The Lele of the Kasai

Last updated
The Lele of the Kasai
The Lele of the Kasai ---- book cover.jpg
Paperback edition
Author Mary Douglas
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Subject Ethnography
GenreNon-fiction
Publisher Oxford University Press for International African Institute
Publication date
1963
Media typePrint
ISBN 0-415-29104-6
Preceded byPeoples of the Lake Nyasa Region 
Followed by Purity and Danger  

The Lele of the Kasai (1963) was the second book by the influential British anthropologist Mary Douglas and the first under her married name. [1] In it she reported on her anthropological fieldwork among the Lele people on the western bank of the Kasai River in the Basongo area of what had at the time been south-western Belgian Congo. The changes subsequent to the ending of Belgian colonial rule in 1960 brought her to abandon the usual practice in anthropological field reports of writing in the present tense. [2] The book describes the social, economic and religious life of a large Lele village as she had observed it a decade previously.

Contents

Contents

The first chapter, The Lele on the Map, indicates the location of Lele territory, the neighbouring peoples, and the relations between them.

The second chapter, entitled The Productive Side of the Economy, considers the resources available to the Lele, and their exploitation of them through hunting, fishing, slash and burn agriculture, and craftsmanship, primarily the production of raffia cloth.

The third chapter, Distribution of Wealth, describes how durable and perishable goods are distributed in accordance with status, payment of fees and dues, and exchange through trade and barter.

The fourth chapter, The Village: Offices and Age-Sets, sets out how the division of a village by age sets cross-cuts and counterbalances division by kinship.

The fifth chapter, Clans, describes the social functions of matrilineal clans spread out over a number of villages.

The sixth chapter, Marriage: I. The Private Wife and Private Family, discusses the polygynous system of household marriage, concentrating control of marriageable women in the hands of older men, the special status accorded to fathers and grandfathers, the social obligations of sons-in-law, notions of sexual pollution, and mother-daughter relationships.

The seventh chapter, Marriage: II. The Communal Village-Wife and Communal Family, considers a system of polyandry, outlawed by the Belgian colonial authorities, to provide a "village wife" as a communal resource for otherwise unmarried men. While this was regarded by missionaries as little better than a form of prostitution, Douglas describes the honour attendant on being "married to the village".

The eighth chapter, Blood Debts, outlines forms of compensation paid to clans for deaths of clan members held to have been caused by sorcery or sex pollution.

The ninth chapter, The Village: as Creditor and Debtor, considers the village as a "corporate personality", able to make and settle claims. Deaths by violence were a matter for the village, rather than the clan, to settle or avenge.

The tenth chapter, The Role of the Aristocratic Clan in Relations between Villages, sets out inter-village rivalries, "dominated by the idea of wiping out insults and injuries by killing men or capturing women", before discussing the role of the aristocratic Tundu clan, who claimed a sort of ritual ascendancy over the Lele as a whole but had no special political paramountcy.

Chapter eleven, Religious Sanctions on Village Unity and the Organization of Village Cults, describes belief in a single god, "Njambi", whose action in the world is mediated by various spiritual beings; ritual (sexual) segregations and taboos; the village cults of "begetters" and of diviners, membership of which imparted spiritual authority and occult knowledge. Her analysis of the most senior of these, the Pangolin cult (reserved to those who had engendered a male and a female child with the same wife, among other restrictions), became a byword for Mary Douglas's ethnographic insight. [3]

The twelfth chapter, Sorcery, describes the Lele conception of the sorcerer as a skilled diviner, and the efforts of diviners to direct accusations of occult harm towards breaches of ritual purity, the spirits of the dead, sorcerers from other villages, and those who had left the village.

Chapter thirteen, Control of Sorcery, describes the two traditional methods of combatting sorcery: the "poison ordeal" (outlawed by the Belgian colonial authorities in 1924, so that "by 1950 the institution seemed to have disappeared from Lele life", p. 241), and the "messianic" anti-sorcery cults that periodically swept through the villages, wiping the slates of past sorcery accusations clean.

The final chapter, European Impact on Lele Society, describes the effects of colonial administration, the international cash economy, and missionary preaching.

Editions

The first edition was published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press in 1963. A second, paperback edition, published by the International African Institute, followed in 1977. In 2003 the book was reissued by Routledge as volume 1 of Mary Douglas: Collected Works.

Reviews

The Lele of the Kasai was reviewed by:

and in

Related Research Articles

Witchcraft, as most commonly understood in both historical and present-day communities, is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witchcraft has been found in a great number of societies worldwide. Anthropologists have applied the English term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs in occult practices in many different cultures, and societies that have adopted the English language have often internalised the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magic (supernatural)</span> Practice of supernatural beings and forces

Magic is an ancient practice rooted in rituals, spiritual divinations, and/or cultural lineage—with an intention to invoke, manipulate, or otherwise manifest supernatural forces, beings, or entities in the natural world. It is a categorical yet often ambiguous term which has been used to refer to a wide variety of beliefs and practices, frequently considered separate from both religion and science.

Black magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Douglas</span> British anthropologist (1921–2007)

Dame Mary Douglas, was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture, symbolism and risk, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkheim and a proponent of structuralist analysis, with a strong interest in comparative religion.

The Fore people live in the Okapa District of the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. There are approximately 20,000 Fore who are separated by the Wanevinti Mountains into the North Fore and South Fore regions. Their main form of subsistence is slash-and-burn farming. The Fore language has three distinct dialects and is the southernmost member of the East Central Family, East New Guinea Highlands Stock, Trans–New Guinea phylum of Papuan languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filipino shamans</span> Shamans of ethnic groups in the Philippines

Filipino shamans, commonly known as babaylan, were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the spirits of the dead and the spirits of nature. They were almost always women or feminized men. They were believed to have spirit guides, by which they could contact and interact with the spirits and deities and the spirit world. Their primary role were as mediums during pag-anito séance rituals. There were also various subtypes of babaylan specializing in the arts of healing and herbalism, divination, and sorcery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chokwe people</span> Ethnic group of Central & Southern Africa

The Chokwe people, known by many other names, are a Bantu ethnic group of Central and Southern Africa. They are found primarily in Angola, southwestern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northwestern parts of Zambia.

The Fipa are a Bantu ethno-linguistic group based in the Sumbawanga Rural and Nkasi districts of Rukwa Region in southwestern Tanzania speaking the Fipa and Mambwe languages. In 1992, the Fipa population was estimated to number 200,000, reduced to 195,000 in the 2002 census.

James Shelby Downard was an American conspiracy theorist. His works focus on analyzing perceived occult symbolism, twilight language, and synchronicity in relation to historical events of the 20th century. Downard gained recognition for his contribution to Masonic conspiracy theories; specifically his belief that the Freemasons orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy through a ritual referred to as "Killing of the King".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European witchcraft</span> Belief in witchcraft in Europe

European witchcraft is a multifaceted historical and cultural phenomenon that unfolded over centuries, leaving a mark on the continent's social, religious, and legal landscapes. The roots of European witchcraft trace back to classical antiquity when concepts of magic and religion were closely related, and society closely integrated magic and supernatural beliefs. Ancient Rome, then a pagan society, had laws against harmful magic. In the Middle Ages, accusations of heresy and devil worship grew more prevalent. By the early modern period, major witch hunts began to take place, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. Witches were often viewed as dangerous sorceresses or sorcerers in a pact with the Devil, capable of causing harm through black magic. A feminist interpretation of the witch trials is that misogynist views of women led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft.

Islam and Christianity are the most widely professed religions in Chad. Smaller populations of non-religious people as well as adherents of other faiths are also present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

Christianity is the predominant religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Catholicism and Protestantism being its main denominations.

The Chamba are a significant ethnic group in the north eastern Nigeria. The Chamba are located between present day Nigeria and Cameroon. The closest Chamba neighbours are the Mumuye, the Jukun and Kutep people. In Cameroon, the successors of Leko and chamba speakers are divided into several states: Bali Nyonga, Bali Kumbat, Bali-Gham, Bali-Gangsin, and Bali-Gashu. They are two ethnic groups in Ghana and Togo also called Chamba, but they are ethnically distinct. The Chamba are identified through their own language, beliefs, culture, and art.

<i>Purity and Danger</i> 1966 anthropology book by Mary Douglas

Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo is a 1966 book by the anthropologist and cultural theorist Mary Douglas. It is her best known work. In 1991 the Times Literary Supplement listed it as one of the hundred most influential non-fiction books published since 1945.

<i>Natural Symbols</i> Book by Mary Douglas

Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology is an influential book by the British cultural anthropologist Mary Douglas. Further editions were published in 1973, 1982, 1996, 2003. It was also published in 2003 as volume 3 in Mary Douglas: Collected Works (ISBN 0415291062).

<i>Risk and Blame</i> Book by Mary Douglas

Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural Theory is a collection of essays by the influential British cultural anthropologist Mary Douglas.

The Lele, also known as Bashilele or Usilele, are a Bantu ethnic group closely related to the Kuba people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They traditionally live in the Kasai River region, but since the 1950s many have migrated to Kinshasa. There are currently about 30,000 Lele, of which 26,000 speak the Lele language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lulua people</span>

The Lulua people are a Bantu ethnic group settled along the Lulua River valley in south central Kasai-Occidental province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lulua are in fact a collection of small groups whose home bordered by the larger Luba state and the related Songye people and Chokwe people, with whom they share a very similar culture, history, and language.

<i>Some Spirits Heal, Others Only Dance</i>

Some Spirits Heal, Others Only Dance: A Journey into Human Selfhood in an African Village is an anthropological study of the ngulu cult among the Lungu people of Zambia authored by the anthropologist Roy Willis. It was first published in 1999 by Berg Publishers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African divination</span>

African divination is divination practiced by cultures of Africa.

References

  1. Douglas's Peoples of the Lake Nyasa Region appeared under her maiden name, Tew, in 1950.
  2. Richard Fardon, Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography (Routledge, 1999), pp. 54, 66-67.
  3. Richard Fardon, Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography (Routledge, 1999), pp. 70, 209.

Sources