In 1934, American writer Rebecca Hourwich Reyher recorded the
remarkable life story of Christina Sibiya, the first of sixty-five
wives of the uncrowned king of the Zulus. What Reyher faithfully
recorded -- and then crafted into a moving narrative -- is the
riveting story of a South African woman who entered life among the
Zulu royal family and then, after enduring psychic and physical
abuse, found the courage to leave.
In 1915, fifteen-year-old Christina Sibiya leaves teaching at a
mission school to become the first wife of Solomon ka Dinuzulu.
While at the royal household, Sibiya successfully adjusts to the
expectations of her new position: finding her place among the other
wives, and negotiating Zulu and Christian tradition. The royal
headquarters, however, becomes increasingly plagued by diviseness,
dissolution, and ill health. After a series of hardships, climaxing
in a beating by Solomon, Sibiya, at the age of twenty-eight,
escapes to Durban. Although pursued by Solomon's representative,
Sibiya successfully resists Solomon's authority by testifying first
in a European magistrate's court and then at the royal headquarters
that her marriage was invalid. First published in 1948, "Zulu
Woman" is placed in new context by an introduction and afterword
which consider the book's relationship to other African literature
and oral history, attend to questions of power and authorship, and
draw upon newly available archival materials.
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