Economic remittances from employment in the Second World War and family conflicts, Swaziland, 1941-1950

Abstract

Swaziland was connected to the Allied conduct of the Second World War through colonial ties and about four thousand Swazi men were recruited to serve in the war. Historians are beginning to analyse the different ways in which Swazi society was shaped and probably changed by the events of the war. However, no research has been conducted to show how Swazi civilians were affected by the events of the war and how they responded. This article contributes toward closing this research gap by interrogating the negative impact of economic remittances on family relation. The article focuses on family conflicts that surrounded authority over remittances at family level and how the remittances were utilized. Much as there are positive impacts of remittances from war service, they do not form part of the subject of the article. The article argues that remittances from employment in the Second World War negatively affected Swazi families as it resulted in conflicts that left families divided for a long time or permanently. This argument integrates a neglected angle of the impact of the war on Swazi society. While the argument of the article is built around remittances from employment in the Second World War, it is contextualized within the broader literature on the impact of remittances. The research methodologies employed for data collection are archival and qualitative.