Women in African Traditional Religions

Author(s): Marion Kilson

Source: Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 8, Fasc. 2 (1976), pp. 133-143
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Journal
of
Religion
in
Africa,
Vol.
VIII,
facs. 2
WOMEN IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL
RELIGIONS1)
BY
MARION KILSON
(Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, Massachussets)
In
approaching
the
topic
of women in African traditional
religions,
several
methodological
issues
immediately
arise: how to define
religion,
how to
sample religious systems,
and how to
cope
with
fragmentary
information. Each of these issues demands a rather
arbitrary
decision
which
implies
that
any analysis
based
upon
such decisions must be
considered
suggestive
rather than conclusive.
If one defines
religion
as beliefs and
practices
associated with
spir-
itual
beings,
one is
likely
to
neglect important
ritual domains
dealing
with status transformations that involve
great
and
lengthy ceremony
but
rarely
notions of transcendental
beings. Moreover,
such ritual situ-
ations of status transformation
frequently
involve women in
important
ritual
responsibilities. Consequently,
I
begin
with a
Tylorian
definition
of
religion
as concern with
spiritual beings
in
discussing religious
norms and ideals for
women,
and move to a more extensive consid-
eration of ritual in
my analysis
of
religious organization
and
practice.
In
considering
traditional sub-Saharan African
religious systems
for
study,
one is confronted not
only by
the
multiplicity
of
potential
units of
study
but
by
the
diversity
in societal
complexity ranging
from
the Southwestern San bands to the Western Sudanic
empires.
In
selecting
societies for
study,
I decided to use Robert M. Marsh's index
of social differentiation. 2
Within sub-Saharan
Africa,
Marsh classi-
1
This
paper
was
originally prepared
for the
Wellesley
Conference on Women
and
Development,
held at
Wellesley College
in
June 1976.
I am
grateful
to the
Radcliffe Institute for
support
and to Carol
Troyer-Shank
for assistance while
writing
the
paper.
2
Robert M.
Marsh, Comparative sociology.
New York:
Harcourt,
Brace and
World
1967, 329-365.
Marsh's index of social differentiation in
preindustrial
societies is based on
George
P. Murdock's classification of social stratification
and
population
size of the
political
unit. In the "World
Ethnographic Sample"
(American Anthropologist 59, 1957, 664-687),
"Murdock coded each
society
ac-
cording
to five
categories
for each variable." Marsh
assigns
numerical scores to
each of Murdock's
categories ranging
from
o
to
4,
or from least to most dif-
ferentiated. Marsh's "Index of Differentiation score for
any given society
in
Murdock's
sample
is the sum of its score for
population
size of the
political
unit
and its score for social stratification."
134
Marion Kilson
fies societies on seven levels of social differentiation. I chose two so-
cieties from each level for which I believed there was
adequate religious
data.
Ultimately, however,
I was able to use information on thirteen
religions.
3 In this
paper
I use Marsh's social
classification,
though
were I
constructing my
own index of social differentiation rather
different societal
groupings probably
would
emerge.
In
addition,
one faces the
problem
of scarce and
fragmentary
in-
formation about women in African
traditional
religions.
With few
exceptions
African societies have been described from a masculine
perspective
which is understandable insofar as
anthropologists
have
been
primarily
concerned with
charting
the
public
structures of social
authority. Invariably
such structures involve relations between
mell.
Nevertheless,
even in societies where women
play important public
roles,
such as the
queen
mothers in several Akan- and
Bantu-speaking
societies,
these roles
usually
have been studied not on their own merits
but
only
in their relation to some male role. Carol Hoffer's seminal
essay
on Madam Yoko of the
Kpa-Mende Confederacy
indicates how
richly illuminating
a feminine
perspective
on women's roles can be.
Since it is
impossible
to infer an
accurately
detailed feminine
portrayal
of social roles from data drawn from a masculine
viewpoint,
the
many
informational lacunae in this
essay imply
not that a belief or
practice
does not exist but that I do not have information about its existence.
NORMS AND IDEALS FOR WOMEN
In recent
years
Robin Horton has
argued persuasively
that dif-
ferentiation in
religious beings
and their cults is related to differentia-
tion in levels of
explanation
in African
systems
of
thought.
4 At the
most
general
level a
supreme being
exists who is
rarely
involved in
human endeavors
except
as an ultimate source of
explanation;
lesser
categories
of
spiritual being
are associated with social units within the
community
and are considered
responsive
to the deeds of men in their
secular and
religious
lives. Horton's view is consistent with the infor-
mation on
spiritual beings
and cults
presented
in Chart
I.
In
many
of
these
societies,
a
supreme being
is
recognized
but no formal cult activ-
ities are associated with
it,
while other kinds of
spiritual beings
are
3 Unless otherwise
noted, my analysis
is based on information derived from
the sources listed in the
ethnographic bibliography.
I
Robin
Horton,
African
systems
of
thought
and western science.
Africa 37,
1965, 50-71
and
155-187: Horton,
On the
rationality
of conversion.
Africa, 45,
1975, 219-235
and
373-399.
Women in
African
Traditional
Religions
I35
acknowledged
to whom cults are addressed. In all thirteen societies
ancestral
spirits
are
worshipped
and often some other
spiritual being.
In these
societies,
there does not
appear
to be
any
correlation between
levels of social differentiation and
types
of
spiritual being.
Chart I
Spiritual Beings
and Cults
Other
Spiritual Beings:
Other
Supreme
Ancestral
Spiritual
LSD*
Society Being
Deities Heroes
Spirits Beings
7
Swazi x no cult - cult -
7
Yoruba x no cult cult cult -
6 Bemba x no cult x cult -
nature
6 Ganda x no cult cult cult
spirits
5
Azande x no cult cult -
nature
5 Mende x no cult cult
spirits
spirits
nature
4
Lamba
x no cult x
-
cult
spirits
4
Safwa - - -
cult -
3
Khoikhoi -
cult
-
cult
-
2
Nyakyusa
- -
cult cult
-
2 Yao x no cult
- -
cult
I San x no cult x -
x
-
I Yako -
- -
cult
fertility
spirits
*LSD: level of social differentiation
no information
x belief
present
Although
data are
fragmentary
on the sexual
identity
of various
kinds of
spiritual beings,
a few observations
may
be noted. When the
sex of the
supreme being
is mentioned
(Mende, San),
it is male. Both
the
supreme being
and male deities
may
be believed to have divine
wives
(Yoruba, Bemba, Ganda, Mende,
San)
and mothers
(Bemba).
Although
ancestral
spirits
of both sexes
may
be
worshipped
within
domestic
groups (e.g., Yoruba, Mende, Lamba,
Safwa),
male ancestors
apparently
are the
only
ones revered in national cults
(e.g.,
Swazi,
Bemba, Ganda,
Nyakyusa).
These
findings concerning
the sexual
identity
of
spiritual beings suggest
that female deities like their human
136
Marion Kilson
counterparts ordinarily
have domestic rather than communal orienta-
tions.
African traditional
religions
are
life-affirming religions. They
seek
to insure the
fertility
and
vitality
of human
beings
and of the land on
which their own and other creatures' livelihoods
depend. Through
ritual human
beings attempt
to maintain or reestablish harmonious
relations with
spiritual beings
who control
fertility.
The
religious quest
for
fertility
is
explicit
in the aims of several central communal cults
(e.g.,
Swazi, Yoruba, Bemba, Ganda, Nyakyusa,
and
Yak6)
and
impli-
cit in those
religions seeking
to control rain that fructifies the land
(e.g., Azande, Mende, Lamba, Safwa, Khoikhoi, Yao,
and
San).
More-
over, diverse
spiritual beings
are considered to control these sources of
fertility.
Direct control of
fertility
is attributed to deities
(Yoruba),
heroes
(Ganda), royal
ancestors
(Nyakyusa),
clan
fertility spirits
(Yako),
and the
supreme being (Bemba),
while control of rain rests
with the
supreme being (Mende,
Lamba, Yao, San),
ancestral
spirits
(Swazi,
Azande, Safwa),
and deities
(Khoikhoi)
in these societies.
Beliefs about the ultimate control of
spiritual beings
over
fertility
represents only
one
aspect
of the
life-affirming
nature of African
religions.
Sexual relations in ritual
(e.g.,
Swazi, Bemba,
Nyakyusa,
Yao)
and in secular life are
intimately
connected
with
vitality. Through
their contribution to the
reproduction
of human
life,
women
play
an
essential role in the
continuity
of human
society.
Yet in
many
African
systems
of
thought,
women's
sexuality
is
regarded ambivalently.
Women are
regarded
not
only
as
producers
of life but also as sources
of
danger
as
expressed
in notions about the
polluting
nature of blood -
especially
the blood of menstruation and the blood of childbirth
(e.g.,
Swazi, Ganda, Bemba, Azande, Lamba, Khoikhoi, Nyakyusa, Yao).
Such notions of
pollution
underlie rituals intended to
separate
unclean
women from contact with others or to neutralize the sources of
pollution.
Women, therefore,
are anomalous creatures
-
intimately
associated with the
well-being
of
society through
their
life-giving
attributes and
deeply threatening
to life
through
their
polluting qualities.
Traditional African
religious ideology,
therefore,
stresses the domestic
orientation of women's
lives, affirming
their
reproductive
role,
while
disdaining
other
aspects
of their
sexuality.
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND
PRACTICES
Through
ritual human
beings attempt
to contact and
manipulate
spiritual beings
or to
manipulate
and transform human
beings.
Cornm-
Women in
African
Traditional
Religions
I37
munal ritual addressed to
spiritual beings
constitutes
religion
- narrow-
ly
defined -
though
communal cults
may
be
performed
to benefit
groups ranging
in
magnitude
from the Swazi or Ganda states to the
households within them. Personal
ritual,
on the other
hand,
aimed at
redressing
some individual's misfortune or
transforming
her social
status from little
girl
to
marriageable
maiden
may
- or
may
not -
be addressed to
any
transcendental
being.
Both communal and
personal
ritual merit consideration in
analyzing
women's roles in African tradi-
tional
religions.
In African societies the central communal cults
may
be addressed
to a diverse
array
of
spiritual beings: royal
ancestral
spirits,
deities,
heroes,
or
fertility spirits (see
Chart
II). Nevertheless,
in such com-
Chart II
Central Communal Cults
Beings
Main Lesser
LSD*
Society of
Cult Ritual Role Ritual Roles
7
Swazi
Royal
Ancestors Priest
(= King) Queen
Mother
Ritual
Queens
Mediums
(male
& female)
7
Yoruba Deities Priest of
Patrician
Mediums
(male
&
female)
6 Bemba
Royal
Ancestors Priest of Matriclan Priest's Wife
Mediums
(male
&
female)
6 Ganda Heroes Priest Mediums
(male
&
female)
5
Azande Ancestors Priest
5
Mende Ancestors
Priest/Priestess
4
Lamba
Royal
Ancestors
? Mediums
(male
& female)
4
Safwa Ancestors Priest
3
Khoikhoi Deities
2
Nyakyusa Royal
Ancestors Priest
(= Chief)
Priest's Wife
2 Yao Ancestors Priest
(= Chief)
I
San
-
Curers
(male)
I
Yako
Ancestors/Fertility
Priest
Spirits
*LSD: Level of Social Differentiation
: No Information
138
Marion Kilson
munal cults women
rarely play primary
ritual
roles.
Almost without
exception
the
principal
intercessor with
spiritual beings
on behalf of
human
beings
is a male
priest. Among
the African
religions sampled
the Mende and the Swazi
may give primary
ritual
responsibilities
to
women in communal cults.
Among
the
Mende,
ancestral
spirits
as-
sociated with women's communal sodalities are addressed
by
women;
among
the
Swazi,
the
queen
mother shares a dual
monarchy
with her
son and
together they
serve the
royal
ancestors and make rain
magic.
Moreover, only
in Mende
society
can women achieve
high
status in
public
affairs in their own
right,
elsewhere women assume
prestigeful
public
roles
by
virtue of their relation to some man
(e.g.,
Swazi,
Ganda, Bemba,
Nyakyusa).
For the most
part,
women
are
relegated
to subordinate ritual roles in African traditional
religious
structures
as
suppliants,
ritual
assistants,
and most
importantly
mediums.
Through mediums, spiritual beings
are believed to make their wishes
known to human
beings.
Human
beings
as the vessels of
spirits
have
revered status
during
their
periods
of
possession
but deference need
not be
given
to
unpossessed
mediums. Within African
central
com-
munal
cults,
mediumship
is often the vocation of men and women
(Chart II). Moreover,
in most
such
central communal
cults,
most
mediums
are women. This
finding
is consistent with
I.
M. Lewis'
argument
about the
patterning
of
possession
and sexual
identity.
Lewis
maintains that "where an established male
priesthood,
which does not
depend upon
ecstatic illumination for its
authority,
controls the central
morality
cult,
women and men of subordinate social
categories may
be
allowed
a limited franchise as
inspired
auxiliaries."
5
As has
been
noted,
in African
society
females are not
regarded
as
intrinsically
superior
to
males, although
some women of
royal lineage may
outrank
some commoner men
(e.g.,
Swazi, Ganda, Bemba, Azande),
some
women
legitimately may
control men within the domestic
sphere (e.g.,
Khoikhoi)
and a few women
may
exercise
chiefly power (e.g., Mende).
Through
ecstatic
mediumship, however,
able women can
temporarily
transform their inferior social status into the
highest
status in societies
where
people
believe that immortal
spirits
can
speak through
the
lips
of mortals.
6
5 I. M.
Lewis,
Ecstatic
Religion.
Harmondsworth:
Penguin
Books
1971, 177.
6
For a more elaborate discussion of this
issue,
see Marion
Kilson,
Ambivalence
and
power:
mediums in Ga traditional
religion.
Journal
of Religion
in
Africa 4
(3), 1972, 171-177; Kilson, Ritual portrait of a Ga medium. Journal of African
Studies 2, 1975, 395-418.
Women in
African
Traditional
Religions
I39
Although
women
play
subordinate roles within the central communal
cults of traditional African
religions, they frequently
have
important
roles in
personal
rituals of status transformation associated with
birth,
puberty,
and death. From the
perspective
of women's ritual and secular
roles,
the most
important
status
transforming
rituals are concerned
with the transformation of a
girl
into a nubile maiden. Such rituals
occur in
many
African societies
(see
Chart
III);
wherever
they
occur
Chart III
Rituals at
Puberty
Rituals at
Puberty:
LSD*
Society
For Males For
Females
7
Swazi x Princesses
only
7
Yoruba -
6 Bemba none x
6 Ganda
5
Azande
-
5
Mende x x
4
Lamba none x
4
Safwa
3
Khoikhoi x x
2
Nyakyusa
none x
2 Yao x x
I San
I Yako x
*LSD: Level of Social Differentiation
x Rituals occur
None: Rituals do not occur
S: No information
the
principal
officiants and
participants
are women.
Moreover,
the
symbolism
of these rituals
vividly portrays
the essential cultural
meaning
of mature womanhood.
Audrey
I.
Richard's classic
analysis
of
chisungu,
the Bemba
nubility ritual,
suggests
that such rituals
may
frequently
articulate
"marriage morality." Through chisungu
a Bemba
girl
is
magically
transformed into a
woman,
instructed in the
"socially
approved
attitudes" towards her domestic roles as
wife, mother,
and
housewife,
and is
magically protected
with her
bridegroom.
7
Such
7
Audrey, I. Richards, Chisungu.
London: Faber &
Faber,
n.d.
p. 128, pp.
140-141.
140
Marion Kilson
rituals
express
the dualistic nature of women's
sexuality
and the means
by
which the
positive aspects
of
fertility may
be harnessed for social
good
and the
negative aspects
of
sexuality may
be contained and
socially
controlled. Both
religious ideology
and female
puberty
rituals,
therefore,
stress
concepts
associated with
fertility
and feminine sexu-
ality.
POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE
The dualism of African traditional
religious ideology
reinforces the
secular social structure. Three basic social
principles
are affirmed in
religious thought:
the subordination of female to
male,
the
separation
of male from
female,
and the
complementarity
of male and female.
In
religious
institutions as in secular
ones,
male is
recognized
as
gener-
ically superior
to
female,
though specific
females
may
be
superior
to
certain males.
Nevertheless,
the
separation
of
spheres
of
activity
for
males and females enables women to exercise authoritative and
prestigeful
roles
among
members of their own sex as senior co-wives
or senior members of women's
groups
based on
kinship
and residential
principles (e.g.,
Swazi, Yoruba, Azande, Mende, Nyakyusa, Yak6).
Nevertheless,
the
cooperation
of the sexes is essential for social
continuity. Fertility
and
vitality
of
humanity
and its world
represent
important religious goals.
Such
goals
reaffirm women's
domestic
and
inferior orientations in
society.
In and of
themselves, therefore,
African traditional
religious ideologies
do not
promote
social
change.
Nevertheless,
such
systems
of traditional
religious thought
are
responsively adaptive
to structural
changes.
As Robin Horton has
argued
so
effectively,
the "two tier structure" of traditional
cosmologies
readily adapts
to Islamic and Christian
cosmologies.
In traditional
religion,
the differentiation between
supreme being
and lesser
spiritual
beings
is associated with the former's macrocosmic disinterest in human
activity
and the latter's miscrocosmic involvement with social life.
Nevertheless,
the basic
ideological
structure
adapts readily
to
newly
enlarged
worlds
by shifting
its
emphasis
to the macrocosmic level from
the microcosmic level.
Additionally,
traditional
concepts
and behavior associated with
spir-
itual
possession
have
adapted readily
to new
religious
contexts. The
rapid development
of
"spiritual"
Christian churches
throughout
mod-
ernizing
sub-Saharan Africa attests to the assimilation of traditional
ideas to new social situations. Within the context of an
evolving
strati-
Women in
African
Traditional
Religions
141
fication
system
based on education and
money, possession
ideas and
behavior continue to resolve status
discrepancies.
I
consider, therefore,
that traditional African
religious ideologies
can facilitate structural
changes
initiated in other social domains.
Whether African women's statuses have been enhanced
by
the econom-
ic and
political
transformations of the twentieth
century
is debatable.
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Baxter,
P. T. W. and
Butt, Audrey.
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peoples of
the
Anglo-Egyptian
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London: International African
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1953.
Evans-Pritchard,
E.
E., Heredity
and
gestation
as the Azande see them
[1932],
reprinted
in his
Essays
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anthropology.
London: Faber & Faber
1962,
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-
,
Zande
theology [1936], reprinted
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-
, Witchcraft,
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-
Northeastern
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London: Oxford
University
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1940, 83-120.
,
The Bemba of North-eastern
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in E. Colson and M. Gluckman
(eds.),
Seven tribes
of
British Central
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Manchester: Manchester
University
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1951, 164-193.
, Chisungu:
a
girl's
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ceremony among
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of
Northern
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Whiteley,
Wilfred. Bemba and related
peoples of
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International African Institute
1951.
Ganda
Roscoe, John.
The
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1911.
Southwold, Martin,
The Ganda of
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James
L.
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Holt,
Rinehart & Winston
1965,
8I-II8.
Khoikhoi
Hoernle,
A.
W.,
Certain rites of transition and the
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among
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-
,
A Hottentot rain
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Bantu Studies
I
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20-21.
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,
The social
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American
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