The paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be... Show moreThe paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be formally different from how traditionally in daily life people would intentionally bless and curse.The fiiro traditional prayer (literally requesting) is interspersed with blessings/curses or strong wishes which are clearly set apart from by a high speed of speech, high pitch and loud voice for a whole sentence upon which the audience waves the hands in the air or towards the ground. The slufay poetry which follows the fiiro can be seen as one long blessing, using subordinate verb forms and other archais elements but not containing these formally marked utterances of the fiiro (Beck and Mous 2014).In daily life cursing is done sometimes standing on a hillock wishing bad fortune on ones opponent but the actual words nor the way they are performed seem to be essential (Kamera 1986). Lifting the curse is a major event however. This can easily take up a whole day of discussing, singing, drinking and eating and the ceremony needs to be performed with the families of the two opponents and other people from the area present and with text emphasizing peace, good wishes and community spirit. The anthropological literature discusses the societal functions of curses (Hagborg 2001, Lawi 2000, Rekdal 1999, Snyder 2005, Thornton 1980).Blessing is often done by putting a piece of grass, barsi, above the door of the house between the cross bar above thr door opening and the roof. This can but need not be accompanied with speech. Show less
This chapter examines what democratic transition in the 1990s has meant for women in southern Africa. It focuses in particular on the impact of democratization processes on political participation... Show moreThis chapter examines what democratic transition in the 1990s has meant for women in southern Africa. It focuses in particular on the impact of democratization processes on political participation by women, notably women's representation in parliament in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is compared with developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, where the introduction of multiparty elections has generally resulted in women's marginalization in parliament. Comparison of the representation of women in parliament in the SADC region under the one-party State and after the democratic transition reveals that the tendency is towards better representation of women. Factors impacting on the representation of women in politics include a country's state of development, the quota system, women's pressure groups, and electoral systems. Linking the UNDP's gender-related development index (1998) to the representation in parliament-index, the author concludes that there is no visible relationship between women's representation in parliament and the quality of life for women in southern Africa. Notes, ref Show less
Ngoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This... Show moreNgoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This collective volume investigates ngoma in its many and culturally diverse manifestations. Contributions: Rijk van Dijk, Ria Reis and Marja Spierenburg (introduction); Henny Blokland (the use of drums in weddings in Unyamwezi, Tanzania, as the key to their use in healing cults and politics); Annette Drews (gender and ngoma among the Kunda of eastern Zambia); Ria Reis (therapeutic ngoma in Swaziland); Marja Spierenburg (the influence of healers' clientele in the Mhondoro territorial cult in Dande, Zimbabwe); Matthew Schoffeleers (rain cults as therapeutic ngoma in the Mbona cult of rural Malawi); Cor Jonker (the politics of therapeutic ngoma as exemplified in the Zionist churches in urban Zambia); Rijk van Dijk (ngoma and born-again fundamentalism in urban Malawi). In the afterword, John M. Janzen takes up critically the challenges to his own work (1992) presented by the contributions in this volume. Show less
