Hilda Kuper

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.

Hilda Kuper
Born(1911-08-23)August 23, 1911
Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
DiedApril 23, 1992(1992-04-23) (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, United States
NationalitySwazi (1970-1992)[1]
SpouseLeo Kuper
AwardsRivers Memorial Medal (1961)[2]
Guggenheim Fellowship (1969)[3]
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Witwatersrand
London School of Economics
Thesis
  • An African Aristocracy: Rank among the Swazi
  • The Uniform of Colour: a Study of White–Black Relationships in Swaziland
 (1947)
Doctoral advisorBronisław Malinowski
Academic work
DisciplineSocial anthropology
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Doctoral studentsDawn Chatty
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Early life

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.[2][4] In July of that year, while at an education conference in Johannesburg, she met Sobhuza II, paramount chief and later king of Swaziland.[4] 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.[4] Here Kuper learned siSwati and pursued her fieldwork.[4] 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.[4] During that decade, she focused her studies on the Indian community in the Natal region, as summarised in Indian People in Natal (1960).[2][4] 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[2][4]

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.[2][4] In 1963 Kuper published The Swazi: a South African Kingdom and was herself appointed professor of anthropology at UCLA.[2][4] Kuper was a popular teacher,[2] and In 1969 won a Guggenheim fellowship.[3]

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

Awards
AwardAwarding bodyYear
Rivers Memorial MedalRoyal Anthropological Institute1961
Guggenheim FellowshipJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation1969
Honorary doctorateUniversity of Swaziland1990

Personal life

Kuper married Leo Kuper in 1936. They had two daughters, Mary and Jenny.[2][4] Her nephew, Adam Kuper, is also an anthropologist.

Publications
  • An African aristocracy: rank among the Swazi. Oxford University Press. 1947.[6]
  • The uniform of colour, a study of white-black relationships in Swaziland. 1947.[7]
  • African systems of kinship and marriage. 1950.[8]
  • The Shona and Ndebele of Southern Rhodesia. 1954.[9]
  • An Ethnographic Description of a Tamil-Hindu Marriage in Durban. 1956.[10]
  • An ethnographic description of Kavady, a Hindu ceremony in South Africa. 1959.[11]
  • Indian people in Natal. 1960.[12]
  • The Swazi: a South African kingdom. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1963.[13]
  • African law: adaptation and development. 1965.[14]
  • Bite of hunger: a novel of Africa. 1965.[15]
  • Urbanization and migration in West Africa. 1965.[16]
  • A witch in my heart: a play set in Swaziland in the 1930s. 1970.[17]
  • Sobhuza II, Ngwenyama and King of Swaziland: the story of an hereditary ruler and his country. 1970.[18]
  • South Africa: human rights and genocide. 1981.[19]

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