Hilda Kuper
South African anthropologist (1911-1992)
Hilda Beemer Kuper (née Beemer; 23 August 1911 – 23 April 1992) 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. 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.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hilda Kuper” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.