"You learn and learn and learn…. and then you are an adult": parental perceptions of adolescence in contemporary Swaziland

Adolescence, Summer, 2003 by Margaret Zoller Booth

These theories, however, have created a simplistic dichotomy between industrialized and preindustrialized societies. They assume that the adolescent period is absent in less industrialized peoples because cultural expectations, elaborate ceremonies (rites of passage), and other traditional institutions ensure a quick transition from childhood to adulthood (Segall et al., 1999).

Other research examines the presence or absence of the word "adolescent" in a language, which leads to hypotheses regarding the presence of such a stage. For instance, Japanese is an example of a language which does not have such a term (White, 1987). Researchers have noted the difficulty of discussing this developmental period with Japanese teachers and parents because of the need to first define and describe adolescence as interpreted in the United States. Letendre (2000) has found that "most Japanese teachers had no clear idea what adolescence was and that many failed to recognize the English loanword adoresensu" (p. 1). Nonetheless, the question becomes whether there is the absence of this developmental period simply because there is no direct translatable word for adolescent.

Schlegel and Barry (1991) have conducted a comprehensive examination of information available on 173 societies for boys and 175 societies for girls, concluding that all of these societies (except perhaps one for girls) included periods which we could call adolescence. However, many aspects of adolescence vary from culture to culture, including parental perceptions of this period, its length, one's position in society, and purpose in regard to social learning and preparation for adulthood. Generally, they concluded that differences occur "according to subsistence needs and constraints, property ownership or its absence, the structure of the family and the community, and anticipations of adult life" (p. 200). Consequently, if Schlegel and Barry are correct, the Swazi people traditionally have had and will today recognize a form of adolescence.

Traditional Swazi Society

Traditionally the Swazi people do not refer to any particular age group as adolescents. Furthermore, there is no direct siSwati term for adolescent, while there are direct translations of the words child umntfwana) and adult (lokhulile). However, the absence of terminology does not necessarily mean an absence of that concept. Both Kuper (1947; based on research conducted from 1935 to 1937) and Marwick (1966; based on research conducted from 1936 to 1939), anthropologists who studied Swazi culture, stressed the importance of the "age-class" (libutfo) system--which could be viewed as having developmental stage components--among the Swazi nation. First, the Swazi believe strongly in respect for age. Kuper referred to the often repeated dictum "respect and obey your elders" as a central element in the process of socializing the young. Second, the Swazi nation as a military unit has influenced its social composition and customs. The class hierarchy ranges from king (iNgwenyama) and queen mother (iNdlovukazi) down to commoners (Kuper, 1974; Marwick, 1966; Booth, 1983).