Zulu masculinities in South African soap opera: Uzalo, Imbewu and Isibaya

This paper explores the production and consumption of contemporary Zulu masculinities presented in three South African soap operas by Zulu male audiences living in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Exploring the interpretations of the constructions of Zulu masculinities in Uzalo, Imbewu, and Isibaya by the situated Zulu male audience provides insight into their various forms of identity and social experience, bearing in mind the dominant societal and media discourses on Zulu masculinities. Data was collected via three face-to-face semi-structured interviews with soap opera producers and thirty focus group participants who represent the soap opera audience. The analysis is conceptually guided by cultural studies active audience theory and masculinity theory, both from a constructionist perspective that explores the connection between discourses, masculinities, and popular culture. The argument is based on the idea that masculinity is not fixed and is constructed within a social context and that meanings bestowed upon objects and events are influenced by the audience member's frameworks of interpretation.The resulting analysis demonstrates that although there are deliberate attempts in soap opera's preferred messaging to subvert the dominant discourses of Zulu masculinities founded on machismo entrenched in Zulu tradition, as well as negative stereotyping, the audience participants predominantly decode these according to a hegemonic understanding of an ideal Zulu masculinity based on patriarchy. This negotiation of meaning is presented according to four themes, namely; opposing homosexuality, hegemonic masculinities vs "the sensitive man", absent fatherhood as a (post) struggle identity, and polygamy as divergent decoding.