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.
[2][4] In July of that year, while at an education conference in Johannesburg, she met Sobhuza II, paramount chief and later king of Swaziland.
In addition to her academic work, together with her husband, Leo Kuper, she helped to found the Liberal Party in Natal[2][4] In 1961, the Kupers moved to Los Angeles, to escape the harassment of liberals that was increasingly prevalent in apartheid South Africa, and to enable Leo to accept a professorship in sociology at UCLA.
[2][4] In 1963, Kuper published The Swazi: a South African Kingdom and was herself appointed professor of anthropology at UCLA.