Ceramic Production in Swaziland

The article summarises recent fieldwork conducted with Swazi potters in the Manzini District of central Swaziland. These new data on pottery-making techniques and strategies are compared with observations by Lawton in the 1960s to identify and explain variation in the Swazi ceramic tradition. It is suggested that similarities in the ceramic repertoire and in production stem from a shared learning system and deep and formal cultural and linguistic relationships between Swazi communities and some nearby Zulu communities. Differences appear to result from the varying demands of local clientele, change in practices over time, and ambiguity in describing practices, which have made certain comparative results vague. On this basis, a new agenda to guide future research on ceramics in Swaziland is presented.