In this study of the Ndembu of Zambia, ritual is examined under two aspects: as a regulator of social relations over time and as a system of symbols. Social life is thereby given direction and meaning. An extended case-study of a series of ritual performances in the life of a single village community is analysed in order to estimate the effects of participation in these symbolic events on its component groups and personalities.
Author(s): Victor Turner
Series: Symbol, Myth, and Ritual
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Year: 1981
Language: English
Pages: 326
Acknowledgements vii
List of Plates xii
List of Figures xiii
I. INTRODUCTION I
i . Ritual in Social Dynamics 5
2. Ndembu Social Organization 8
3. Village Structure 10
4. Matriliny and Virilocality: Some Implications 11
5. Some Features of Ndembu Religion 13
II. DIVINATION AND ITS SYMBOLISM 25
i. Introduction 25
2. Divination and its Symbolism 27
3. Divination as a Phase in a Social Process 46
HI. THE MORPHOLOGY OF RITUALS OF AFFLICTION 52
Nkula
(a) Sequence of Episodes 55
(b) Introduction 55
(c) The Mythological Charter 58
(d) Aims of Nkula 58
(e) Ku-lembeka 59
(/) Ku-tumbuka 67
(g) Commentary on Nkula 78
(h) Conclusion 87
x CONTENTS
IV. FIELD CONTEXT AND SOCIAL DRAMA 89
1. The Social Field of Mukang'ala Chiefdom 91
2. The Ritual Specialists 112
3. How the Ritual Sequence Began 1 17
4. The Sequence of Ritual Performances 118
v. the social setting of the ritual sequence
[at nswanamundong'u village] 128
1. Introduction: Continuity and Change in
Modern Ndembu Society 1 28
2. The Social Setting 131
(a) The Mukang'ala Chiefs 131
(b) A Royal Sorcery Contest 136
(c) Chief Mukang'ala Kambung'u 1 38
id) Conflicts in Nswanamundong'u Village 140
VI. A PERFORMANCE OF IHAMBA ANALYSED I56
1. The Performance of Ihamba 157
2. Notes on the Narrative 173
3. The Cultural Structure of Ihamba 175
(a) Beliefs Connected with the Ihamba Tooth 175
(b) The Semantic Morphology of Chishing'a 183
(c) The Medicines of Ihamba 185
4. Sociological Commentary and Analysis 191
vii. nkang'a: part one 198
1. Introduction 198
2. Kwing'ija: The Rite of Separation 201
(a) Resume of Separation Rites 232
(b) Sociological Analysis of Kwing'ija 234
viii. nkang'a: part two 240
1. Kunkunka: Seclusion 240
2. Reaggregation : Kwidisha or Bringing-Out 249
3. Analysis of Nkang'a 264
RITUALS AND SOCIAL PROCESSES 269
The Basic Contradiction 279
Appendix A. Ndembu Concepts of 'Shade',
'Shadow', and 'Ghost' 284
Appendix B. Synopses of Some Performances of
Ihamba 291
Appendix C. Tables 300
Bibliography 313
Index 315
