Weaving the Threads of Life: The Khita Gyn-Eco-Logical Healing Cult among the Yaka

Tfl O.B38 4 9 3

. .

" • lt � i lll � � i � : ! ! ,���

Rene Dcvisch is professor of social anthropology at the Catholic l.Tni\'ersities

of Leuven and Louvain.

The University of Chicago Press. Chi cago 60637

The Uni\'ersity of Chicago Press. Ltd. London © 1993 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 1993 Printed in the lTnited States of America

02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 93

543 2 I

ISBN (cloth): 0-226-14361-9 ISBN (paper): 0-226-14362-7

Library of Congress Caaaloging-in-Publication Data

Devisch. Rene. 1944Weaving the threads of life: the Khita gyn-eco-logical healing cult

among the Yaka I Rene Devisch p.

em.

Ba�ed on the author's Se recreer femme. Chapters 2-3 and 1-7 have been expanded, and chapters 1, 4, and 8, the prologue, and epilogue pletely

are com­

De\\'.

Includes bibliographical

references and index.

ISBN 0-226-14361-9.- ISBN 0-226-14362-7 (pbk.)

I. Yaka (African people)-�tedicine.-2. Yaka (African people)-Rites and ceremonies.-3. Cults-Zaire-Kinshasa.-4. Traditional medicine­ Zaire--Kinsha�a Rene. 1944-

Se

DT650.B38D475

5. Infertilit}'� Female-Zaire-Kinshasa.

reCiier femme.

I. Devisch.

0. Title.

1993

@) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for lnfomation Sciences-Pennanence of Paper for Printed Library �1aterials, ANSI Z39.48-J 984.

For 'Maama Maria' Os"Ht•ald, Jeroen, and Elisabeth co-creators of this �'ork

.

.

Contents

Acknowledgments

IX

Prologue

1

I

Field and )fethod

1.1

The Yaka People

1 .2

Field\\'ork

1.3

Bantu Cults of ..�ffliction

1.4

Healers in the To\vn

1.5

Healing as a Social and Theatrical Drama:

1.6

II

20 23

25

33

A Critique

Body and \\'�eave: A Semantic-Praxilogical Approach

2

11

37

The Cosmology of Gender Arrangements and

53

Life Transmission

3

Horizontal and Vertical Space

2.2

Cosmological Portrayal of Gender

2.3

i\nimals and Plants

2.4

Capturing and 'Cooking' Untame.d Forces

60

74 86 92

The Social Formation of Life Transmission

3.1

Life-bearing and Nurturing in the Homestead

3.2

�larriage as a Transfer '"Along the Path to the Village"

93

101

3.3

The Reproductive Cell

3.4

The Th'o-forked Tree of Agnatic Descent and Uterine Filiation

3.5 4

54

2.1

106

115

Hunting versus Sorcery, and the Fabric of Kin

122

Body, Group, and I.�ife·\\o·orld: Between

132

1\faze and Weave

4. I

Physical and Sensory �1odes of Contact

4.2

The Relational Body

139

134

viii

5

Contents

4.3

The Body and Its Afflictions

4.4

Cults of Affliction and Communal Sodalities

5.2 53 .

164

Divinatory Etiology and the Work of Cults

Etiology as an Indication of Therdpy

169

173 179

The Khita Fertility Cult: Reversing the Evil 180

6.1

Khita

6.2

The First Stage: Reversing the Persecution into Uterine

6.3

Bonds of Life Transmission 183 The Second Stage: The Decay and Cooking of

and Similar Cults

Generative Forces

196

The Khita Fertility Cult: Re origina tion of

Fabric of Body, Kin, and Life-world 7.1 The Third Stage: Seclusion in the

the 213

Uterus of the

7.3

�rorld 214 The Fourth Stage: Emancipating Forest Forces into Social Fecundity 224 Relapse of Illness 244

7.4

Fertility Rituals and Analyses Compared: A Look at

7.2

Victor Turner 8

161

Masculinist Views on Human Agencies in Infertility

7

147

Impediments to Life Transmission

5.1

6

146

The Body as 8.1

8.2

8.3 8.4

245

the Weaving Loom of Healing and Life

The Role of Music and Dance in Healing The Source of Healing 264

255

259

Paradox, Transgression, and Homeopathic Healing A Ternary Logic of Mediation and Effusion in Self-healing 276

267

Epilogue

282

Appendix A: A Case of Infertility

Notes References

285 293 296 299 315

Index

325

Appendix B: Herbarium Maps

Platesfollo'r1t' page 160

Acknowledgments

The present study stems from communal enthusiasm and shared exploration, not\\l·ithstanding my many disconcerting departures from the family, the hard­ ships of the field, and the apparent paradoxes of a commitment to genuine encounter across boundaries in the wake of cultural decolonization. My graduate studies at the L'rniversity of Kinshasa in the late

1960s and early

1970s awakened in me a sense of effective solidarity. My research in Kinshasa and the southvY'estem part of the country was made possible by the suppnds when spoken to. There are many interrelated expressions of closure: extreme timidity, sorrow, grief, prolonged anger, pent-up rage, refusal to speak or to share one's income, senseless spe.e ch , being stiffened by sadness or despair, apathy, melancholy, and \\'ithdra\val from social contact . A backache that ties the person to the house or to the ground-to sitting or lying the \\'hole day-is a threatening symptom of closure. These symptoms are further believed to be manifested in disorders such as severe cramps, chronic constipation� dumbness, otitis, deaf­ ness, sore eyes, blindness, madness, paralysis, and sterility. In these ailments the body boundaries act as fences or lines of cleavage. Through ensorcellment, the victim "s body and vital flow are turned inward ,;'like a fermenting cassava paste that is indissolubly bound in a bushel ." A second, and related or inverse, syndrome i nvol ves dispersal, effusion (n-luta, phalu) as an effect of intrusive outside forces . Included here are states

t47

Body, Group� and life-world

f xcessive h eat or fire, connoting fever ( mbaaMt·u). An assault or rape (yidy­ e particu larly one committed by agnatic kinsmen, may feed on a person s

�a).

'

rfe force and reverse or counte.ract the individual's functions of sociability: the ted suffers from effusion and weakens, or displays an 'extrusive' behavior �ic

temper. These symptoms are all the more thre atening for an adult or severe rnan. He is said to have. an impatient heart that bursts out in rages; he is no

longer able to keep cool and con trol his temper. Such exc.essive heat is also exhibited in hypocritical speech, inconsistent thought and discourse, genernl irascibility, wild cursing, obscene speech, sexual harassment, and an inability

along \\rith others-the latter especially indicatin g failure to agree \\rith the elders and disrespect of family ties. These fonns of asocial behavior may . tually lead to a loss of the senses, for they undermine the life force by even to get

subverting commensality and the nonnative social impetus to personhood Such insane persons may v-'ander around and finally get lost in the forest and .

die. A third syndrome concerns a fragmentation, an incontinence or emptying of

the body

(seendu� -selumrma), a \\'ithdra\\'ing

or gnaY.'ing away of the victim's

vital flov-' and life force: the bodily boundaries may be \Veakened or deflated

(-ltvaala) to the po int that they are no longer able to \\'ithstand many of the

impulses to \\'hich the individual is exposed. It di ssolves selfhood. In this state,

the presence of another person may be experienced as an intrusion. The life

source of the v ictim subsequently is obstructed

( -keyisa),

dwindles, and fails,

or conversely, may spill over uncontrollably. The envious and deprecatory gaze of another may penetrate the other's bodily space and obstruct the vital flow. This deflation may thus produce any number of disorders in the victim, such

as dysentery, lasting diarrhea, depression, respiratory difficulties, disorienta­

tion of the senses, fear and nervousness, suffocation, fainting and anesthesia,

physical injury, wounds� ulceration, and discharge of pus. An assau l t ' on the '

part of another may further bring about insomnia and nightmares or incite the

afflicted individual to v-'ords and acts of aggression, epileptic fits, apparent

intoxication, and obscene speech or sexual misdemeanors. Intrusive afflictions

are usually transmitted through agnatic bonds, and particularly those ailments brought on by the hostile look or gaze. Other persons living in close proximity

to the afflicted agnatic relatives may also be attacked by means of envious looks, backbiting, ghosts sent at night, or even by an aggressor who enters the victim's body in order to prey on and obstruct the vital flow and life force.

4.4 Cults of Affliction and Communal Sodalities The Yaka practice some twenty initiatory cult� (phoongu). Cults provide both

spiritual and practical devices and methods for h and l in g crises in the life of the

individual and of the collective. They are associated with ambivale.nt agenci es :

Clulpter Four

148

capable of being both destructive and reg enerative persecuting and healing� ,

de fla t i ng and empo\vering. The initiation lead s to a life long membership. -

They involve '·middle-range spirits" (Janzen's term'l 1989:237) that surpass in s pace and time the ancestral shades, w hi ch are bo u nd to rel ation s of descent.

The cults rea c h beyond li neage barriers and cross partitionings of kin and gen­ der. Some of them include alien spirits from neig h bo ring cu l tures, as they seck

to co me to terms with migrant labor or long distance trade. 1\vo particular -

categories may be distingu ished accord ing to the means of their transmission and their association with c om m u nity and family life respe cti ve l y Comn1unaJ .

sodalities are linked with v al ues and afflictions regardin g agnatic descent mas­ ,

cu linity, pu blic comm u nit y life, and government in the cen ter of the hoine­

stead Some offer spirit legitimat ion to the major masculinist values. The major .

cults of affliction, in tum, are transmitted along the. ute rine line and concerned

with complexes of afflictions and social path olog y in rel ation to m aternal val­

ues Their seclusion rituals take place at the edge of the p atienfs hamlet, at the .

.

gate\w. ay betwe.en the village realm and the alien \\·orld-that is, the realn1 of ·

the liminal While the rites in each category reflect a fo rmal si milari ty in tern1s .

of procedure, each of the cults differs as to its deployment of sp ecific meta­

phors that tie in

\'lith

the w·ider li fe world and c os mo logy. Each cult has anum­ -

ber of core metaphors, dances, chants, ritual texts, and medicinal prep arations

.

The therapeutic initiation may last from a fe\\' days to even a year or more

depending on the gravity of the affliction, the efficacy of the healing , and the

familial means for payment. On the one hand, communal sodalities convey, in

lines with rules of agnatic inheritance, a privileged social identity or role onto

men, or see k to rec onnect a g roup of men with the agnati c ancestral life force:

in recy cl ing the deeds and \vords of the founding ancestors, they regenerate

and re empow er the agnatic group and the v.·orld order. On the other hand, -

·

affliction is the onl y access to initiation in the cults of affliction. These healing cults focus on the ph y sica l body, its innate traits and ailments in relat i o n to �

the basic values of social exchan ge that sustain the uterine transmission of the

vital flo\\' thro ugh marri age, maternity, and the avunculate. Both divination and healing, like physical health itself, belong to the maternal, ute rine .. and avuncu­

lar d omain : they are resistant to control by m a sculine po\ver or by the polit ical

game of the elders in the center of diurnal village life

.

In order to address the question regarding the importance of cult h ealing it ,

is nece ssary to understand the political control of health and the degree to

\Vhich healers enj oy autonomy \w.·ithin the stru cture of po\ver. This topic (in

lines with Feiennan 1985) raises a nu mber of questions: Are healers only dele­ -

gates of the rulin g class? Does cult healing seek to enforce the polit ic al control

the elders have over issues of descent, marriage, and the transmission of life? .Are healers allies of the patients or representatives of gerontocratic and patriar­

chal power·! Do healers keep some categories of p eople or of suffering outside

t heir s phe re of concern?

Body� Group� and Life-\\·orld

t49

4.4.1 Cults oj' affliction and healing (phoong�·vamooyi)

are

in­

the uterine line onf.v through tni�fortune called on hy a curse. In case � rited in

';a lasting illness or other recurrent misfortune of some ill-fated kind, the ted may consult a clairvoyant diviner, whose oracle is some­ aJJlil)' of the afflic �hoW the of his O\\in ngoombu spirit within a cult that sta �ds independent voice

of and above all the other cults. ln many cases, the oracle. discloses that the.

misfortune has bee.n brought about by a curse uttered by a matrilineal forebear in ret. al iation for a "theft"-a notion that stands for ensorcellment and any

other offense or ill-threat-by relatives that the latter had been suffering from. In his curse the forebear has invoked the support of one or another cult, or mo re

. tral cult spirit to avenge the offense and prec.isely he has summoned a nonances persecute the \\'Tongdoer or one or another of his uterine descendants. Only the

victim of that retaliation may join a cult and devote herself or himsel. f to her or

his cult spirit to domesticate the persecutive relation and foster it into a sup­

portive one for the rest of he.r or his life. It is thus the divinatory etiol()gy

regarding the particular affliction that orients the afflicted to one or another

cult for initiation and treatment: as such. a similar affliction may be caused by

and thus treated in rather unrelated cults. It is the the.rapist's aim to revers . e the

ill-fated process by lifting the curse of the matrilineal forebear and thus the

origin of the illness or misfortune, after which he then will treat the afflicted

by means of initiation (n.-saku) in the same cult. The cults thus cure afflictions that are. thought to be, in a sense. congenital: as they are passed down from

mothers to (classificatory) sons and daughters, a son is exposed to the persecu­ tive action from the cult his (classificatory) mother has been initiated in. but

his children may be under the threat of a cult in his \"·ife ·s uterine kin. Four of them-khita, mhlvoolu. ngoombu, and maawa-are Hcults \Vith a demonstra­

tive trance'' (phoongu ya kalu/wj, caused by the spirit of the same name: the

trance is both a major congenital affliction in the uterine line and a resource for the healing of the initiate and the reviviticat.ion of her or his life-\\'orld.

In these same four cults, carved statuettes of human figures constitute a vital

intermediary space bet\\'een initiate and spirit. (These are to some extent docu­

mented in Dumon and Devisch 1992.)

Cults and sorcery are intimately but conversely connecte.d. Uterine c.ults of

affliction appear as an unauthore.d extrahuman management of retaliation and

redress that reverses evil-basically ensorcellment-into a process of healing

in the matrilineal line. Ensorcellment feeds gre.edily on vital force . s in people,

\\'hereas a cult revers . es the evil-both the. agent and the misfortune-against

itself self-destructively so as to restore the large.r weave. of forces. Thus, in using the tenn phoongu (''cult") Yaka people refer to a chain of forces or causal agencies, namely curse, spirit, retaliation. misfortune or illness. and healing.

The drama of retaliation for an evil, and thus of the misfortune that issues from it, is an unauthored contrivance of the self-governing rule of exchange in the

uterine line (see 5.2). The tenn cult can stand for the. entire drarna of self-

governance of the rule of exchange or any of these agencies at \vork, accordin

g to a feedback mechanism, congruently in the fields of body, family, and life world. The drama of retaliation and misfonune enacted by the cult spirit�­ ..

so to say, operative in the cosmological body-both shapes and echoes

co­

occuring ones in the social and physical body. In other words, for th e )"aka phoongu denotes both nonancestral and unlocalizable spirits that may

'

cause

misfortune or bring healing, as well as the institution itself for cursing and curing seen as a field of forces to be domesticated by a proper cult. The curse

and the divinatory etiology tend someho\\' to consider phoongu

as

named spir­

its. Ho\vever, they arc not regarded as self-steering entrepreneurs of vind icative actions or authors of their own script or plot. Inasamuch as the therapy brings about an autoproductive drdllla (see ch. 7}. the notion of phoongu concern� also the entire cult and process at work \\'ithin consonant fields of multiple forces that may bring about both illness and cure. Cults thus bear and manipu­ late forces in transgenerational time. And, as the divinatory oracle often brings out, sorcerers may conceal their plot so that the misfonune they cause to hap­ pen in their close kin of the same or foliO\\'ing generation appears as if it

were

only the work of a cult, that is, of a cult spirit. Reno\vned diviners hoYlever

can

unmask the sorcerous plot. The divination cult is thus the pivot of the entire system of healing cults in the uterine line. Because of its importance, divina­ tion-including the becoming of a mediumistic diviner-receives a close look in the follo\\'·ing presentation of cults. Healers, called ngaanga� are former patients �·hose initiation in the appro­ priate cult Jed to their recovery from the incapacitating illness they no\\' addres� in their client. A boy born shortly after or as a result of his mother's initiation is predestined to becoming a healer. All this enables a great identification be­ t\\'een healer and patient , and, since healing drav.'s heavily on interdependence, Yaka healers are intent on making allies among those people who suffer an affliction similar to the one they have experienced. To put it frankly, healers may also need patients like them in order to heal themselves. Consequently, in cases of severe illness such as severe psychosis, \\'ild epileptic fits, blindness, deafness, or serious infection, healers feel unable to intervene. The cults of affliction are similar to the mahaamba in the Luunda cultural zone of i�ngola, Zaire and Zambia (De Boeck 1991a; Lima 1971; Turner 1967, 1968; Yoder 1981 ). Most of the cult names prove to be untranslatable. In the following discussion, the most popular or prevailing cults

are

listed first� tal­

lowed by the more marginal or fragmentary ones. (a) lvgoombu or ngoombH-·aK-·eefi·va is a major cult with trance behavior (see Devisch 199la). It deals \Vith patients \\'ho intrude on another's private space through hysteric or epileptic-like crises, or, on the contrary.. 'Nho withdraw from social contact and suffer from respiratory and pulmonary disturbances such

as

expectoration, persistent cough� forms of bronchitis, and asthma. Some

Body, Group. and Life-y.·orld

]51

eem very shy, and confess how much they see the shade of a deceased tients s tive. These are in fact all symptoms which may moreover manifest viner rela al s vocation as mediumistic diviner. i ndividu an 'ben the hysteric. or epileptic-like crisis tips ove.r into a trance state that � s the. patte rn of the ngoombu cult, the patient may be. considered a candi­ bow for the divinership. The trance in fact inaugurates the initiation and trans­

�

"

�te

patient into a spirit medium. The medium-\llho may be a man or a forms the to metaphorically integrate the regenerative capacity of the v.'oman-is led hicken. Entranced, the diviner-initiand, like the fully certified diviner. may

c

without any help \l.'hatsoever climb to the crest of a palm tree t or jump up on house, and then leap to the ridge and tear away at the straw the roof of his (Devisch 199lc). In the entire. mimet in the movement of his eyes, head and

body, prancing about, Vlalking on the balls of his feet and crowing "coo, coo, coo:' the entranced imitates the hen. The possessed medium then reveals the name of a matrilineal forebear \\'ho was also a diviner and who now calls a successor. These various aspects of entranced behavior are termed -puumbuka. "'to leap;� -kalu� "to release, deliver oneselft'� or -\-·uula, �'to slip away.'" Such a

trance authenticates or reminds one of one �s calling to the divinership. After

going into the trance, diviner-to-be is se.cluded for nine months in a ritual hut to the edge of village space. The seclusion aims at healing and the prescribed � behavior, songs, paraphernalia, and the group ·s consent attune the diviner to the gift of clairvoyance that is awakening in him or her. During this initiatory seclusion, the diviner may enter in trance any time he or she he ars about or witnesses sorcery. When finally led out of seclusion, at da\\·n, the me.dium withd.ra\1/·s to the stretch of Y-'ood at the edge of the homestead, and there be­ haves like a predator. In a trance, the diviner bites off the head of a hen and holds this head in his mouth. Then a close parent carries the diviner on his shoulders into the village. Reaching the seclusion hut, the diviner prances about in a trance-like state and ide-ntifies again with the brooding hen as during the seclusion. The initiation is completed \\'hen a senior-diviner, literally hy,·ho has acted as his mother�' (ngula ngaanga), completes his paraphernalia so as to release his full mediumistic capacity and protect him against sorcerers. Since the clairvoyance is meant to be most bright in the newly initiated me­ dium, his divinatory oracles are usually given great credence: he acts as a highly respected, public, and independent consultant who authoritatively iden­ tifies the problem and then directs the patient to the relevant family interven­ tion and healing cult (see ch . 5).

My reading of the. symbolism in the context of the initiation procedure that is specific to the cult of divination indicates ho\•l much the cock croY-'ing at the. sunrise and more strikingly the brooding hen act as symbols of intermediacy and mobility, not only between night and dayt forest and village� low and high, but also between the one who engenders and the one who is engendered. By

152

Chapter Four

singing at dawn like the cock, the diviner-medium announces the end of the realm of the night and sorcery. By momentarily likening herself to a predator she overcomes the persecutive dimension of the spirit of divination \Vhic

h

made her ill. The diviner-to-be is thus a patient, and initiation into th e divin,

ership is also a healing procedure. The spirit's aggression from which she had until no\v been the victim is displaced onto the animal. and the spirit may then release its capacity_ to sustain her mediumistic art of divining. From now on.

the medium identifies more fully \\'ith the symbolism of mutation and re­ origination by metaphorically enacting the role of the hen brooding an egg.

The house where the diviner-to-be undergoes the initiatory seclusion acts like

a shell enveloping the initiate, \\'ho is her- or himself in a process of incubation that leads towards a new identity. The house moreover stands for ngoongu, the

primal, egg-like \Vomb of the world. The trance is a corporeal dramatization of

this mutation and in it the diviner transcends all those demarcations upon \\'hich the Yaka \\'Orldview depend (see Bourdieu

1980:348).

In this manner

the trance of the diviner-medium becomes an ontological trdllsfonnation: it

establishes the order of the demarcations by transcending them in a decisive

\vay. Trance thus permits the diviner to become the measure of both norm and

deviance. Trance. mortal agony, orgasm, and birth are all symbolically a'isoci­ ated in that they constitute either limit-experiences or the trespassing of human limits and therefore offer a model of self-healing in the manner of integration

of the corporeal and the sociocultural.

Consulting a diviner occurs near his house, in the open, and in the presence

of the representatives of the husband·s patrikin and the \\'ife's father and uncle.

The client, namely the afflicted person, is rare.ly present. Upon arrival, after a formal exchange of greetings, the most senior among the consultants, without

\\'ords, hands over to the diviner a yiteendi, '-a piece of cloth''-often substi­

tuted by a coin-which has absorbed the client's shadow or double by being

rubbed over her or his chest. It constitutes a kind of intermediary object be­

t\\'een the client, the consultants, and the diviner. From now on the. oracle proper may take place. During the entire meeting, the consultants avoid offer­

ing any information to the diviner; by their discretion and evasiveness, they

seek to test the clairvoyant or paranormal nature of the oracle. The consulting

parties have faith in the diviner's message to the extent that its truly clairvoyant

or divinatory quality manifests itself. The diviner should bring out by himself the subject placed before. the oracle: he should answer himself the fixed set of questions that he is chanting in the idiom of his cult with high-pitched voice

and accelerated breathing. f\.1ore and more overtaken by his inner vision, as if in a dream, he moves into some kind of trance-like state of expanded con­ sciousness when he is about to trace or bring out the reason of his clie.nts'

consultation and indicate the cause of the misfortune th ey are facing ..At that

Body� Group, and Life-world

,;3

oment, shocked by the sorcero . us complot that they are unmasking, young

ay leap into the ostentatory trance behavior that marked their initia­ viners m 0 Calming doy,rn and in a more colloquial speech, the diviner then further �� rates upon these revelations by analysing by himself the illness on the

:. ��

grid provided by his cult tradition (sec 5.2). :asisvofralan etiological r divination procedures that are part of the ngootnbu cult

mino may se e be consulted in the case of bad dreams and certain material misfortunes, as in

bunting, agriculture,. or business, or death and loss of animals and damage to tools. In the past, ordeal by fire ( ngoomb»'a luuj'u) \Vas used. Some or Joss of

p e ople are specialized in a kind of inductive oracle using an adhering hom of a duiker ( ngoomb}va n-seengu ). or a rubbing stick board (ngoombwa n- ti).

Because it is thought that these oracle forms can be manipulated by those con­ cerned, people do not acce-rt their results \vithout skepticism.

(b) Khita: This cult first causes and then treats afflictions relative to female

reproduction, namely incapacity to conceive, temporary cessation of menstrual

flov.', excessive flow of the menses, irregular menstrual periods� miscarriage, stillbirth .. and recurrent death of infants. Such afflictions are, according to some

thentpists, the province of

khita

1nandzandza. Congenital anomalies of human

reproduction, including the birth of tv.'ins .. albinos, and dw·arf or malformed

children, are the specific concern of khita

lukobi.

(c) ..MhM'oolu: The term derives from -�t-·oola, meaning both �'to impair or

deform .. ' and •'to reerect, revalidate:� The cult is first and foremost directed to disabled and rehabilitating patients. It is secondarily invoked in the treatment of grave and chronic fevers by which the fluid substances of the body are \\'asted aV�·ay� particularly those occurring in children or due to sleeping sick­ ness or malaria., exceptional emaciation, chronic diarrhea., black urine .. chronic

and productive cough \\'ith fever, and river blindness. Thirdly, it addresses pa­

tients suffering from severe •implosion�' those having lost all sense of self and living 'beside. themselves.' They perceive themselves in terms of frightening

nightmares \\'here they see themselves sucke-d into \\'hirlpools and rivers .. lost

in deep ravines� encountering snakes, or being struck by lightning. The tsyo or tsyoolva cult, associated \vith the elephant hunt. is an auxiliary to mh•1loolu.

From about

1910 on�'ards, mblvoo/u practice� moreover, has sought to domes­

ticate the unprecedented intrusion of colonial trade and influence in Yaka land (Devisch

199lb;

Bourgeois

1978-79;

Huber

1956).

(d) �WaaH-·a is associated \vith water spirits, and it is invoked in some cases

of closure and coldne-ss� such as in fe-minine sterility, amenorrhe� anemia, and ,;�S\\'ollen or extended belly' ..

(yivitnu ki"·iimbidi).

(e) Ndzaatnbit also referred to as ndzaambyaphuungu yiluunda, causes

as

well as treats a number of afflictions of implosion: the. belly is seen as a peel or cocoon hiding a greedy or parasitic core that sucks in and hides the body's

154

Chapter Four

en . tire vitality. C onversely, J..,.__,dz.nambi fi gures also as som e kind of bird h atc hi ng

out of a primord ial egg like state. This name has been r ec yc l ed in Christian -

discours e to indicate t he Sup reme B eing .

(f) The n-kanda cult is directed mainl y to skin d iseases of various kinds

such as b oils and abscesses.

(g) The last cultic category, yitnbala, is also held to treat various skin

diseases.

Cult healing in Yaka socie ty is a domain �'ithdrav•n from the p olitic al realm

- enjoy a great professional and public authority, and consequently cult healers au tonomy. This is not to say that the social aspects of sickness are d ismi s sed

,

but that they are dealt with in the homestead d uri ng public councils of fa mi l y

elders. The latter deal \'lith the social origin and effects of the misfortune. )"aka the rap ists ho\vever, do not seek to infl uence the public issu es affecting or ,

re­

lated �'ith health and sickness. C on ce rned 'N ith revleav ing the vital flov.'

( mooyi_),

the healer operates within the realm of uterine filiation at the margin�

of the diurnal order of village life. Healers countervail and challenge ind i rectl y

the bases of the political power of chiefs. elders, and family heads, that is� of

the viril e order. They witness to the incapa city of agnati c descent to do \Vithout

the inp ut of uterine fi liation Healers, so to speak, look back at the social order .

-from the edge, that is. from the resources of the forest and the transitional '

zone between v illage space and savanna or forest.

Yaka mediu mistic diviners do not functi on as political advisors; they will

never int entionally serve a chief's political ambition. A diviner is only willing to examine a c ase of affl iction if it is submitted by those directl y concerned.

Diviners will not unmask cases of sorce ry, theft . adultery, or o ther kinds of

abuse at the mere demand of a chief in his search for coerciv e control over his

subordinates. Nor \\'ill a chief seek a div iner s advice in order to organ ize rites '

for c ommun al � ell being to settle disputes. to resolve public cris es or to pros­ '

-

,

pect a coll ect ive hunt or the proper site to choose for the vil l ag e

,

.

Cult management may variously weaken patri arch al assumption s rather than

merel y submitting the patient to so ciety s control. Yet it clearly offers the pa­ '

tient and the sup port group an importan t c hance to frame and reassert their

exp eri ence v..dthin the cosmolog ic a l order of meaning and the intim ate social

net\vork proper to the translineage cult. Membership in a cult gives the initiate

a vital support group an d a relative autonomy vis-a-vis patriarchal authority.

4.4.2 ConJnumal cult.i or sodalities are agn.atic, and

are con­

cerned with pol-t-'er, public skills, and masculinist values. First, they are con­

cerned �·ith paramount ru le rship , corporate kin interests, fami ly traditions,

male fecundity, and the arts of s mithery and of hunting-\vhich are pri vil eged

masculine profe�sions. They do not re quire an illness to in dicate a vocation on

the part of the initia te, and initiatio ns are pu blic and communal. Second� inas-

Body. Group. and Life-world

much as these cults may provoke affliction, the ailments are not considered to be congenital, though, in some cults, a misfortune may indicate a vocation ming a cult priest. The symptoms involve loss of vitality, impotence, to beCO

urrender or weakness and dependence, great anxiety� repeated failure in the s bunt, be i ng struck by lightning or s u cc umb ing to other brutal accidents, lasting \vithdrawal from social encounter, or, more rarely, physi cal ailments such as

\\·asting diarrhoea or 'swelling' of the belly or limbs. Healing aims at social integrat ion in the lineage order very much through a communal ritual that reen ­

acts some of the. mythical deeds v.'ith regard to the foundation of social h ierar

­

chy and agnat ic descent, \\·hile conferring on the patient and coinitiates the marks of social ide.ntity or status. The te.nn phoongu zan-niku indicates the

great exte.n t to which these cults involve apprenticeship in the use or fashioning of medicines or pov.'er objects (n-niku). Public male cults-like virility it­ self-focus on ngolu: force, streng th, and control. That is to say that the ag­

natic cults are only for men, and in a fe\v cases the.ir spouses . These agnatic

cults are preside-d over by the lineage chie.f� whose responsibility it is to guard

the major sacre.d objects of the cult. They are comparable to the lemba cult that, among the neighboring Koongo, addressed the role of merchants in trade

(Janzen 1982). Family heads are titleholders of the agnatic cults: patients

treated in these cults mav share the use of the hereditarv artifacts with the �

-

.

titleholder. The haamb� khosi, mbaambi, and n-IUl-va cults display carved stat-

uettes and a number of hered itary cult relics and regalia that pass from one

titleholder to the next.

(a) Luklulanga: This cult bestov.'s the ruler in the Luunda tradition with sov­

ereign pov.·er and the. capacity to personify unity and perpetuity. Lukhaanga priests and initiates may counterbalance, particularly in the realm of night,

the chief's pretense to paramount pov.'er. The sodality comprises three cultic

traditions or associations for the elite. First, lukhaanga involves the political title-holder at the region al or subregional leveL and his fello\v-titleholders:

namely, the chief's highest -ranking y;ife (she here represents the uterine source

of life and prosperity to V.'hich the chief has access for the benefit of his peo­

ple); the chief,s son� the subchief; one of the chief's classificatory brothers in

the collateral line (and therefore. his heir); and finally, one of the chiefs senior

classificatory sisters. At the onse.t of the enthronement the chief and his fello w

­

titleholders fonn one collective body (see Devisch 1988). Enthronement in the sodality identifies this colle.ctive body V.'ith the 'parthenogenesis' proper to

the founding ancestors: it is as if each successive titleholder embodies anev-' the

ideals and forces at the. foundation of the sodality Impersonating the founding .

ancestor.. the chief and coinitiates make prese.nt �'the primal and permanent splice-time order" (yir... t khulu); they reembody or 're-pre.sent' and impose the

�rennial hierarchical social organizationt territorial uni ty, and order.

In the

enthronement and subsequent reignt the chief and fellow titleholders must re\ \

1 56

Chapter Four

enact the founding dramas of conq uest and life transm i ssion. Sacrific i al de ath

dr,,�

mortuary ritual., rebirth , purification., and other rites reenact the founding mas of the coercive po l itical order and provide transformative me tapho rs , virtue of \\l·hich the ch ief is e.nabled to transcend partitions or di ffere n ces -­

b�,

such as those bet\\'een the genders and bet\\'een ascendants and desce n da nts ­

and to conceal his own bodily trans itoriness . Moreover., lukhaanKa in c l u des

pov.'ers to provoke or treat cases of insanity, respi ratory or pulmonary infecti on. hemorrhage, leprosy, and certain forms of svlelling of belly or limb s due aneffila.

Second .. lukhaanga patronizes the maternal mlvani kab �vanga cult

��

for th e

fertility of land and people. The chief acts as the supreme mediator of the regenerative proce sses and resources in and bet\\r·een the cosmos , the land, the societ}� and humanity. Mlvan i kabwanga bestows upon the col lecti ve body

of ruler and fello\\' titleholders the life-giving capacity that links the genera­ tions together, even overcoming death, and that secures the ferti l ity and v..· el l­ being of the chief"s daughters and by extension of all women and the land in

the chiefs territory. He and his co-dign itaries link the people" the territory� the

land, and the cosmic order w·ith ngoongu, the primal womb- the cos mic and

egg- or tree-like source of l ife \\'hich ceaselessly emerges and regenerates.

Third, n-ngoongi is another sodality linked to lukham1ga. This sodality i s

called nJwiingoony among the Aluund to the south of Yaka land (De Boeck

1 99 l b). It associ ates the initiates with the respon sibilities, virtues , and secrets

of the title-holders, and enhances the bond between the ancestral line of Luunda rulers and the living male and fem ale members of the chief's lineag e .

Moreover., n-ngoongi bestows upon the ruler and his regal ia the capacity to

overcome the dominion of the night., death, and drought, thereby sustai ning the

cycles of sun, moon, rain, and the seasons-as is al so enacted in the chiefs ritual enclosure, ndzo mala/a (see

2.4. 1

above) .

(b) Yikubu. also called mbiimbya n-khanda or n -khanda, is the cult that

marks the passing on of male fecundity from the older generati on to the pube s­ cent boys just before or during sexual awakening and Hcoming in force� ' ( -kaanda) (see

( -tomasa

luutu).

3 .3

above). C ircumcision aims at �'getting the body better''

The cult accompanies circumcision and puberty, and i t offers

healing in cases of masculine sterility, bone fracture , or leprosy -the latter is

considered an effect of incest. It is also the cult in which i mpotence is treated.

Under the supervision of the family elders and patriarchs, boys undergo i nitia­ tion into manhood and virile society. The blacksmi th is someti mes responsi ble for the circumcision proper or for making the masks \vhich enable the new ly

circumcised to pass from one state to another at the conclusion of the puberty rites (see Devisch 1972) . The kyandzangoombi prie st, also called yisidika, pre­

vents ( -sidilw ) the. boys from experiencing a fatal loss of blood or en sorce l l­

ment. B y spitti ng aphrodisiac chewings on the genital s, he urges the boys

to

1 ;7

B ody, Group, and L ife-\vo rld

.. 001e po ten � brave, and ene rgetic .

In contrast to the khita ' gyn-eco- logical '

tion. circumcisi on initi ation doe s not foc us on experience s of death, ges­ a i � �:ion. and re birth . N-khanda initiation is much more concerned with the foun­ at the base of society : the original migration of the :tionanl deed s. stoandrs, ideals violence, s orcery, the origins of generations, the invention

nce foundi g a of fire� huntin g � smithery. The collective initiati on into manhood thereby bc­

tiates Y.'ith the ide als of the cul ture heroes and the hunter. The st ov.rs the ini b ous e of sec l usion (ndzf�(u) for the circ um ci sed is associ ated \\'ith the elephant (ruL�·oku). It is si tuated in the savanna bordering the vil l age to the east. The ci rcu mcis ion cult.. centered around sym boli sm of the greg arious elephant, cele­ brates male force. and potency as collectively s hared among the commoners .

The cul t su g ge sts that men of the same age group, through uni ty, may tive ly attain the force of the elephant and thereby become capable of fac i ng

collec­

the. mo nocracy and violence of tho se among the ch iefs and patriarchs who , l i ke their totemic anim als the leopard, croc odile, and eagle, behave as aloof preda­

tors ( Devi sch 1 98 8). This su gge sts that \vhile fostering unity among age-mates� the puberty i nitiation interjects a note of te nsion contrariety in the physical

or

and social transformation from boys to men. Access to malehood faces the

circumcised V.'ith the rule of subordinati on and poten tial terror imposed by elders.

(c) Haamba, mbaamhi, and n-luwa, the latter also called 1n1·vani phutu, are

sodalities that link up the Luunda dynastic fami l ies with the chiefly values of bravery and splendor and with the chi ef's totemic figures such

as

the leoparcL

crocodile, a type of large chame.leon , and the rai nbo\\'. The cults ''recall ' '

( -aatnba) the invention of smithery, hunt ing, and the coercive use of powe.r.

They are paired with the exerc i se of political power of L u u nda patrimony and serve to perpetuate the myth of the civ ilizing heroes of the Luunda empire in the Nkalaany homeland i n Shaba . Initiates in these cults may act as commi s­ s i oners between rival chiefly famil ies . On the other han d, when transmitted equally along agnatic and uterine l i nes, these. cults may inc l ude possession­ trance and provide. treatment for some ki nds of :.'spl i tting bead,"' mental distur­

bance, epilepsy, high fevers , difficulty in breathing, sprain s and for several ..

inj uri es caused by firearms in the hu nt. (d ) Khosi and n-h�t-·aadi are related cults, sometimes invol ving trance, th at are capable of causi ng fatal affl iction s by way of reta l iation for a murderous e nsorcellment t h at \vas once comm i tted by a uterine forebear or cursed in the s ame cult . They may cause a brutal death, and may eithe.r bring or cure demen­

tia� bo ne fracture, hemorrhage, and high fever. Other conditions indicati ng treatment in these cults i nclude inj uries due to lightning, firearms, near drov.'n­ ing , or snakebi te.

(e) Leembi, yindongu, and yipfudila represent another group of cults that

m ake up a parti cular art of heal ing transmitted along the patri J ine- t houg h

1 ·, I.

\

'

Chapter Four

1 58

cases of uterine tran smi ssion are not unknown- offering treatment for ep ilep­ ti c seizu res ( -pfudika), mental disturbance, and tetanus . (f)

Ndzuundu i s the cult associated \\'ith

sm ithery, offering also treatment. of

those forms of anem ia involving uswelli ngs of the legs or the bel l y and the

blood turning into \\'ater." (g) N-laangu

( literally,

"mal e sex") and n-kuba mbadi

( literal l y,

�'purse to

contai n a hemi at") address impotence, hernia, swellings of the te sticles, and elephantiasis .

(h) Khiimbi,

malemu,

11UJtaan1ba,

1nandongu,

and ngola are mere fragmen­

tary e lemen t s of cults kno\vn for their formidable panoply of ritual defense and attack ( -taamba).

Public cults or sodal ities hint both at making all i ances \Vith and at counter­

ba lancing the po l itica l order and chiefs . Haamba,

n-lul"-'lJ,

and associate d c u lts

are pri ncipally concerned with de adly c ursi n g \Vi th the intent to attack

( -ht-·a)

or to exact reven ge ( -aamba), and a fami l y elder could leve l a c urse

even

against the e ntourage of a political titleholder of middle rank, the vassal s in ­ cluded. Recent sorcery cleansing movements, as I observed in

1 974

and 1 99 1 .

may be rooted in Ch ristian faith healin g and may be a reac tion to coloniali sn1 or the il l - fated intrusion into Yaka land of u nequally shared cash goods or u rban (sexual) licen se . These move men t s do not confront chiefs

of

or eve.n seek

their support, but attack cult healing and , most v iolently, the heart of it, nam e ly

divination . Communal soda l itie s seem to l ose much more of their vital ity than heal i ng cults do once they are in lasting contact with a cash economy, sc hool

education, and the urban mixing of p eopl e . The ci rcumcision ritual is very much shortenecL if not reduced to a mere physical intervention.. w hen practi ced in the urban context. In Kinshasa, initiates in communal cults-w ith the exce-p­

t ion of the other great pol itical titleholders-do not enj oy major privi l ege s or prestige .

All cults have shrines that contain numerous medici nes or power objects­

such as small statuettes, cow ri es , bracelets , hangers, shells, horns, and bun­

dles - con t ai ned in decorated ritual artifacts. Most shrines act as standing medicines since they are set up to prevent ill or to avenge an attack or evi l . f\1ajor herbalist or phytotherapeutic prac tices are the m onopoly of some cults and the ir s pecialists . Each cult has i t s proper initi atory art of herbal remedies and prophy l ac tic , purgative, or tonic medicines, called n-kamulCJ,

"

bouqu et of

leaves .'' The same tenn m ay also de signate any external element-skin, bark,

s urface., etc.-that would allow identification of the substance in question. Al­

though every ''bouquet of leaves" i s of a unique combin at ion , certain p l ants or plant products may be found in all ritua l specializations and/or cults. �arne,

co lor code, smell, habitat , and assoc iation v.rith some animal are as important as its vegetal properties . They are each time, however, combined in a manner

which endo\'lS each w ith a particular signifi cation : here one speaks of

Body. Group , and Life-world

n·rvobunga anga� '·a plant of common ritual usage,'' Vw'hose sp ec ific value i s

a form of motto . In order t o express his re q ue s t to d e� d ign ate by a surname or be i ni tiated into the legitimate and expert use of a particular bouquet of plant s , c e or client \""'ill offer the specialist a lu bong u l"vataangu kataangila the n ov i bu ngaan.ga, literally, ua skirt of the sun� a c loth \\'ith as many shades of c o l ors as th ose of th e sun, in order that he reveal his sp e c i al i st knov-'ledge." A c co rd in g to th e e xegesis offered by ri tual experts� the hsun-skirt," namely dyed cloth or the h ide of a spotte d animal, notably refers to the set of medici nal leaves of a gre at var iety of pl ants . Should the novice undergo a period of seclusion , the bouquet of plants is suspended from th e ri dge pol e of the seclus ion house. The novi ce lying underneath is forbidden to look at it until the last night of seclu­ si on . It is during this night that the ritual expert Vw'i ll report to the novice \\'hat­ ever the ''bouquet of leaves has to say' ' (- taangila n-kaanda j and authorize him to empl oy it. Medicinal preparations may i nvol ve incantations to invoke the powers of the ingredients , and they may be c o mbined v-,·ith gestures of reconc i l ­ iation and purification, aimed at rendering harmless various fo rces that are attributed to sorcery, c urs e, or infring e ment. Enemas are often practiced and consist of introducing a small amount of an herbal c on c oc tio n into the rectum \\'ith the aid of a small gourd that is shaped like a pear v-·ith a long thi n neck. Having V�'ithdra\\ln to the house or to the periphery of the domestic space .. the individual may administer the enema or douche to himse.lf \""'hile lyi ng on his back. -Soobuka is the te.rm use.d for the lukewann douche-mainly resorted to by ad ult men-made from a cooled concoc.tion of boiled ligneous fore st pl ants For an anal or vag i nal ri nse, women employ either lukewarm mixtures of ligneous savanna vegetation or cold in fusions dra\\·n from herbs of the savanna (yifutu). -Nl,t-'a ndzaba is a douche consisti ng of a cold infusion taken principally for the purpose of seda­ .

tion.. as is expressed in the ritual vocabulary : "to give shade (pheelaka) or to coor' the belly, \\'Omb, or bov-'els. This is the prescribed treatment for the nov­ ice-li kened to the fetu s - an d for anyone who seems to have lost his senses, who vomits blood, or who has a high fever. Other decoction s aim at uS\\'eepi ng the belly clean"' (-koomhula yivumu j. Still others "give \\'hiteness or p uri ty to the belly'� ( -seemasa yi vumu) so as to prepare the patient to be fully interwoven agai n in the social fabric .

There are countless medicinal preparations and treatments practiced as a domestic tradition or under the advice of a healer. Emetics (biluki.!i·a) help to

discharge 'poisonous' food. Yifutu is the bunch of nonl i gne ou s savanna plants employed in the preparation of washes used exclusively by \\'omen . Only ritual specialists and uncles may prescribe, concoct, and offer the yifutu�· the phrase

-toll·vala b(futu, to compose bouquets,'" is in fac t a synonym for - ta buleenJba. "

" to exerc i se the avuncular role ." These concocti o ns and infusi o ns are \vidcly

used by the khita therapy and, as \\'e Vw'ill see, indicate the ne c es sity of modi -

1 60

Chapter Four

fying certain relations between the living and the dead, or between l i vi n g re t tives . Vegetal and symbolic qualities underlie the many ho m e o p at h c medicinal preparations for use with enemas, cupping horns, small in c i si ons

�

..

;

bonesetting, immunization against smallpox, or used for calming, fo r thei lactogenic properties, against intestinal parasites, or in obstetrics. M os t treat ments and, in particular, child care, prescribe rest and indicate categori e s of ..

food and other matter to be avoided. As soon as something is prescrib ed by a healer, an elder, an uncle, or in the context of a cult, or even by a m e d i cal doctor, it becomes a

n-kisi, literally, "a treatment, a practice."

Plate 1 . Khita healer in Kinshasa-Masina.

Plate 4. Addressing, in the kataku virile stance, the agnatic cult spirits at the shrine (see 2.2.2, 6.2.2).

Plate 5 . Mediumistic diviner during an oracle.

Plate

7.

Mother with twins in seclusion.

Plate 8. Khoofi shrine in front of seclusion hut. The long stick in the entrance is the parasol tree (see 6.2.2).

Plate 1 0. Luleembi raffia curtain closing off the entry

to

the sec l u sion hut. The elbow­

shaped lukata branch evoke s deformi ties � the black tennitary, }'isii"zbi� makes the cult spirits present (see 6 . 2.2).

1 1 . Twisted Ii ana and i lt­

knife

se

entranc e

ring

a.

b· rricr

of the eel .

.

Pl ate 1 2. Kann •aadi for ila

t

to

ion

a nd

rmita.ry represc nti g

u

lwu­

founders ot the cult (�ee 7. 1 .

Plate 1 3 . Paraso l tre e , at th

e e , n

tran ce, topped by the heact of hen.

a

Plate 1 4 . Khita initiates and Ma­ leeka servant in the company of the healer at the end of the seclusion .

Plate 1 5 . (Left to right) Receptacles of both evil and healing forces;

N-noongu: weaving-hook of the khita cult (see 7 .2. 1 ) ; N-seenga: a powerful ritual object of the mbwoolu cult; M-bindusi: a twisted liana serving to reverse evi l .

Pl ate 1 6. Phaandzi pharmaco­ poeia (see 7 . 2 . 1 ) .

Plate 1 7 . Tsaanga calabashes with medicines (see 7 .2. 1 ) .

Plate 1 8 . The khita initi ate identifies with the quirrel by wearing its pelt (see 7 2 4 ) .

.

.

Plates 1 9-20. Weaving is rhythm, and rhythm underscores the weave of life. The participants' experiences are rhythmical ly in­ terwoven with the ideals and norms of the community. Health is interwoven ness.

\

Impediments to Life Transmission

Life transmission issues from an alliance between the husband 's patrikin and the wife's kin group. The former transmits ' standing ' onto its descendants , both the bony structure and capacity to stand upright

( ngolu, khoondzu ),

as

well as social identity. Alliance connects this capacity for social standing with the wife 's uterine descent which transmits life

( mooyi) from the uterine

source

through the line of mothers . Inasmuch as transmission of life is the prime con­ cern of the bride-takers, impediments to it put into question the very nature of alliance, matrimony, and descent and urge a thorough scrutiny of the princi­ ples, history, and nature of the social fabric , including the matrimonial alliance and the uterine flow of life. I would venture to say that the etiological narratives about impediments to life transmi ssion in Yaka society do not dispossess women of their bodies. 1 On their side, the elders of the young husband, in command of the masculi­ nist strategies to control and manipulate group issues, tend to attribute hin­ drances of life-bearing primarily to social wrongs . They conceive of group members as knots within the weave of kin. It is therefore commonplace for any affliction, in particular a gynecological one , to be seen as having its origin in the kin and thus involving the social fabric. An altered state of health

(-bee/a)

becomes social in character from the moment that coresidents and in particular those in charge of the ailing person have formally acknowledged the di sorder, literally the "impediment"

(yibiinda).

This acknowledgment requires that the

elders interpret the specific way in which a person's state of health or style of behavior deviates from the norm and that they mark out or stigmatize the devia­ tion with regard to the interests of the group. A social definition is thereby given to the affliction, and it is identified as a di sorder or "affair"

(dyaambu ) .

The divinatory oracle that follows broadens the scope by considering moreover and in particular the body and the uterine life flow. However, thi s broader focus is narrowed down again at the subsequent family council that meets to hear the report from the consultants at the oracle . Indeed, the agnatic elders are first and foremost concerned with the social origin and impact of the sickness, that is, with the social weave in which the affl icted is entangled or from which she or he is cut off, and why thi s occurred. The appropriate term here is

-bee/ala,

1 62

Chaprer Fi ve

·�to be stricken \Vith such and such an ailment for thi s or that soc i al reaso n �' : it

concerns the group's reception and intersubjective experiencing of th e a ffl ic ­ tion in line \Vith its aims . The palaver of elders to a large ex tent dev e l op s as a

kind of soc iodrama that brings to the fore confl icts and debts in the ki n and

al liance while try ing to overcome them.

As such, agnatic elders are pri ncipal ly concerned \\'ith social rule. The e l d e r s

in council examine the \\l·rongs in the group that are reflected in or have pr o­ duced the sickness, and they consider the many intric acies in the fami ly hi sto ry and the complex motives at play in establishing marri ages. They face th e

re­

ports on divinatory oracles that may unmask their ov.'n paradoxical ga me s of ensorcelling their proper offspring: the oracle reveals the nightly plots in w hic h uterines, agnates. and in-laws succeed one another in purveying or receivi ng

a

nev.' catch from the "n ightly hunt." The discourse of elders reinforces the v iri le

e thos of hunters, that is, the very masculinist vie\\l·s on life transmiss ion and

\\'oman's role in it, and reinforces bel iefs about cursing, ancestral \vrath , sor­ cery, and evil spirits . The i l ls in the family history are occasions to rev i se

confirm the social \•leave. In other v.'ords, in men's vie\\/ health is linked not

or

so

much to individual virtue but to moves and countermoves in the soc ial fabric .

It is the family e lders" due to examine V.'hether the problem at hand is to be turned over to the oracle of the clairvoyant diviner.

Mediumistic divining is more of a birthing process than an arbitrament.

an

anamnesis rather than a diagnosis, and a hermeneutics more than a cau sal or moral inquiry of disorders . Divinatory revelation stands to the council of e lders

as 'aletheia' or visionary expl oration of potentialities stands to truth as correct­ ne ss (Lev in

1 988:438),

as dreamwork to representational and discurs ive argu ­

ment , as '•speaking from the v.'omb" stands to men's rhetorical reassertion o f

pov.'er relations in the agnatic order o f seniority. Cl airvoyant divining is con­

cerned with the source rather than the cause of events! with the consensual

moral order. \\l'ith the inte.rplay between good or i ll health, the strategies i n the group and the life-world. It examines hov.· much the patient who is subjected

to the power game in the agnatic descent owes her or his physical li fe , in both good and ill health, to the uterine flow of l ife. Though the div inatory approach is not causalist in a deterministic sense, but brings out moments of correspon ­

dence in the worlds of the client and the client 's family. I will neverthe less speak of eti ology. Divinatory etiology sees the patient as a weave and also as

a hunting ground: the divi ner traces back the sets of knots that are untied or loosened, or traces the plots of sorcery and evil spirits . The i l l is compared to knots that have become inextricably entangled or untied . The agencies of ill ­ such as the ancestral shades, spirits, uterine life flow, human agencies, forces of plants and ingredients of power objects, prohibition s and \'lords -are com­

pared to competitive hunters and the victim to a hunting ground. The fate of

good and ill health is as cyclical or reversible as the fate of time: the day never

t63

Impediment� to L i fe Transmission

fails 10 e merge from the

n ight . The fl o\�' of life in e vitabl y l eads through both

· ght and d ark , V.'arm and cold phase.s. One 's fatal il l or state of entangl e me n t the work of a n i ghtl y plot. While trac i ng down the i n t ricac ie s of the so c i a l

?n

�s briC . the diviner never adopts the vertical stance of the paramount ruler who a the name of law arbitrates con fl icts \\ ith authority Fac i ng the div i ner \vho �:n be a woman or a mao-the consultants sit in a semicircle (see plate 5). ·

.

.

-

e basic metaphors of d i v i n ati on , the oracular discourse is to be. p rav..- i ng o n th seen as a v.'eaving from the womb, speak ing the. me ssage of the. u te ri ne life

fl oW and ancest o r s and spirits. But the div in er disavo\vs auth orsh i p of v i sio n an d prete nds that w·hatever he or she i s voicing is i n i t i at e d by the rhyt hm of the sl it go ng-an icon of the · vagin al mouth' -and stems from the dreamlike

vi sion received in s leep. The cow ri e shells on the divine.r's front, her gong, an d her tran ce l ike behavior-l ike a he n that lays an egg -all suggest that the ora­ cl e is borne as c l ai rvoya nce in the diviner's heart, and further e l ab orate d as a mes sag e co mi n g from the diviner's be l ly The sh ape of the slit gong is both \\'Omblike and phalluslike. and it i s con s i de re d "the diviner's very i m ag e ('yi­ diimbu kyaandi); the set of th ree cow ri e shells -a vaginal symbol - i s cal led diisu dyangoombu, "the d ivi n i ng eye " It is in her or his body that the diviner app ears as the androg y nou s age.nt and l oc u s of the uterine fiov.' of life., the metaphori si ng author and sc e ne of rebirthing of meaning . The metap hors of v.'eaving, of life-beari ng , a nd of c hi l db i rth underlie the di v inatory seance and pattern the. whole pl o t . The consultants are ulti mately m ade i nto an audi e n ce of t he uterine rule of (m at ri mo nial ) exchange th a t un d e rp i ns the never-endi n g flow of life i n the body in re s o n an c e with the life-w·orld. Th e oracle i s the voice of the sel f-reliant uterine l ife flow from which the ind i v idu a l taps in bot h good and ill health. .

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•·

..

Clairvoyant divi ning that serves as a voice of the self-maintenance of the uterine flow of l i fe differs from the authori tative spee.c.h in the council of el­ ders� as u te rine. filiation differs from agnatic descent . The divinatory oracl e is not a discourse of truth and a verdict con ce rn in g social rules of ri gh t ; u nl ike the j u d i c ial council� it is no t an e.x ercise of re dre ss i ve power or d om i nati o n. In naming devi an cy in the rule s of e xc ha nge and reciprocity. it doe s ask no t so much for redress but for g row th healing, or 'whole-making. ' Divining and council, uterine and agnatic are seen as pairs in some kind of sol idarity, and they are comp are d to the way palm w i n e and tonics are the. necessary adj u van ts of the s pea ke r and drummer for sp eech or rhythm to b ec ome forceful and com­ ,

pell i ng . During the nine months of ini tiatory seclu s i on . the diviner-to-be shou l d feed him- or herself mainly with co l a nut and palm w i ne , dri nki ng it

fro m the slit gong. Th e di viner's word is one of l i fe-bearing fermentation that.

'-'·hen co nveyed to the consultants. im pel s them to tap in th e ir tum fr o m the

uteri ne l ife source and t o arouse growth i n th e ir group. The d iv i nato ry oracle

may un m ask the elders ' pretense to authoritati ve pow·er and th e i r self-serving

(..hapter Five

1 64

re­

manoeu vres for taking the goods and live s of their descendants. Di v i n in

g cal l s for the public ho\\' mu ch the uterine fiov-' of life is a maturation al proce s s that escapes fu l l agn at ic and patriarchal domi ni on : life "s i nne r and pas s ionate

impetus v i tali z es the social weave . The diviner ac t s as a m aster-hunte r \\o ho

track s do\"'n the n ightly pl o ts and the re by se.ts t he conditions to conve rt the

sorcerous hunt into a life-bearing one He i s the an t ipode of the noctu rna l h u nt on v..· hich the sorcerer embarks. U nm a sk e d and re.versed , the aggress i o n is .

t urned and focused on the sorcerer himself. Fol lov.. ing his verdict� the d i v i n er '

summons the per son accu sed of sorcery to add charcoal - the mark of

c ery

-

sor­

to his gunpowder. If the fireann loaded for thi s purpose actu a l ly k il l s

the prey at the first shot, '�the head of the dov-'ned animal is irrefu table proof'

that the accu se d has h ims e l f commissioned or c om mi tte d a fatal ensorcellment . In other word s , the di urnal hunt may unmask the noc turn al

(n-nva mbii1nbi)

one , and the game, co nverse l y, sets the i n itial conditions for the rcnc\��,-·al of

co mmen s a l i ty betv.,·ecn the fam i l ies of ac cu sed and v ictim.

5. 1

Masculinist Views on Human Agencies in Infertility

Popular opi n i on and ridicu le confirm patri archal views on l i fe tran sm i ssi on .

The bridegroom's pat rikin e nters into a matri monial all i ance \Vith the aim of

acquiring rights to the woman·s fertility and over the coup le s offspring. De­ '

l ayed fertility is severely c en su red by members of the c oupl e �s hamlet \��,-· ho

cha rge above al l , that the i r quest for '•florescence and fruit" ,

( mhoongu- a

tenn which denotes also offsprin g ) is a poor harvest of mere agricultural pro­

duce rather than of fruit of the \\,.omb. In thi s respect the n ame s g i ve n to a ch i ld

born after a lon g wait are reve a l ing . S ometimes they incl ude a nickname given

to that member of the c ou ple be.l ieved to be infertile: Kabutaa� '"she doesn't produce."

Khobu,

"the impotent one .�'

Mboo n gu, uharvesf': for long the mother's sole contri bution to the. marriage \VaS merely in the field and in the house.

Sela makhondu. "'father of the banana pl ants'�: the father had to c on te n t himself �·ith gro�·ing banana p lan t s \\'hile hopelessly waiting for offspri ng. lV-ledi myakhatwa. ''pointless fi nery'� : after several years only did the bridc�·eal th issue in offspring.

Kamonaaku, •'for 1ong, she still has n t seen one'': the mothers sa\-..· her first child born after several years of marri age . '

Yibandulula, �'I ' ve tri ed a number of ti mes', : the newlyv,·cd suffered several miscarriages.

"'l4sam '1.'asana. ''the one p e op l e talk about'·: the n ame of a chi ld \Vhose parents' infertility \vas subject of gossip .

Impedi ments to Life Transmission �lbeela

Phaani

Figure 1 . Circulation of Bridewealth

Those \\'ho

reproduction

concluded the

matri moni al all iance are. the

first to

act should

be impeded. Afte.r the h u sb and 's mother has alerted the head

of

the homestead that

conception is overdue, the family head may convene the hus band, the patriarch , and a male represe.ntative of the woman. First of all they ex ami ne the antecedents and the specific circumstances of the alli ance . Had some e ss en ti a l step or formality been forgotten? Perhaps some payment still had to be made� or additional port i on s of the bridewealth (biloombi) an d other matrimonial g i ft s had not been handed over to the wom an's family. Or perhaps the young c ouple , by intrusively comin g to live together in the home­ stea