. Kuper. International African Institute. Oxford U.P.. 103701.
  18. Book: Kuper, Hilda. Sobhuza II, Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland: the story of an hereditary ruler and his country. 1 January 1978. Africana Pub. Co.. 3706426.
  19. Book: South Africa: human rights and genocide. Leo. Kuper. Hilda. Kuper. 1 January 1981. African Studies Program, Indiana University. 13216218.