victor r. turner-on the edge of the bush anthropology as experience (anthropology of form & meaning)...

7/27/2019 Victor R. Turner-On the Edge of the Bush Anthropology as Experience (Anthropology of Form & Meaning) -University of Arizona Press(1985)

1/168

THE ANTHOPOLOGY

OF FORM AND MEANIG

Senio Edtor

J David Sapir (Unversity ofVirginia)

Asociate Editor

Ellen B. Basso (University of Arizona)

J. Christopher Crocker (University ofVirginia)Hildred Geertz (Princeton University)

Peter A. Metcalf (University of Virginia)

enat A osaldo (Stanford University)

ON T EDGEOF T BUSH

Athropol aExeriene

Victor yrnerEdith L. B Trn Editor

Te University of Arizona PressTucson, Arizona


2/168

About the Author

Victor Turner (920 -1983) is recognized worldwide for his work asan anthropologist and comparative symbologist. His research of ritualand symbolism took hi initially to Africa, where he studiedamongst the Ndembu, and then o India, Israel, Mexico, Ireland, andJapan as well. In 1963, he left a p ost at th e University of Manchester to

come to the United States, where he joined the faculty of CornellUniversity. During the next yeas he published Te Forest SymbolsTe rums fAictio and Te Ritual Process. In 1977 he moved to theUniversity of Virginia where until his death he was William R KenanProfessor of Anthropology and Religion. In these last half dozenyears, his interest shifted increasingly from ritual to theatre (where hisformal studies had begun), from social processes to cultural performances, -and from the "liminal phase of tribal ritual to the "linoidof complex, postindustrial society. His most recent book, From Ritualto Teatre: Te Huma Seriousess fPlay was published in 982.

About the Editor

Edith B Turner, anthropologist, author, and poet, edited this volume of her late husband's essays from the perspective of a coeld

worker From the time of their rst research venture to NorthernRhodesia, she worked alongside Victor Turner, pursuing her ownspecial interest in the women of the various cultures in which theylived Since 983 she has been director of Comparative Symbology,Inc, and a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Virginia since1984 In late 1985 she returned to Africa to do further research

HE UNIVERSY OF ARIZONA PRESS

Copyight 1985he Arizon Board of Regents

A Rights Reserved

This book was set in 0/1 2 Compugraphc 8400 BemboManufctred in the USA

Library of Congress Catloging in Pubication DtTurner Victor Witter

On the edge of the bush

Bibliography: pIncudes index

. Symbolsm-Addresses, essays ectures.2. tes and ceremonies-Addresses essays etures.3 EthnoogyAddresses ssays eturs. I 'Jr

Edth L. B. 1921 II. Tit!_.GN4525.T86 1985 306 :?i.-

IN 08164

-;- - -=-_:

TDn, Bnjn, hn, nd


3/168

r>

Contents

rologue: From the Ndembu to Broadway

PART ONE

Processua Anaysis

1. Aspects of Saora Ritual and Shamanism: An Approach to the

1

Data ofRitual 19

2. Ritual Aspects of Conict Control in African Micropolitics 433 Mukana, Boys' Circumcision e Politics

of a NonPolitical Ritual 53

4. An Anthropological Approach to the Icelandic Saga 71

5. The Icelandic Faly Saga as a Genre ofMeaning-Assignment 95

6. Conict in Social Anthropological andPsychoanalytical Theory: Umbanda in Rio de Janeiro 119/

(I,;)' 7 Proces,Sytem and Symbol A New. Ant1ropoloicl Synth 5 1


4/168

Vlll CNTENTS

PRT TOPerrnce n xerence

8 The Anthopoogy ofPefomance9 Epeience and Pefomance Toads

a Ne Pocessua

Anthopoogy0 mages of Anti-Tempoaity An Ess ay in the Anthopoogy

of Epeience

PRT TREEe Brn

Body, Bain, and utue

2 The Ne NeuosocioogyEpiogue Ae Thee Univesas of Pefomance in Myth, Ritua,

and Dama

Bibiogaphy

ne

PRT ORReerence er

77

205

227

29

275 r

29

30539

Proogue:rom e Ndembu to Broadway

When Victo Tune died in 983 as in the fu sing of a poductive ife Ou days had become so fu both of us that athough it as my oe to coect his papes fobication, had not been abe to ok on them fo some time. No e abe to pesent the st of to voumes of seected essays, chosen toesent the deveopment of his ideas on pocess theoy. The st siaptes ae based on ethnogaphy it as fom edok that Vic deoy, fom the gassoots that he espected so much.

As his pincipa coaboato in evey ed that Vic epoed, eca

u ife togethe at one eve as a seies of stoies about the events thate steps in his deveopment. Fo his eades it as a seies of ideas fo it as a ife.

t as ust afte Wod Wa in Bitain. Vic and ee iving in a

caavan, fo a pope home as unobtainabe due to the Gemanbing. Hoeve, e ee deteined not to be ithout books, so eoud ak fou mis to Rugby Ton to visit the pubic ibay, heeing am containing to itte boys, Feddie and Bobbie. Vic had been in they in the oy ank of a conscientious obecto, digging up uned bombs. He continuay oked ith aboes and iked thei type


5/168


6/168

PRGUE

Fiedwork became our deight. Arriving at a ditant viage we woudbe greeted by the whoe popuation haking hand and thumb with uand capping I woud nd the women kitchen whie Vic at in themeeting hut with the men. I you itened you coud hear the warm deepbuzz o voice over the beer caabahe They iked Vic. The women tookme to viit their gir initiate in her ecuion hut whie our own threechidren payed around the cooking re On the way home Vic and Idicued the goingintoecuion ceremony o the previou week"What intereting aid Vic "i th e name o the pot where he wa aiddown under the mik tree. The Pace o Death. Then he become a babyand i carried backward into her ecuion hut. She acred and mutnttouch the earth "The hut acred too. Her white beadher chidreare in he roo She mutnt ook up. And o we woud go on teting outidea and itening or cue to hep interpretation

When we returned rom the eld, we entered the theoretical environ-

ment o the Manchester Schoo, unctionalism. Max took Vic aside and

warned him that his dissertation had to be onthe social organization o the

Ndembu (which appeared as Schism andContinuityin 1957). "Until you've

mastered that, you're in no position to analyze ritual. Max had averyintense relationship with hisstudents, a rewarding but sometimes uncom

ortable one or those that elt his tensions. For preerence he gathered

around him those who changed him and pushed him on a courseo theory

that he was about toadopt anyway. That course was the urther develop-

ment o process theory. It was A. L Epstein ill)whogave Max the idea

olaw as process, hence Max's book TejudicialPocess (1955)an idea or

which he was ready. Social process was inthe air continuallyrom Max

himsel, who was a ollower o Marx and the dialectic rather than

RadclieBrown's structuralism Most strongly o all, process emerged

rom Vic's work. Vic by temperament was opposed to ormalism and

structure, whether British or French. Heenjoyed what was earthy, what

was ecund, growing, seminal. Many werethe conversations between BillEpstein, Max, and Vic. Max was aSouth Arican, a colonial, not wedded

to tradition, resh with ideas, not seeking ater the prestige othe double

barreled RadclieBrown One night in 1955, when I was nursing a sick

child, Vic and Bil went o to the Victoria Arms. They both had been

struggling with heir dissertations. We had amassed heaps o acts, gures,

maps, and geneaogies, but they weregetting stale on us Was this the right

soil to producea living account? ic and Bil dank hb andom

what I can gather cursed away at the impossibiiyo grating he quan

titive method onto Mainowski's "living ta thod Vic dd not want to

submt tabs o guas llusad b a i sos He sw t

Ndemb system fo wha was: of aos h fu t ns hat bd

conict. On his esk l :ny l eports f n, rer uner

FR TE NDEBU T BRADWAY 5

Max intruction Thee occaion o conict had troubed the Ndembubitteryong compex repeated reverberating conict not itte torie.The term "extended cae wa an undertatement. At ome point aong thedeveoping proce o conict the idea that the Ndembu truy oughtwere otn reveaed.

To expain Vic ear or ocia ie a a pay it woud hep to go back tohi chidhood Hi mother wa an actre and ued to reheare her ine inront o hi high chair. Hi head wa u o ine and vere o poetryOnce when hi mother took him to the dairy or mik where a crowd orepectabe Gagow matron in coa cutte hat were waiting to beerved wee Victor uddeny hried out: "For lut o knowing whathoud not be known we take the goden road to Samarkand A the coacutte hat turned around "Lut? Wha the wee addie takin aboot?ut? Hi mother got him out o there pretty quick.

Drama wa in hi ood. He wa reared on Shakepeare AechyuShaw Fecker Iben. Iben pay were ike Ndembu troube cae out oach o them hone ome emerging truth that the courage o Nora wa agood in ite that the piou Brand wa poeed by a demon not God a

e thought. Vic wa preoccupied with the character o hi od riend theorcerer Sandombu and with the odd peronaity o Kamahaanyi bothargina character made uddeny centra a the ocu o conct. Theirtorie and the ritua invoved in them were acinating to the Ndembuthee event were their great product. A new term wa needed Vic andi with their beer mug beore them wreted with the probem. "Sociadrama aid Vic. "O coure. Returning home he wrote out hi paper orax eminar next day introducing the new concept. Next morning heade the weariome ourney outh by bu to the mid city then a change bue and two mie outh in the ruh hour to the duty eminar room.ith controed excitement he read the tory o Sandombu and he anayzed it tagebreach crii redre reintegrationthe ocia drama a

te window into Ndembu ocia orgaization and vaue. Now you eete iving heart. Max at h i hand oded on top o hi bowed bad head.hen it wa over he raied hi head hi eye buring. "Youve got it!hat it.

Vic came home radiant He had brought hi diertation to ie ater He quicky nihed it and then very rapidy it wa put into preroduction or Max recognized it vaue and had no troube at a con-ncing Mancheer Univerity Pre o the ame I wa concripted toaw up the tabe to correct them endey to put together atiyingypx geneaogiewhie a the time both o u et impatient to writeh gi intiatio hhaba and other ritua procee o the Ndembu

a h i ca o Vc o tu to h prviou ngh a thed o Mua

h o o ud ua b n


7/168


8/168

8 PRGUEinitiation i neither a boy nor a man So it wa that in the pubic ibrary Vicwrote "Betwixt and Between The Lina Period in Rite o Paage(967:93), the rt ohi exporation into iinaity. He wa abe topreent it in America at the American Ethnoogica Society AnnuaMeeting in March 964 The "iina i now we undertood but atthat time hardy anone had conidered it nature except or van Gennephime and Henri Junod (93). Max Guckman (962:3) make one oi-

tary reerence to iminaity in hi artice on van Gennep."Betwixt and Betwee wa the precuror to a coniderabe newdeveopment in the tudy o ritua rom 965 to 974, incuding thepubication o he Ritua Proe (969) which ceary beong to thedomain o proce tudie Vic urther exporation o iinaity in thehitorica dimenion and hi earch or it in the modern word ed to hiater ue o the word "iminoid to repreent eiuretime nonreigiougenre o art and perormance.

Let u return to Vic rt period at orne. The year 964 began anera o poitica anthropoogy or him. From my unique vantage point Icoud ee a curiou proce going on or it became cear that he had twomain direction o interet: ymbo and ocia or poitica anthropoogy. It

wa a i a hi thought progreed there woud come a tage when it watime or him to take a new tack ike a aiboat beating upwind. Quitequicky he woud revere direction Here he had gone ar enough or thetime being on the tack o ymbo Now back to hi inight at the VictoriaArm the idea o the ocia drama Vic Marc Swartz and Arthur Tudenmet at a pane on poitica anthropoogy at the 964 Annua Meeting othe American Anthropoogica A ociation and the interet o the three othem in poitica anthropoogy caught re. Aex Morin o the Adine Prewa caught up in it too He it wa who pubihed the ympoium PoitiaAnthroo (ed M Swartz V Turner and A Tuden 966). The theoryderived uy rom the Mancheter Schoo deaing with dynac phe-nomena becoming conict action and proce New concept werenow deveoped "ed and "arenaor Vic had been reading KurtLewin Fied Teo in Soia Siene (95). In "Ritua Apect o onictontro in Arican Micropoitic and "Mukanda Boy ircumciionThe Poitic o a NonPoitica Ritua both incuded in thi book we nda way o handing what appear to be vague and ephemera actionatendencie pread through a wide ocia group. Thee tendencie co-tituted the ed "an abtract cutura domain where rue are ormuatedetabihed and come into conct rue rom which any ind oequence o ocia action may be genrated . .Arena are th concreteettin in which powr obizd and in which ther a tria otrnth btw tho wth nunc (r 9747) ra coud

FR TE NDEBU T BRADWAY

be a viage meeting houe a courtroom the po or even the page oanewpaper.

Poitica anthropoogy and proce can be een working continuay inVic thought He woud return contanty to the graroot that i to theue o detaied ed materia to give rength to hi progre He wa ondo a maxim o Kar Marx about the giant Anteu who coud neverbe beaten i he kept hi eet on the earth The earth wa the peope and

actua event.In 972 at the Toronto Meeting o the American AnthropoogicaAociation in a pane on ymboic inverion Vic met Brian SuttonSmith who introduced him to the acinating word o pay a a ed otudy "What interet me about SuttonSmith ormuation i that he eeiina and iminoid ituation a the etting in which new ymbomode and paradigm ariea the eedbed o cutura creativity in actThee new ymbo and contruction then eed back into the centraeconomic and poiticoega domain and arena uppying them withgoa apiration incentive tructura mode and raion d'etre (Turner982:8). Thi idea o eedback wa to become the bai o Vic idea othe way ocia drama and tage drama are inked (p 300) A new phae in

hi reearch wa in the making. He oved acting a we have een andpoetry art orm and a apect o perormance Thi ide o him waechoed when he met Richard Schechner the OO Broadway theaterdirector. Vic began to be invoved in New York theater ocuing onanother apect ie a perormance. The theater word o hi youth becamemateria or anthropoogy A erie o WennerGren conerence com-menced. Their director Lita Omunden we undertood the poibiitieinherent in the new kind o reearch that wa being pioneered by Vic andRichard With the generou upport o the WennerGren Foundation ornthropoogica Reearch mater perormer o theater and ritua roma over the word were brought together to enact their work and tocompare note aong with theoretician to anayze the data The reut waa pooing o idea never beore experienced in anthropoogy or theateruring ti tage o our reearch in variou context and countrie Vicnd I witneed or participated in the Yaqui Deer Dance Suzuki Japaneeotmodern theater a Brookyn gopeinging heaing ervice theManhattan Pentecota Japanee Noh pay and other perormance uch Kabuki Bunraku puppet theater the Kagura dance o divinity andopuar etiva Indian Kutiyattam and Kathakai tempe theater Woeoyina Yoruba theater Korean hamanim Ekimo dance Indoneianayang and Topeng potmodern OO Broadway theater arnavabanda and the Kardecim pirit cut in Brazi the Jewih Purim andovr the Samaritan pacha acrice Eater at the Hoy Sepuchre


9/168

IO ' PRLGUE

Idia tribal marriage, the Idia Sariswati celebratio, the Ik theaterproductio i the SA, ad Chorus the list could go o

ere was a thread of cotiuity i these perfomaces that iterestedVic, a thread he worked over ad deat with He could y from oeperformace to aother dig the thread His coclusios foudexpressio i several essays o performace ad experiece About theater, he quoted Costati Staislavsi whe he applied the subjuctive

"if to theater: " If acs as a levto lift us out of the world of actualityito the realm of the imagiatio' (1936:43) "The realm of the imagiatio, Vic said, "correspods to th realm where images of heterogeeouspasts jostle with images of heterogeeous presets ad are worked itoalterative patters by the shapig wills of authors, directors, actors, adolookers, oe of which will ally emerge as the most satisfactory as if'expressio for assigig meag i the cotemporary relatio betweesocial dyacs ad its iterpretative double, the thater The theater.is

f ljvig, S Q ! Kii


10/168

2 PRGUE

Te Essays

The essays appearing in this volume have been selected from those ofVic's writings that have not yet been collected under one cover. Whenreviewing the scores of articles available for this purpose I saw clearly thathe began to teach his eldwork method right at the beginning of hiscareeralways concerned with human relationships on the ground at the

grassroots. His understanding of the human process was there from thestart. In many of these essays he takes some basic sequence of humanbehavior and sets it in motion within its own eld of social relationships.Thus he could watch process. The rst six essays in Part One illustrate thismethod. I follow them with a theoretical piece on process entitled "Process System and Symbol. This group of seven corresponds to Vic' s ideasabout social drama which started in Manchester and also covers his laterinterest in Kurt Lewin's eld theory.

As we have seen there intervened contrasting stages in which Vic wasoccupied with rites of passage and the issues related to ritual and symbolism. Essays deriving from those periods will be presented in volume IIHere we will be able to concentrate on the aspect of human behavior. In

Part Two of this volume Vic links the spontaneous behavior evinced in asocial drama to staged performances of various kinds Human beings areconscious of both kinds of drama and they consciously relate them Vicmakes it clear that no formalistic philosophy will work for himfor he isstudying man alive woman alive.

Later still in the course of his investigations inwards into the moresubtle regions of human consciousness Vic discoveed that many ofthe intimate workings of the human brain were already known for heneurobiologists had made a step forward The two essays in Part Threeshow how Vic related his framework for process and ritual to the newneuroscience a science whose richness is fully worth the attentio ofanthropologists.

Thus the essays presented here will lead the reader along the route ofVic's work on process stopping at various centers on the wy that heresearched in detail to prepare for the next advance.

In Part One the essay spects of Sara Ritual and Shamanism: AnApproach to the Data ofRitual originally appeared in 1956 as a review QfVerrier Elwin's Te Reion an Indian ibe. It still carries a salutarywarning to those who record a ritual system without tracing the relationships between members of cults or relating soethig of teir lifehistories and the events leading up to the ritual or shamanic episodes.Even though ritual is autonoous and powerful in its own right it stilldoes not operate in a vacu but i a ctai stti one that is oviad dynaic


In the next two essays "Ritual Aspects of Conict Control in AfricanMicropolitics rst read at the 1964 Annual Meetings of the AmericanAnthropological Association and Mukanda Boys' Circumcision: ThePolitics of a NonPolitical Ritual rst read at a WennerGren conferencein 1966 may be found detailed demonstrations ofhow to perform the taskdemandd in the rst essay. Here Vic maps out the eld of tension in thevillages participating in the boys' circumcision and runs the draa

through the text in live motion In e ret Symbo (1967) appears anaccount of the ritual proceedings of the boys' circumcision "Three Sym, f bols ofPassage ( 1962: 124279) is a close analysis of the main symbols ofthe ceremony and the two essays presented here complete the theoretical

framework for analyzing the social processes of the ritual. Thus there arefour essays covering dierent aspects of the rite. Vic provided not merely adetailed record f this ritual but has scored it in many dierent waysenabling the full avor to be appreciated Rarely has a ritual received suchthorough handling. The texts constitute a bank of material that can bereanalyzed by future anthropologists.

In writing n Anthropological Approach to the Icelandic Saga and"The Icelandic Family Saga as a Genre of MeaingAssignmen' dealing

with a form ofliterature in which the texts themselves describe the socialand kinship background in meticulous detailVic cknowledged his debtas an anthropologist to the early training in Old Icelandic and the sagaswhich he received at Uversity College London before World War II Washis consciousness of social process social drama eld and arena rooted inthe study of these sagas? Vic often claied that it was. n Anthropological pproach to the Icelandic Saga written for EvansPritchard'sfestschrift Te anation Cuture (1971) discusses a Sa the greatestof the sagas; and "The Icelandic Family Saga as a Genre of MeangAssignment which Vic wrote for his seminar in 1980 and which isnow published for the rst tie deals with the processes implicit in Teyrbya Saga another saga masterpice. Vic's latter essay is precededby an explanation of his term "epic relation a relation that consists of the"heroic time of the narrated events "narrative time when the epic wasrst composed and "documentary time the period in which emergedanuscripts of the epic in their various recensions. He also discusses theerits of the theories for and against the written origin of the sagas asopposed to the oral These passages constituted a paper read to theChicago Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar on epic in 1969.

The last essay i the group that deals with a particular culture area wasad in 1980 as the Ethel Weigert Lecture at the Forum on Psychiatry and manitis at the Washington School of Psychiatry and is newlybisd t was the st its of a eld tour in Brazil and is entitledoct i ocia thooloia ad sychoanaytical Thory


11/168

14 PRLGUE

Umbanda in Rio de Janeiro The Umbanda cults came as a welcomechallenge to Vic: ther very eculiarity was to hel rove his contentionthat one must consider ritual in its social setting Yvonne Velo of theDeartment of Social Anthroology at the Federal University o deJaneiro took us to a cult center in Rio where we were ble to articiate inthe ritual. Yvonne herselfhad roduced a ne analysis of the events in twocult centers including some of the life histories of the members. In the

resent essay Vic uses art of her material as well as our wn observationsin his discussion of this new ritual rocess not neglecting the fascinatingroblems of factionalism and the imact of modern life uon the trancers

The theoretical essay entitled Process System and Symbol: A NewAnthroological Synthesis was rst ublished in Daedau (1977) HereVic analyzes "the rocesses involving shared symbols gestures and language by which social interaction generates an emergent social realitydistinct from and external to that of the individuals who roduce it( 15) And it is through often discreant norms through the indeterminacies of actual social life that the true icture emerges He discussesliminality as the means of generating variability and the free lay ofhumanity's cognitive and imaginative caacities

Part Two breaks oen the world of erformance The essay "TheAnthroology of Performance written for his seminar in 1980 nowublished for the rst time lays out the new develoment in which heintegrates his concet of the social drama with the rocessual reexivecharacter of ostmodern drama He leads on to the richness and subtletiesof contemorary socal erformances where commuitas though "intrinsically dynaic is never quite realized ( 190) It is trough Dilthey'sdynaic view of "Weltanschauung and of "lived exerience that Vicshows us the next ste which takes us to the anthroology of exerience

n the essay "Exerience and Performance: Towards a New Processual Anthroology written for the anel on exerience at the 1980Annual Meetings of the American Anthroological Association at Washington DC rst ublished here Vic sees rocessual analysis not as themere marking of movement of events in society nor of the social dramaas event only but as the analysis of the lived exerience of some wholeuit of meaning in Dilthey's words The essay contains a useful bibliograhical commentary on Dilthey's works and those of his exonensalso a ostscrit on the meaing of the word exerience

"Images of AntiTemorality: An Essay in the Anthroology of Exerience was a aer given n the Ingersoll ecture Series at the HarvardDivinity School in 1981 . In it Vic takes the reader by various earthy stagesin the world of antiteorality Going right back to the beginning hshows how human bings ar positional n" by n ( 9)ating ositily o nevy o h-hee hn hee h


genetic endowment Then he leads on through the social drama theactivity of that reositional entity to the situation of redress to ritualwhich contains both the sacred and the sacrilegious thus to the Clown inthe sacred shere His lown here is the Kutiyattam Clown in temletheater in South nia whose erformance is in timeless time whoseerson i invulnerable immune whatever treasonable things he says Hereis Vic's key to antitemorality

Part Three was Vic's last venture into the unknown his meeting withthe neurobiologists In Body Brain and Culture ublished in Zygon(1983) he courageously looked back at his former stance when he blievedthat human behavior was basically bred from culture and found he had torevise it The essay robes the secrets of culturetye and genotye heiEherical lateraliti lay religion and archetyes and dreain New Neurosociology art of the fourth Willam Allen Neilson Lectureat Smith College in 1982 and rst ublished here looks at Carl Jung'ssychology and its concet of the whole "sel now seen as the uncationof the whole brain left and right uer and lower Freud's "ego seems tobe the domination of the left heishere the rational nd alone Vic usesWilliam Blake' s our Zo as a literary allegory of the unication ofbrain' s

neurosychical levelsn the concluding essay "Are There Uiversals of Performance inMyth Ritual and Drama? given in the Neilson ecture Series at SithCollege (1982) and rst ublished here Vic draws together with the useof diagrams the threads of the argument of this book Social drama andstage drama are linked in the "TurnerSchecner oo ( 300) andsocial drama's rogeny right down to our own modern culture and arts istraced in a continuous "genalogy of erformance

cknwledgments

Victor Turner's colleagues in the Deartment of Anthroology at theniversity of Virginia have been generous with their time and hel inte roduction of this book I articularly acknowledge the valuablessistance ofDavid Sair and Peter Metcalf in the writing of the Prologueter Metcalf sulied the title of the book while Mary Gelber aided intying rearation and general encouragement My thanks are due to all

E U


12/168

PART I

Processua Aaysis


13/168

1

Aspts ofSaoraRtaand Shsm

Approach to e Data oftual

Some tme ago I was asked to wtea evew of Vee Elwns book, Te Relon q an Indan e 1955 ) adescptve account of the elgous beles ad pacces o the Hll Saoaof Ossa Iumped at the chance fo I had collected compaable eld datan a Cetal Afcan socety the Ndembu o Zamba Elws book Ihoped would shed lght on some o my ow poblems patculaly on theelatonshp betwee tual and socal stuctue But n ts espect I wasdsapponted Fo Elwn does not wte as a socal anthopologst but as

an eclectc ethogaphe ad whee he ntepets he uses the language oa theologan He gves exhaustve lsts o the names and knds of mystcalenttes beleved n by the Saoa descbes n cultual detal many sots otual to poptate o exocse them and contbutes a most valuablesecton o shamasm Fom ths he concludes that "the whole stuctue o Saoa theology and mythology may be egaded as an attempt tomake e mystey and hoo o the useen moe beaable he bude ofthe wholly othe was too geat fo them to bea ad so they poduced

Reprinted with permission of Tvlstock Pubications, Ltd., from q o oo editd by L Epstein Copyrigt 957


14/168


15/168

22 PART PRCESSUA ANALYSS

them, whether for quarrelling openly with their kin or for harboringmalignant wishes against them, it seems feasible in this instane that theshaman, using the idiom of mystial aition, was in fat redressing abreah of the ustomary norms governing behavior between seminalbrothers. At the same time, the ritual he performed would seem to havehad the eet of restating and reanmating the value set on patriliny. Forthe patient's reovery was made dependent on his onsenting to worship

his father's gods. After the ritual both brothers worshipped the same gods,and were presumably reoniled.One learns further that it is believed that the gods atively intervene

to punish breahes between living kin and to maintain the ontinuitythrough time of patrilineal ties. The shaman mediates between gods andmen and makes the wishes of gods known to men. One is led immediatelyto inquire whether the shaman may not perform a strutural role of greatimportane in the daytoday adustment or adaptation of Saora soiety,sine it would appear that ne of his tasks is to reestablish the soial orderafter disputes have led to the breaking of ertain of its relationships. Forexample, in the ase ited, patriliny is asserted as an axiomati value. Now,patriliny is a priniple that apparently governs a number of quite distintsets of relationships in Saora soiety It appears to govern domesti rlationships in the household. But it also seems to artiulate households thatare spatially distint and may even belong to dierent quarters and villages. In ritual, patriliny is asserted as a unitary value that transends thedierent kinds of relationships governed by patrilineal desent, and alsotransends the onits of iterests and purpose that in pratie arisebetween paternal kin This ase also leads one to inquire whether theposition of shaman may nt be struturally loated outside the loal orkinship subdivisions of the Saora soial system. The shaman may wellhave no strutural links to either of the parties in a dispute. It is alsopossible that he has the permanent status of an "outsider or "strangerwho has little stake as an individual in any of the ordered arrangements ofseular soiety. He appears to mediate eteen persons or groups as wll as

between gods and anestors, on the one hand, and the living, on the other.And as he mediates he mends not nly the idiosynrati tie that has beenbroken, but also adusts a far wider set of relationships that have beendisturbed by the quarrel. Let me give another illustration of the redressiverole of one of these funtionaries, this time of a female shaman, rshamann to use Elwin's term Inidentally, it is worth noting in onnetion with this nept of the shaman as an outsider that shanins utnumber shamans, although in seular politial and soial life wmen rarelyoupy positions of authority or prestige

This seond ase is dminantly nerned with anal rlatnshipsathugh th atrilneal ass Sara st an rtant atr n thnt rd A a we a yar atrwar a g a

SARA RTUAL AND SAANIS 23

r own aord to lve with the widower. She fell ill, and her illness wasattributed by a divinershamanin t the rst wife's spirit. It would seem,athough Elwin des not mention this, that the husband had marred thegl befre she beame ill. Th shamanin, reputedly possessed by the spirit,elared to her "hat are you doing in the house I made? I was there rst,and you have entered it of your own aord, and have never given me athing.

On the shamanin's advie the husband instituted a eremony ofiendship add) to bring his tw wives, the living nd the dead,ogether Another shamanin ated as iant, and said to the husbandseaking as the spirit "hy did you bring this woman into my house? Ihad a little sister; she was the girl you should have married. She wouldhave looked after me properly. The husband replied, "But that was theery girl I wante to marry I went t her father's house for her. But theold man made suh a fuss that we quarrelled. Then this girl ame Sheworks well you ought to be pleased wth her. The shamanin, ating in theharater of the dead wife, agreed to make friends wth the new wife, andgave the latter a loth and braelets (supplied by the husband) in token ofritual friendship. Two funerary priests, dressed up to represent the twoives and arrying bows and arrows, then mimed the antagosm of thetwo wives, while bystanders threw ashes over them. In Afria the throwng of ashes might have represented in some tribes a symboli "oolingof the anger, but Elwin does not explain the sigiane of this at for theSaora. I the end the funerary riests drank together, embraed andondled one another, thus dramatially praying the end of the dispute.

From these events we may infer hat the Saora pratie the sororate.ndeed, Elwin states elsewhere that they do, and also that sr pogyny is not unommon. In this respet the Saora resemble many otheratrilineal peples. The data also show that the bond between seminalsisters is highly valued. It wuld also appear that most marriages arearranged, for the seond wife is blamed for oming to live with the wdower her o aord Her ation it is implied, disregarded the values

attahed to the sororate (a form of marriage that maintains the struturallations between patrilineal groups), to the relationship between sisters,and to the ustom of arranging marriages. The husband tries to defend theew wife by laing that he had tried to fulll Saora norms by marryinghis deeased wifes sister Her father was in the wrong, he suggested, for"making suh a fuss that they quarrelled. If Elwin had been interested inilgial prlems he wuld have inquired more losely ino the ontnt f this alleged quarrel, whih might onevably have thrown light onth nature and untins ofbridewealth among the Saora. One would liket nw fr eal whether a wans father has to return her widwer rdwath the wdwer des nt arry her younger sster. Inth a w ar dun th husand ht hae ad the return


16/168

PART I PRCESSUA ANAYSIS

his bidewealth, athe than may a little gil. O the fathe ight havewanted to may his younge daughte to anothe, pehaps wealthiehusband, and this may have occasioned the fuss he made. It appeaspobable that neithe te husband no the fathe desied a adical beach inthei elationship, fo the symbolism of itual fiendship between deadand living wives seems to signify tat the new maiage was accepted bythe kin of the dead wife. In this connection, it would have been inteesting

to know the social composition of the itual gatheing, whethe epesen-tatives of the dead wife's patenal extended faily iria) wee pesent onot, and whete they patook of the sacicial meal wit the hsband.Again, since each irinda has its heeditay funeay piest, one would liketo know whethe the two funeay piests who med conict and econciliation between the dead and living wives epesented the irinda of thewomen lwin does not give us this kind of infomation

What we can say, howeve, is that both the divineshamanin and thedoctoshamanin who pefomed the fiendship itual eamed anumbe of Saa noms and values in a situation following thei beach oneglect The doctoshamain fullled the futhe task of econciling thevaious paties to the quael. Though he mediation thei elationshipswee ealigned, so as to take into account the fact of the new maiag.

In the case just mentioned the agent of aiction was a spiit, not agod It is possible that dieent kinds of mystical beings ae invoked toexplain misfotune in connection with dieent kinds of social elations. Itmay be meely that gods and spiits ae invoked haphaadly accoding tothe capice of divines. At any ate, the dieence in the aicting agencydoes not seem to depend upon the seveity of aiction, fo both gods andspiits ae believed to have powe to kthe living My own guess is thatgods ae egaded as agents of aiction whee emphasis is laid on thegeneal inteests and values of Saa society, o when geneal disastes,like plagues, stike the people, while spiits ae bought into account foisfotunes aising fom open quaels and concealed hostilities within itscomponent subgoups. The point I wish to make is that if the investigato

had been concened with the sociology of Saa eligion, awaeness ofsuch poblems would have inuenced his selection of data.My ast example o the inteependence of aspects of itual and social

stuctue is a fagment of a genealogy. It is a vey odd genealogy indeed,fo it potays maital and blood ties between human beings and spits.The human beings ae Saa shamans and shamanins The spiits ae notancestospiits but a special class of mystical beings called tutlaies byElwin, who ae believed to may divineshamans and shamanins, topossess them in tances, and to assist them i divining into the causes ofmisfotune and illness The genealogy is etacted fom an autobiogapical tet codd by Ewin o a aos saa o as bot diad docto (p. 258) Thi haa ath who wa ao a haan wa

SARA RITUA AND SAANIS

d by his son to have had fou childen by his tutelay spiit, two boysd two gils. One of the spiitsons became the tutelay husband of aamanin, in a village about thee iles to the noth, and one of the spiit-ughtes became the tutelay wife of a shaman in anothe village Itould appea fom this and simila texts that shamans and shamains ae te abit of linking themselves to one anothe by collaboating in theanufactue of ctitious o, athe, fantasy genealogies of this sot. The

oa, in eal life, attach a political signicance to inteillage ties ofnity, pehaps because they have no indigenous centalied politicalthoity, but live in autonomous villages, each lagely selfsuppotingd selfcontained. Shamandivines expess thei pofessional unity int idiom of anity and kinship, and fabicate genealogies in which thegnicant links ae unseen, ctitious beings.

Thee is anothe cuious featue about these ctitious genealogiesany of the maiages between divines and thei tutelay spouses would eckoned incestuous if they wee between living Saa. Thus, on p. 35lwin descibes how a shaman maied the tutelay daughte of histhes fathe, in othe wods his fathes spiitsiste. On p 149, aamanin is ecoded as havng maied he deceased mothe's tutelay, he spiit stepfathe Anothe shaman maied his spiitcosscousin,d cosscousin maiage is fobidden in eal life. Moeove, iegulaoms of maiage ae pacticed between humans and tutelaies. Oneaman and a male spiit lived in polyandous maiage with a femaletutelay in the Unde Wold, whee ancesto spiits and tutelaies live, andhithe the shaman believed he went in deam and tance p. 36)othe shamanin was maied to two tutelaies simultaneously p. 138)

hese examples suggest that at least some of the ctitious genealogicalteconnections between living shamans and shamanins aise fom fan-tsies of incestuous matings and iegula foms of maiage. Once again, anothe aspect of his social pesonality, the shaman is placed outside theles that goven odinay secula life The genealogies also expess hisivileged position as well as his estangement, fo he enjoys consideable

stige and may become a wealthy pactitione. o he is pivileged totansgess ules that othes must obey When we come to conside whatts of pesons become shamans and shamanins we may also feel justied saying that the stong elements of fantasy in these genealogies may aiseom the fact that many shamans feel dissatised with thei eal kinshipnnections and with thei positions on eal genealogies. In othe wods complicated syndome o the antasy genealogy may contain an aspectfholial ompnation Such compensation may be elated to a numbef chaacteistics of the typical shaman, some of which we will considet sch as physical inadquacy o low secula status The shaman oanin to a pon wo in soe way tuded o thetd goping o hi ocity o who vontaiy diaiat


17/168

26 PART I P RCESSUA ANAYSIS

hmself from hem and who compensaes by becong a represenave ofhe oal sysem regarded as a smple homogeneous un. He s a oncewh and ousde hs socey. Anoher aspec of compensaon for per-sonal nadequacy or srucural nferory may be expressed n he fac hauelary sprs are ofen supposed o be Hndu or Chrsan Doms noPagan Saora. These groups who oppress he Saora n secular lfe arewealher and more powerful han hey are. And lke shamans hemselves

Dom and Pak uelares have he furher arbue of extenalty o hesrucural order of Saora socey. Bu I shall reurn o s opc when Ihave made an aemp from Elwn's somewha skechy maeral on Saorasocal orgazaon o deermne us wha are he maor subunis of Saorasocey and how hey are nerconneced and subdvded.

The Hll aora nhab he Agency Tracs of he anam and KorapuDsrcs of h modern sae of Orssa. Saora are manly dsngushedfrom oher peoples by lngusc and culural crera and by he occupa-on of a gven errory. The mos ypcal of hese Saora lve n heGumma and Serango Muttas or subdvsons of he Ganam Dsrc andn he vllages whn en mles of Poasng n Korapu. No all Saoralvng n hs area are Hll Saora hough mos of hem are Hll Saora lve n

long srees n whch hey buld lle shrnes hey erec menhrs sonememorals) o he dead whom hey cremae hey sacrce bualos o hedead shamansm s he mos conspcuous feaure of her relgon heyengage n boh erraced and shfng culvaon hey have a pecuar formof dress . Oher Saora are becomng asslaed no he surroundng pop-ulaons and are losng her language and hey have begun o worshpHndu gods o adop Hndu food aboos and o wear deren clohesand ornamens from he Hll Saora The Hll Saora have no overall cen-ralzed polcal organzaon of her own. The Korapu Saora have nooverlords or landlords and pay axes drecly o he Sae. Bu he GanamHll Saora errory s dvded no racs of land under he rule of feudaloverlords called Paros or Bssoys. Each of hese overlords has a smallarmy of "home guards called Paks. The envronmen of he Hll Saorancludes herefore Hndu Bssoys and her Pak reaners who ve nher own vllages. I a lso ncludes Chrsan Doms who nhab separaehamles sell cloh o he Saora and have n recen mes become moneylenders who despol he laer of cash and produce.

There are hree man branches of Hll Saora Jas who do no eabee and clam ha hey are pure n blood cusom and relgon; Arssfrom he erm for money who wear a longaled cloh and ea beef; andJadus from a word meanng "wld who lve on he ops of hlls and nhe wlder racs norh of Serango There ar also a few occupaonalgroups whose membrs ve wh th oth Saora and resb h nevey pct cpt n th pcl c hy h dptd. h nclud

SARA RITUA AND SHAANIS 27

baskemakers poers brassworkers and blacksmhs Deren groupsare wha Elwn descrbes as "vaguely endogamous. A Ja may marry anArs or aJadu whou elcng much barrers are howevera lle sronger beween he culvang and occupaonal groups ye anelopemen beween a poer and a Jadu culvaor s no aken veryserously and s forgven afer he paymen of a small ne Bu a Jaheredary pres or Buyya canno mary an Ars Bua or Jadu Ba

Members of all hese groups look dress and behave alke Even black-shs and poers have her elds and catle. Deren groups ofen lven he same sree A mos sgncan eaure of Hll Saora socety s hehgh degree of polcal auonomy enoyed by the mos mporan resden-al un he vllage I may be sad whou exaggeraon ha asocologcal analyss of he srucural relaonshps wthn and beweenSaora vlages would provde an ndspensable nroducon o Elwssudy of Saora rual. Bu hs daa on vlage orgazaon and on hedemographc aspecs of vllage resdence are thn and fragmenary

Several of he rual casehsores ced by Elwn refer o quarrewhn and beween vllages Elwn also menons 7) "the acrd dspuesha occasonally dsgure a Saora vllage Before perforng a rual a

shaman usually makes an nvocaon o he unseen bengs and powerswhch ncludes he followng phrase "Le no one n he followng vllaga b c ec. work l .e. sorcery agans us 3)

ese daa sugges ha there are sablzed concs beween vllagesperhaps over rghs o scarce racs of ferle land perhaps as the vesgalraces of feuds forbdden now by the Cenral Governmen. We canno ellfrom Elwn's accoun. And would be mporan o know he moves fornervllage conc and he cusomary mechansms for resorng ordereteen vllages from he pon of vew of our analyss of shamanismforshamans pracce ousde as well as nsde her own vllage.

Wha hen are we entled o say abou Saora vllage srucure? In he rs place we can quoe Elwn as sayng ha Saora vllages are for the os par "large ongesablshed n herpresen ses and bul nhe

mos dfcul and naccessble ses ha can be magned. Bu Elwn gvesus ltle ndcaton as o precsely large hese vllages are He has madeno aemp o dscuss n quanave erms such facors as he magudeand mobly of vllages and he resdenal mobly of ndvdualshrough vllages. We can oban no normaton abou he aveage magude of a Saora vllage or of he ae of vllage sze. He does menonanalzngl ha "shfng culvaon means ha some Saora vllages arevery small wh only hree or four houses hgh n he hlls lonely andremoe bu conveen for he swddensby whch erm he means ash-gardens Bu he has us prevously wren ha Sara vllages n facrsemble esablshed ond o Sana setlemens raher han he rough and


18/168


19/168

30 PART I: PRCESSUAL ANALYSS

h he em irinda efes o wo disinc kinds of goupingpilinege nd n exended fmly If boh senses e pesen in irindahee my be conic beween he ogniing pinciples of hese wokinds of gouping Membes of wo o moe irindas my live ogehe inone que o hmle, o membes of one iinda my be divided beweenwo o moe ques Bu nely evey irinda is o be found wihin single villge A womn does no chnge he irinda membeship fe

mige nd i ppes fom sevel of Elwins exs h pesonsmohes irinda plys n impon p in his o he is Thee doesno ppe o be ny cle ule of posmil esidence nd we he ofmied sises living in he sme que s hei seinl bohes, h is,bohes by he sme fhe I suspec h one of he bsic conics ofS sociey is beween womns husbnd nd fhe o bohe foconol ove he nd ove he cildens esidenil llegince In ohewods, he conc would lie beween he husbnds irinda nd he ownFuhemoe, his indeemincy wih egd o posmil esidencewould ppe prima acie o inhibi he developmen of deep loclpilineges fo mn hs he choice of esiding wih eihe his fheso is mohes irinda Residenil liion would seem in fc o be

"mbilel in he sense in which Pofesso Fih 57) hs dened hisem This view eceives suppo fom Elwins emk h "if mnmiges o nohe villge nd seles hee, he cnpovided h someone in he elionship of mohes bohe fhes sise o hei sons isliving heebe dmied o so of honoy membeship of heifmily p 36) As Elwin lwys nsles irinda s "fmily one hsnow he impession h he locl irin is composie goup conining nucle membeship of pilineal kin of boh sexes wih men pepondeing, descended fom n picl nceso pehps no mny gen-eions bck fom he oldes living membes wih finge of siseschilden nd hei childen The fc h cosscousins e fobid-den o my is lso consisen wih he view h sises childen e egded s "honoy membes of he irinda One migh infe fm hisfeue of esidenil sucue h thee is incompibiliy beween hepinciples of pilinel nd milel liion Since Elwin poins ouh hee is consideble inemige beween sepe villges i ispossible h is conic ofloyalies undelies he hosiliy beween villges expessed in socey ccusions One migh lso posule h disppoined climns fo villge oce nd men who hve filed o obinwh hey consideed o be f she of hei pimony epess theidisconen by going o eside wih hei milel kin in he villges ofhe le They igh bing up hei childen in hose villges Such childen mgh be unble o succeed o oce o inhei bii opeyfo iwould p tht th bii th pmt tcd cldupplyg th tpl cp I thM cpt th tuctu th

SARA RTUAL AND SAMANSM 31

irinda is coec, i my help o clify feues of he shm ole Fohee shmns, menioned by Elwin sid h hei uely wives weebough o hem by he uelies of hei mothes nd one by his mothesbohes uely, in ohe wods fom uelies ssocied wih heimohes irindas In complemeny fshion mny shmnins cquie theiuely usbnds fom hei fhes sises uelies th is fom membes of hei fhes irinda Shmns of one sex sess iul loylies ohe irindas of thei pens of the opposie sex In he cse of shminsiul loylies coincide wih hei secul loylties nd senghen nchmen wich conics wih h of mige Thus mny shmninsemphsie he iul imponce of pinciples ohe hn hose whichough o goven hei dominn loylies in secul life; signicn po-poion of shmns in S sociey sess milel ies ginspiiny nd women sess einfoced pilelity gins the migebond In his connecion i is ineesing o noe h funey shminsGuarkumis), who e "usully ined nd iied by hei fhes sis-es ough no o my nd hve childe p 46) The pilel ie iseinfoced in iul conex the expense of the secul mige ieSuch shmnins e "ousides o he cusomily expeced ole of

women Boh shmnins nd shmns use iul links with he irindas ofhei pens of opposie sex o plce hemselves ous ide hei cusomilyxpeced goup llegince nd emphsie hei pesonl independenceom cusomy clims mde upon hei loylies Feudin nlyss mighosule h he shms mige with milel uely spousepesens bely disguised wish fo inces wih his mohe nd th hemni pilel spiihusbnd is elly he fhe Bu his ineeion would hve o eckon wih he fc h eligious beliefs eusoms, collecive epesenions, socil seeoypes no pive fn-sies I gh be gued howeve, h he opeive esidenil goupong he S is no, s i idelly ough o be sicly pilinel buonsiss of bohes nd sises nd hei dul childen who snd o oneohe in he elionships of cosscousin This bilel goup esiss hess of is women by viilocl mige And lhough in socil eliy ius ecognie he foce of exogmy in he poeful wishwold oful, men nd women me in fnsy within fobidden degees ofship o wih suoge pens nd hus sse the omipoence of hemy goup gins he sucued dieenied ode, bsed onmy of dul sociey I would seem h some women pefe celibcy hmnns o elinquishing full icipn membeship in hei fhesous We cn only specule becuse Elwis meil is hin on hist bu I sugges h S shmsic beliefs e eled o he unive-l hu oblem of he bsic condicion in exogmyhe pimy gp t t t membes nd he sme ime o winb th gup


20/168

2 PART I PRCESSUA ANAYSS

Beuse Elwn ws preouped wh relgous uso nd belef uigeneri he fled o olle he d h would hve enbled h o ke pror nlyss of he Sor sol syse, nd hs hs gven hs book urously nverebre pperne. or he se reson he hs been unbleo nerpre dequely hose es of relgous uso self whh redrely lnked o he sol sruure. or, s Sel one wroe (1950,p. 15): "relgous behvor does no exlusvely depend on regous on-

exs, bu s generly hun for of behvor whh s reled underhe sulus no only of rnsendenl objes bu of oher o-vons . . . .Even n s uonoy, relgous lfe onns eleens h reno spelly relgous bu sol..only when hese eleens) re so-led by ens of soologl ehod, wll hey show wh whn hewhole oplex of relgous behvor y legely be onsderedpurely relgous, h s, ndependen of nyhng sol. Wh knds ofd, hen, do we need o olle, n order o undersnd he Sor rulsn her sol onex, nd even o undersnd her sgnne for hendvduls onerned wh he? Wh I bou o sy y seeeleenry, ndeed nve, bu he osson of he d I shll ls hsserously redued he v lue of ny oherwse exellen oplons of

rul usos by ledng odern nhropologss.We need ensus surveys of severl oplee vllges boh n Gnjnd Korpu. We need nforon bou he oun of brdewelh pdor reeved every rrge reorded, he oun of openson pdfor dulery or dvore, he nuber nd ges of hldren of vllge e-bers, he nl vllges nd vllges of rerng vllge ebers, he qur-ers of hose vllges n whh hey forerly resded he vllge, qurer,nd irinda lon of her prens, her own oupon nd su, ndslr suonlly relevn nforon. We lso requre full genelog-l d fro irinda- nd elders, so h we n ep o nkogeher ll ebers of irinda on sngle genelogy. We need reords ofll he nl es nerlnkng deren irinda n he se vllge, nd henl es onneng ebers of ensus vllges wh oher vllges. Weshould lso hve hu dgrs of onsderble nuber of vllges, rel-ng he huownershp pern o our vllge nd irinda geneloges. roour nuerl nlyss of ensus nd genelogl d we would hen en poson o nfer he eeve prnples deernng vllge sruure.We would hen hve been ble o opre hs nlyss of" he suon onhe ground wh he del pern s s sed by Sor nfornsCollerlly, we requre vllge hsores gvng ul ses of suessono vrous knds of poll nd rul posons ro hese we y nferno only he ode of suesson bu lso wheher sruggles for oefollow dene pern so h we y sk for exple wheher hefonl groupngs h suppor n ns nd ny o b

SARA RITUA AND SAANS

er prlnel kn, ebers of her vllge qurers, or oher egores persons We would lso lke o know he lss nd ouponlrbues of suh groupngs. I would be resonble o olle d on heode of nherne of ovble nd ovble propery nd on hese of lndenure. I would be porn o hve se hsores ofspues over nherne of propery nd rghs o deren egores ofnd, for qurrels over lnd re enoned n Elws ses of sorery-

uson. I onsder h nforon of hese sors, properly nlyedd sunly presened n ouple of nrduory hpers, would hveorously enhned he vlue of Elws ritual d. urherore, f hed olleed syse nforon bou seres of ruls perfored n ngle vllge, or n neghborhood luser of vllges over perod ofonhs or even yers, he gh hve grely lluned our undersnd- of he role of rul n Sor group dyns. In oher words, f he hdn us rs generl odel of Sor sol sruure, followed by nlyss of ul sol proesses n sgnn seors of Hll Sor so- he would hve been ble o show us o wh exen prnples, vlues,s, nd neress, nd he relonshps hey govern nd esblsh nlr onexs, re represened n rul, boh n s sol nd n sbol spes He would hen hve been n beer poson o deh he whole oplex of rul behvor nd des wh ws "purelyous, n Sels words, nd "ndependen of nyhng sol

Syse olleon of hese knds of d, hen, would hve gven us er foundon for nlyng vllge sruure hn he orsels ofologl nforon h Elwn nerpoles n hs desrpons ofous usos. Bu le us neverheless ry o onsru odel of her vllge ro hese sny bs of nforon. The vllge, s weh sen, s dvded no qurers or hles. The nuleus of eh qurer irinda whh self hs ore of prlnel kn nd frnge oferlly hed kn, ognes, nd nes. Cung ross hesengs s dvson beween rsors nd ooners. In os Sor here re led poll funonres, nd n nj here s

onlly vllge pres or Buyya Eh of hese funonres, of he os porn s he vllge he hs hs own qurer, ned s le Elwn does no ell us wheher he irinda of hese funon- h eber of whh y l hself by he le of her hed, o done her qurers or hles nuerlly The irinda of unonres nd vllge press ogeher onsue he rso s possble h vllges re splly dvded beween prepon y rsor nd prepondernly ooner seons, eh seon of srl qrrs. Eh qurer lso would pper o hve s dvsons bwn prnl kn nd s "honorry ebers onns sp husods nd houshold y b


21/168


22/168

36 PART I: PRCES SUA ANALYSIS

Again he pres worships he same gods in heir ferliy besowingaspec ha he shaman propiaes or exorcses in heir puniive capacy

Elwin gives lile deailed informaion abou rual assocaed wih hevillagequarer bu wres ha "many ceremonies ake place wihin hequarer for is own members who owe a specal loyaly o her parcularleader

The iria or paernal exended faly has s special rual auon

omy for i conrols cerain sacrices as well as he ceremonal eaing offood in public riuals. The Doripur and Ajorapur ceremoes o propaerespecively he fevergivng god of cale grazers and he snake god whocauses mscarriages are performed only for and by members of heaiced persos iria alhough I suspec ha docorshamans iniaedino he culs of hese gods may also ake par regardless of heir iriaaliaon Each iria has s own heredary funerary priess andpriesesses who succeed parlineally; hese canno funcion for oheriria A he grea funerary res of he Gua Kaa and Lajap a whichmembers of several villages aend members of he iria of he deadperson ea her share of he riual food in heir own homes and obainmore han srangers who ea ou n he elds and obain less A he acual

cremaon of he dead only members of heiria

may aend and eachiria has is separae burninggrounds and separae cluser of sonememorials for is dead Bu hese funerary ruals inerlnk neghborngvillages as well as emphasizing he value se on pariliny. For a he Guarrual which ransforms a dangerous wandering shade ino a repuableancesor wih a home in he Under World ceran physical remains ofparilneal iria members who have been residng wih marlaeral kinor who have married ou in oer villages are brough back by heirkin. Members of boh vllages perform roles n he Guar riual cycle. Andhere is a special class of shamans and shamanins he Guarkumoi ncluding many celibae women) who ociae a hese inerconnecing funerary ries.

Some occupaonal groups are recogzed as disnc us in someriuals. For example a Kaa ceremonies he ndal baskemakers ceremonially exchange mas and baskes for a share in he rce and mea ofhe feas.

The household in some riual siuaions becomes he eecve nfor he ries of he hreshingoor are performed by each householderseparaely.

We see how n hese dere knds of ruals he valdy of cerancrucial principles of organizaion s inssed on ouside he specc conexs in whch hey produce conics. Thes ruals as wer fegn hahe prncples are nevr n conc and ha hr r no ngonss ofnrs or urpos bwn rsons and grous organd undr c

SARA RITUAL AND SAMANISM 37

principle. Bu in social reaiy here is much anagosm of principle andurpose And i is a his poin I hnk ha we should reconsder heousider posiion of he shaman

For he shaman as I have said does no represen a paricular groupbu as Elwin says "may go whereve he s summoned p 3 ) . He sregarded wh respec and ofen wh aecon as a man gven o heublic servce a rue frend in ime of aicion Helped by his uelary

pouse he has access o he gods ancesors and shades who punsh heving for snning quarrelling bearng grudges and faling o rememberaricular gods and spris when making nvocaions durng riual Theseysical agencies aic wh sforune and illness and he shaman cureshe aiced. Such aicions are he common lo of mankind and rualdireced owards her removal seems o posses s n Sara culure a pollly negrave funcon The wdes Sara commuy s a commuy ofuering; here is no Sara sae wh cenralized admisraive and liry insiuions. Nor are here grea naonal riuals aended by he wholera people The concep of panSara uniy ranscendng all he dvons of he secular sysem and expressed in beliefs and symbols shared by Sara is raher he produc of nnumerable fully performed occaons of localized riual each couched in he dom of uy hroughomon isforune The shamans and shamans mainain hs widesy maily because hey are srucurally locaed ousde he local andshp us ofher socey

Men and women become dvnershamans as he resul of an experce ha Elwin calls "conversion The person who wll become a divineren dreams abou a paren 's uelary who comes wh a young uelaryo may or may no be a relaive of he laer o arrange for he inendedner o marry he spr A rs he or she refuses and becomes very illeimes o he pon of madness There exss n fac he mplicupion ha psychc conic n he ndividual prepares hm for her ask of dving ino he conics n socey Such psychc conc f may be relaed as we have speculaed o he socal fac of exogamy.

dvnerelec wanders abou he vllage and ou no he woods danc and singing This may be said o represen his disaliaion from hered lfe of vllage socey. Dreams and llnesses of hese sors ypcally durng adolescence for dvnerselec of boh sexes When heced person consens o marry hs uelary he recovers hs healh and and eners on hs vocaon as a diviner He hen receves addonalnng fro accreded dvners who are frequenty hs close paernl orrnl kn

hrough converson he dviner cheves a socally recognized saus ( crd ousdr Bu queson eans was he or she in any sense or sychobologc n ousdr beore convrson Ar shaans


23/168

PART I PRCESSUA ANALYSIS

nd shmins recruited from ctegories of persons who hve either someinherent deciencies or low scribed socil sttus? In the rst plcemny but by no mens ll divinershmns nd shmins possess somephysicl or psychicl bnormlity. or exmple Elwin mentions mleeunuch who prcticed s shmn with mle tutelry. This tutelryhd formerly been the eunuch's mothers tutelry husbnd ccording tothe diviner's ccount Another shmn ws born with gret hed tht

cused his mother much pin. Another ws impotent for ll his seedws in his hed s he told Elwin. One shmnin ws leper nother sidtht becuse she hd child in the other world she did not thin shewould hve one here nd yet nother hd lived ned from birth doing mns wor even sowing seed mong the Sor typiclly msculinets. But before sying tht bnormlities of these inds mr men ndwomen out to be shmns nd smns we should lie to now howmny bnorml people did not become diviners. or shmnism is phenomenon of culture nd society not of bodily or psychic bnormlitynd socioculturl phenomen re ssocited with plurlity of moti-vtions nd interests. Thus mny pprently norml Sor becomediviners nd it is possible tht mny bnorml Sor do not Agin it

loos s though soci l fctors re involvedElwin hs sid tht both mle nd femle commoners s well sristocrts cn become shmns nd shmins. Villge priests on theother hnd nd polticl functionries re drwn exclusively from theristocrcy. But he does not tell us what is the rtio of commoner toristocrtic shmns. He writes p 449) tht someshmns come fromvery poor homes nd mentions two Arsi Sor shmns) in lrgely Jtivillges. One wonders whether there re signcnt structurl dierencesbetween the domestic nd iri rrngements of the two socil clssesnd lso between the three dierent brnches of the Hill Sor. or Elwinstresses p. 52) tht the ristocrts mrry commoners hypergmously. Hehs lso sid tht polygyny is firly common nd we ed bovetht he mentions villge where every mrried mn hd t lest twowives p. 56) . The question rises where do the Sor obtin the womento enble them to do this? By rding other tribes? Clerly no fo triblwrfre is forbidden by the Centrl Government. Alterntively there mybe very erly mrrigege for girls nd this is indeed the cse) d lte mrrigege for men. But Elwin sttes explicitly p 54) tht Sorboys commoly mrry t sixteen or seventeen. This prdox mght beresolved ifmle riocr mrried erly nd mle ommoner late. e villagewith mny polygynists mght be village of Jti ristocrts But thissitution would produce numerical imblnce between the mrried ndunmrried ofboth sexes in the dirent social classes or exampl underhypramy som arstocratic won iht not be abl to nd husbands

SARA RITUAL AND SAANIS

Perhps it is from these women tht the ceibte funerry shmins reminly recruited? It mght lso men tht there would be a shortage ofmrrigeable commoner women with corresponding mle competitionfor them. I in ddition, commoner men mrried firly late there mightwell be shrp tensions between the older and the younger men who mighttend to commit dultery with the older mens wives.

We hve no informtion on these importnt points. Indeed Elwin

regrds the conversion of shmn or shmnin s generl phe-nomenon of dolescence insted of considering dierences in dolescentrections between members of dierent groups nd sections of Sorsociety. is not unversly humn psychologicl problem but the prob-lem of specic socil system. I hve lredy mentioned erlier tht thereppers to be conict between ptriinel nd mtrilterl lition andthat certain proportion of ptrilinel members of ech iri live withtheir mothers' ptrilinel in. This lininpoliticl role must impose strin on tose who perform it, nd so I suggest tht sigicnt propor-tion of shmns my be recruited from vuculoclly resident young menespecilly from those who hve lredy a constitutionl tendency to psy-chic bnormlity.

All one cn sfely sy is tt mny shmns may be recruited fromgroups nd ctegories of persons whose socil position debrs them fromobtiing poiticl or priestly oce substntil welth or high seculrrestige eir only pth of upwrd mobiity my be through shmism.s individuls shmns of this sort my be psychobiologiclly normlnd my even iherit their shamnstic sttus ptrilnelly On the othernd some of the shmns who exhibit berrnt psycic or physiclchracteristics my not be structurl outsiders but my belong to oce-olding clsses nd fmlies Elwin hs introduced certain mount ofonfusion by clssing under the rubrics of shm nd shmn theoles of diviner and doctor. Doctors re specilsts who do not hvettelries nd who lern the medicines nd prctices of particulr curtivetuls such s the Doripur nd Ajopur from other experts I would guess

y nlogy with Africn studies tht such doctors were formerly ptientstemselves in those rituls Then when they were successfully tretedty becme doctordepts in curtive cult to propitite the god who hdicted them. Certainly those who e believed to hve been illed by rticulr god re thought by Sor to become tht god themselvesther by becong merged in him, or by becomng one ofhis ssistnts inicting the living f cuative cults do in fact exist this would mean thttties cut across other forms of liation nd provide lins betweenaes and iri

There remans the problem of how shmansm s mde respectable inw o th act that many o its exponents withdrw themselves to a


24/168


25/168

PART I: PROCESSUA ANAYSIS

in relaion o Saora social srucure and o he social mauraon o individuals occupying ascribed posiions in ha srucure is also possibleha invesigaors rained in psychology and psychoanalysis would havebeen able o hrow urher ligh on hose elemens o Saora shamanismha appear o be "independen o anyhing social Only aer hesociological and psychological acors inuencing religious behavior havebeen closely examned is i jusiable o speak as Elwin does ollowing

Rudolph Oo o a "numinous elemen in religion o "he recogniion osomehing enirely dieren rom ourselves Finally I would sugges hae noion ha he abnormal person and/or he srucural ousider is inSaora sociey allocaed he role o represening and mainaining he ranscendenal uniying values o he wides social sysem migh be ruiullyesed ou in oher ranges o daa I migh help o explain or examplesome o he phenomena o mysism asceicism conversion and holymendicancy in he higher religions

2

R Aspects ofCoict Controi

rican cropoics

xended case hisories o dispues Acan v1llages eighborhoods and chiedoms reveal ha each dispueds o have a e cycle wih disinc phases see Michell 55ddleon 60 and urner 57) S ince relaionships in hese small aceace communiies end o be muliplex wih oal personaiy involve-n i aciviies o all pes wheher hese may be dened as primarilyomesc ral econoc poliical or religious he consequences oracn m one ype end o aec he premises o ineracion in he:ediael succeeding aciviies o aoher see Gluckman 55a

20) his endency can bes be descbed and laer analyed i weop Dorohy Emmes view he resul o a cogen bu complex argu- in er book Funtion Puose a Powers 58:23) ha a sociey is "ass h some sysemaic characerisics raher han a closely inegraedm ke an orgasm or a machine

A dispue hen has a lie cycle ha is sysemaied by rouinescdures and symbols ha esablish he characer o is successive

nt wth pemison of ldne ublhng o. hcago from Potca Anthopo y ] wtz opyht 1966.

44 PART I: PROCESSUAL ANALYSIS


26/168

44 PART I: PROCESSUAL ANALYSIS

phas es or situations as primarily political, ritual econoc,: and soon Some of these situations may be prescribed and predeterned bycustom for example, religious performances that occur at xed points inthe annual cycle, or regularly reformed intiations into agesets Othersituations have a conngent, ad hoc character, sometimes developing outof the dispute itsel sometimes presenting a response or adjustment toevents originating outside the community

A dispute runs its course through a series of situations of dierenttypes, but two kinds of sequences are involved. The rst is purely chrono-logical situations, of whatever type, are temporally juxtaposed. The sec-ond is typological situations of the same type follow one another, but at aremove Between one poitical situation and the next a number of dierenttypes of situations is interposed perhaps a ceremony, perhaps a collectivehunt, perhaps a esta Chronological sequences are continuous typo-logical sequences are discontinuous at least this is the case in ongoinginteractions, regardless of their qualities

But there is another sense in which chronological sequences are dis-continuous and typological sequences are continuous, for certain kinds ofissues are thought to be appropriately conned to certain types of situa-tions It is widel held, for example, that in legal and political situationsconicts of interest, opion, and purpose may be ventilated, discussed,underscored, or resolved On the other hand, many kinds of ritual situa-tions are concerned with social unity and solidarity, and with the suppres-sion of overt expression of disputatious actions and sentiments. Thus,when a ritual situation immediately succeeds a political situation, thecontentious issues raised in the frmer are kept in abeyance in the latter;but, at a later phase in the social process, the dispute may again attainpublic status in a new political situation

The point wish to make here is that the interveng situations willhave left their imprint on the subsequent patterns of behavior The secondpolitical situation will have been inuenced by the ritual and econocsituations that separate it from the rst, because one and the same set of

persons moves, in ever changing patterns of relations, through all of themFor example, a dispute between two village factions may threate, in therst poltical situation, to become violent. At that point the obligation ofall members to participate in ancestor worship or in a lifecrisis cereonymay supervene and their enjoined cooperation in ritual may then have acurbing eect on their political rivalry, so thatwhen next their roles arepolitically denedtheir dierences may be composed peacefully anrationally instead of disrupting community life On the other hand, politi-cal rivalries may carry over into ritual situations and markedly act thirbhavioral pattrs

CONFLICT CONTROL IN AFRICA 45

It must not be thought that a communty's social fe is entirely con-structed out of "situations A social situation is a critical point or com-plication in the history of a group, ad most groups are subdivided intoparts that possess varying degrees of autonomy; and a considerable pro-portion of an individuals social participation is in the purposive activitiesof thes subgroups, such as the nuclear faly, the ward, the lineagesegment, the ageset, and so on, rather than in those of the wider group,

such as the village or the chiefdomSitutions that involve groups ofarge span and great range and scopeare relatvely few. When they occur, however, the roles, interactions, andbehavioral style that constitute them tend to be more formalized thanthose of subgroup behavior e graient of formalty may extend fromthe mere display of etiquette and propriety, through ceremonal action, tothe fullblown ritualzation of behavior. Even when situations developspotaneously, out of quarrels or celebrations, they rapidly acquire a for-mazed or structural character Most anthropologists have observed thatin he course of village quarrels, the contending factions draw apart, con-sodate their ranks, and develop spokesmen who present their cases interms of a rhetoric that is culturally standardized Situations, too, have

rather clearly dened terin: the ivestigator can observe when theybegin and end

Thus a society is a process that is punctuated by situations, but with

tervals between them Much behavior that is intersituational from theerspective of the widest eective group may, however, be situationalom the perspective of its subgroups Thus a nuclear famly may have itsown situational series, its faily councils, its acts of worship devoted to itsLares atque enates its arening bees, and so on, and these may have

ttle to do 1th _the funct10ng of the total communty Yet, especiallyI regard t?t_s d1sutes, th family may not be able to control divergen-s from 1ts but behav10ral norms by its traditional machinery andtse become a matter for the community ey may then precipitatemunitywide social situations

Doing eldwork among the Ndembu of Zambia, I collected a fairount of data in the form of extended case histories, and thus was able toow the vicissitudes of a social group over time. In several pubications Ive, in a prelimnary way, indicated how I think such diachroic studiesld be made in the context of village organzation but here I wouldl kc to reount a series of situations I observed over a short period oftunc, that vovd th social group I have called a vicinage

An Ndemb vicige is a cster of vilages with matrilineal cores it


27/168


28/168

50 PRT : PRCESSUL NLYSS CNFLCT CNTRL N FRC


29/168

50 PRT : PRCESSUL NLYSS

tu onts must oopete wth one nothe f "ou hde wee topss sfey though the myst dnges of mukanda

I hed muh gumbng gnst Nyuhn ound the bee pots ofthe Mhmb fon dung the nght, nd expessons of fes of hssoey f they shoud oend hm t seemed he ws gettng the uppehnd e dmt moment me next monng (stuton 3), when theboys wee tuy snthed by odg ont fom the mothes tken

beneth symbo gtewy out of he domest em of the hdhood,nd bone yng to the seet ste o umson n the bushLttes ofeves hd been peped fo the boys, eh tte ttended by

umse nd two ssstnts e seno ntnd ws bone to the ste,nd quk s thought, Nyuhn ushed to the mudyi tee beneth whhths ntnd ws to be umsed, nugutng te te He bekonedth hs hnd nd oked Kudi ("Tke hm to me) (Atuy hswok ws net nd eetve, nd the boys he opeted on eoveedwe)

Ths tented the stuton n Nyuhns fvo Sooogy, hehd sueeded n essetng hs sttus, nd not ony hs sttus but the"Ndembu wy of fe, n fe of the opposton of the "modensts Hehd so vndted the m of the oy mtnege to mo uthotyove the vnge The ft tht no ne henged hs m to t s senoumse ndted tht tdton Ndembu vues, t est n ths typeof stuton, wee oeve epesenttons tht st hd onsdebepowe to ompe ssent Futhemoe, oy thee umses opetedNyuhn, Smps, nd yet nothe membe of the seno hefsmtnege, who esded n nothe hefdom e defet of Mhmbfton ws ompete

Ony bef nyss s needed to put ths se n ts theoetpespetve e dspute between Nyuhn nd Mhmb my best beundestood not n tems of synhon stutue but n tems of thedynm popetes of the vnge so ed nd n tems f te stu-

ton seesWhen the stuton ws deed poty, t seemed tht Mhmbsfton ght sueed n t est nomntng the seno umse, snthey wee numey supeo nd bette ogned nd oud ppe tothose eements most senstve to moden hnges But when the stutonws dened tuy nd when seve tu stutons fowed onenothe mmedtey, tdton vues beme pmount, ndNyuhn pyed on the etve onsevtm of Ndembu to mntnnd even enhne sttu t hd pt mptns

h tm th pt put po w n ndx fth d t whh Nbu w t ttd to popn v

CNFLCT CNTRL N FRC 51

es s onsevtve bs ws wth the N dembu, fo, t est unt 641n Cent Afn nton pots, most of the Ndembu suppotedNkumbus Afn Nton Congess the thn the moe dUned Nton Independene Pty of Kund nd they wee stunhptsns of e poes of the feow Lund, Mose Tshombe n theCongo

F

_

ny, e my ven

ue, s

e

_

ntve poposton, tht f peson

oup1s pt nd egous postns of some mpotne, hs politialpowe S efoed t those ponts n the seson ye o goups deveopment ye when hs ritualoe gves hm enhned uthoty


30/168

3

Maa, Boys' Circumcision

Te Poltcs ofa

Non-Poltca Ra

When I came to examine the dataI had collected on a single performance of the Mukana, or boys' circumcision rites of the Ndembu of Zambia, I found myself in a quandary aboutthe most fruitful mode of presentation. For the mode of presentationdepends on te mode of analysis. I had brought into the eld with me twodistinct theoretical orientations, and these determined the kinds of data Icollected, and to some extent predetermined the sorts of analysis Iexpected to make. On the one hand following in the tradition ofRhodes-Livingstone Institute research, I collected the kind of data that would have

nabled me to analyze the structure of the social system in whichMukanda occurred I recorded genealogies, made hut diagrams, discovered poitical ties and cleavages beween groups and subgroups, andoted the social characteristics of the ritual participants. On the otherand, I recorded ritual details, their interpretation by experts and laymen,d those items of secular behavior directly related to the servicing andatenace of the rtual omplex

Hprintd with prmiion of ldine ubis hing o., hicag o, from Local-Level Poliis: Social11 Cltural PmpJ, dited by arc. wartz opyright 1968.

53


31/168

S6 PART 1: PROCESSUAL ANALYSISMKA, BOYS

'CIRCUMCISION 57


32/168

S

vicinages are unsable groupings, for villages frequenly spli hrough imeand wander overland. The splioff secion or migran village ofenchanges is vicinage afliation These characerisics of he vicinage, isinsabiliy and ransience, render impossible poliical conrol by any oneheadman over he ohers. No clearly dominan crierion exiss o validaesuch auhoriy. As in oher ses ofNdembu social relaions, we nd raherhe coexisence and siuaional compeiion of several principles which

confer presige bu no conrol Thus in each vicinage here are usuallywo or more villages who claim moral preemnence over he ohers, eachadvancing is claim by virue of a single crierion One village, for example, migh claim senioriy on he grounds ha i has resided for a longerime in he erriory occupied by he conemporary vicinage han anyoher village Is claim may be counered by a laerarriving village whoselineage core is closely relaed o he Ndembu senior chief or o hegovernmen subchief of he area (which includes several vicinages). Theconic beween hem is perinen o he analysis of Mukanda, for heheadman sponsoring his riual hereby obains general recogniion in andouside his vicinage as is moral leader, if no as is poliical head. Thus,every Mukanda is preceded by facion sruggles for he righ o sponsor iEach imporan headman ries o exploi his ies of kinship, afy, andfriendship wih members of other villages o srenghen his following Hemay also aemp o win he favor of his local chie who mus riullyinaugurae Mukanda. On he oucome of his sruggle depends he speccallocaion of riual roles, for he mos imporan fall o members of hevicors facion.

In delimiing he riual ed, he srucure of he village and hepattern of inervillage relaionships have also o be considered. Villagesare he major local subdivisions of he vicinage, and mus be consideredboh in erms of heir inerdependence wih ha wider grouping, andwih regard o heir degree of auonomy wihin i. Furhermore, heymus be examined from he sandpoin boh of heir inerdependence wihand independence from each oher, ha is, of heir relaionsip wih sruc

urally equivalen groupsMembership of villages helps o shape he composiion of he riualassembly a Mukanda and is an imporan facor in he dispues ha arisein he secular inervals beween sacred phases and episodes Indeed, hais more imporan han he general characerisics of village srucure inhis kind of riual is he specic conen of inravillage and inervillagerelaionships durng he period of Mukanda This conen includes heconemporary ineress, ambiions, desires, and goals of he individualsand groupings who paricipae n such relaionships I also includes paerns of ineracion inheried from he immediae pas: personal rudesmemories of siuaions o bloo neane an orpor rivalr is ovr

propery or over he allegiance of individuals In oher words, when weanalyze he srucure of a social eld we mus regard as crucial properiesof a ld no. only spaial relaions and he framework of persisingrela10nsh1ps wh1ch anhropologiss call srucural," bu also he direcedeniie

s"a any given ime operaive in ha eld, he purposive aciviies

?f d1v1dals and groups, in pursui of heir conemporary and longerm

eress and a1ms.

One aspc

of he enduring sructure of Ndembu sociey assumes

hegene s1gcance in. his kind of riual eld I refer o cateoricalrela10nsh1ps which sress keness raher han inerdependence as he basisor

_classicaon. Mukanda has e prominen characerisic of expressing

s symbosm and rolepaern no he uniy, exclusiveness, and con-sancy of corporae groups bu raher such widespread classes as men " " ld " hld "

omen e ers, c 1 ren, he married" he unmarried," circum

sed and uncircumcised," and so on Such caegories cu across and iner-lnk e membersips of corporae groups In a sense hey represen, whenuazed, he u and coninuiy of he wides sociey, since hey endo represen h uversal consans and diereniae of human sociey, age,sex, and somac feaures By emphasizing hese in he sacred conex of agrea public riual, he divisions and opposiions beween corporae

groups, and beween he oal social sysem, viewed as a conguraion ofgroups, and all or any of is componen groups, are played dow' andforced ou of he cener of riual aenion. On he oher hand he caegorical relaionships are riualized in opposed pairs men and wmen oldnd yong, circumcised and uncircumcised, ec), and in his way a :ans-rence 1s ade from sruggles beween corporae groups o he polariza-n of soc1al caegories. Bu i mus be emphasized ha Mukanda isdonaly

a epressive riual, no a riual of rebellion or an acing ou of

oc1ally lc1 mpulses. On he whole, conic i s excluded from he sere-yped behavior exhibied in riual evens. On he one hand he severehysial danger o he novices and, on he oher, he dangr of ghseakg ou beween corporae groupings in he secular inersices of he

al siuaio

are parially counered by a srong sress on he need for

c1al cagoes o cooperae. Harsh penalies are exaced upon hose whosobey ual ocians, and dreadful supernaural sancions are believed punish aboo breaking By hese means he opposiion beween social

egories is conned wihin narrow lims, and in he riual siuaion heirrdependence, rher han heir muual anagoism, is emphasized.!hough spec1c corporae groups o no receive direc expression intlc.ual cusoms of Mukanda, cerain ypical kinship relaionships areJ dly epresened. These are he parenchild relaionships. One of he

s of Muknda s we shll se is o modify he relaionship beween r n son nd bn hr and son in he sense ha afer


33/168


34/168


35/168


36/168


37/168

68 PART 1 : PRCESSUAL ANALYSS MKA BYS' CRCUCISIN 69


38/168

tivig i t itt of wt i gdd t g wf of twidt commty.

T bjct foc d wi ti comptitiv go ot mybity ft of t tot it d, bt itg pt of i Mykid of it coti obvc wic xp coict d tgg.Sc totypd fom my w idc t fg ty poty i tpyc of t pticipt. Gckm yzd c "it ofbo i Cutom and Cot n Aa (955b) d i Ode a Rebeon nba Aa (1963) Bt w it xcd t xpio of ctikid of coict d comptitio fom ti ovt d icit tct Iwod pott tt ti ct viomt i f ofjt to kidof coict d comptitio wic xcdd. T xtm c i fodi pitic Potttim wic i it it tct ppd ptcid d ibig comptitio d joid dpdc d cobotio i t tiop I t viog c if owvc comptitio igd t cic beum omnum onta omne of -ct cpitm. Ti comptitio xitd btw tp d tiogt pt o bot i t tio coomic ytm

Amog t mt of cotctio of t it d of Mkd vio kid of oci gopig If w gd t vicig jt bfo

Mkd w pfomd pow d, tt i t of poibiiti ofidcig foc of vio ot d mgtd, w mt xmi tpow it d ti itio. T domit pow t i Ndmb vicig d vig d o w mt y omtig botti g tct d t cctitic fom of ti itdpdc Bt ic w coidig pcic ctivity

victor r. turner-on the edge of the bush anthropology as experience (anthropology of form & meaning)...

Documents