View article

This article explores the two careers of rickshaw puller and policeman in colonial South Africa and in the period before unification in 1910. The terms “clothing” and “uniform” are used interchangeably, since these Zulu men were officially described as wearing regulated or prescribed clothing. There were, however, differences, since as photographic subjects, the rickshaw puller and the policeman were never photographed in the exact same clothes. Each photograph seems to have captured a unique and signature look. The instability of the “uniform” as a marker of servitude or military service is therefore attested to by the diversity of the images captured by the camera. Thus, although both professions could be said to have regulated the uniform or clothing worn by the worker, the photographs present evidence of irregularity and innovation. The latter, it will be argued, was not unique to the colony of Natal but was in …