What’s in the African name? “Shaka Zulu:” a European invention to destroy African identity

Abstract

Some scholars and media outlets, because they are preoccupied with tarnishing Shaka Senzangakhona’s African identity have, in their quest for profit and popularity, replaced Shaka’s surname, Senzangakhona, with a false substitute- Zulu. The works of E.A Ritter, Joshua Sinclair, Carolyn Hamilton and Richard Spilsbury, although they provide insightful comments about Shaka Senzangakhona’s military and political achievements, have paraded a misguided title, Shaka Zulu, which is a blatant attack on Shaka Senzangakhona’s identity. Thanks to Thomas Mofolo and Mazisi Kunene, we now know about the military genius of Shaka and that t Shaka Senzangakhona and not Shaka Zulu founded the Zulu. Despite these cues, scholars and media outlets casually inter-change the names Shaka Zulu and Shaka Senzangakhona as if both names are the same. Our thesis is that Shaka Zulu is a European invention driven by popular culture and profit to perpetuate the misguided notion of Shaka Senzangakhona as a cruel person and to destroy his African identity.