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Hyena and Rabbit: A Kaguru Representation of Matrilineal Relations1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Thomas O. Beidelman
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Extract

This paper has two purposes: (1) to present a text in Chikaguru, a Bantu language spoken by the Kaguru of East Africa: this language has not been properly described by linguists and no extensive text in it has yet appeared; (2) to present a tale (the text) which serves as an interesting illustration of certain problems in Kaguru society.

In the first part of this paper, I present this tale in a free English translation with a few notes in explanation of certain details in the story.

In the second part I discuss the significance of this tale as a means by which one may gain insight into certain important problems in one African matrilineal society.

Two appendixes at the end of this paper present the original Kaguru text and an attempt at a literal translation, together with a list and a very brief discussion of the published material dealing with the Kaguru language.

Résumé

L'HYÈNE ET LE LAPIN: UNE REPRÉSENTATION KAGURU DES RELATIONS MATRILINÉAIRES

Cet article présente un conte en langue Kaguru qui n'a fait l'objet d'aucune publication jusqu'ici. Il s'efforce, également, de faire ressortir la manière dont un conte folklorique peut servir de modèle d'analyse de certains principes sur lesquels repose une société. Le Lapin, et le frère de sa mère, l'Hyène, souffrent de famine. L'Hyène suggère tuer leurs mères pour satisfaire à leur faim, et le Lapin y consent. Ils mettent la mère de l'Hyène à mort, mais par ruse le Lapin évite sa part du marché. Plus tard, l'Hyène meurt de faim, mais le Lapin survit grâce à l'aide de sa mère dont il avait épargné la vie.

Les Kaguru sont des cultivateurs bantous qui habitent la région est-centrale du Tanganyika. Ils sont groupés en clans matrilinéaires et en matrilignages. L'autorité juridique est exercée par les hommes, qui sont rattachés les uns aux autres par les femmes en raison de leurs doubles rôles de mères et de sœurs. Un homme a de l'autorité sur les femmes, mais il dépend d'elles pour contrôler les autres hommes. Par conséquent, la cohésion d'un matrilignage dépend de l'appréciation des femmes pour chacun de ces rôles, mais en cas de conflits graves entre hommes, une femme peut être contrainte à choisir entre eux. Invariablement, elle se range du côté de son fils plutôt que de son frère.

Une femme groupe les mâles de générations diverses, mais sa mort ou son animosité contre un frère menace les liens entre ces hommes. Ceci compromet l'autorité de l'aîné sur ceux des plus jeunes qui lui sont rattachés par son intermédiaire. Mais c'est également un moyen par lequel un cadet peut se libérer pour se mettre à la tête d'un nouveau matrilignage orienté vers sa sœur plutôt que vers sa mère, et indépendant de son aîné. Les Kaguru mentionnent catégoriquement le rôle de la femme dans le maintien de la cohésion du lignage, mais il est tout à fait évident que les hommes Kaguru ont des attitudes ambivalentes envers les femmes en tant que centres possibles de segmentation matrilinéaire.

Le conflit au sein de la société Kaguru est souvent attribué à la sorcellerie et la personne qui place ses propres objectifs au-dessus de ceux de ses semblables est un sorcier. Les thèses principaux de la sorcellerie Kaguru sont relatifs aux hyènes, à l'anthropophagie et à l'inceste, dont tous figurent dans ce conte sous une forme ou une autre. Les quatre personnages du conte constituent un matrilignage et ils sont impliqués dans une lutte pour gagner la soumission et le pouvoir. Le mâle qui renie ses obligations envers les femmes de son matrilignage est un sorcier et il meurt. Pour les Kaguru, ce décès constitue une conclusion idéale au conflit, car il souligne l'un des principes les plus importants sur lesquels est basée cette société.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , January 1961 , pp. 61 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1961

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References

page 61 note 2 Mother's brother.

page 61 note 3 Sell her into domestic slavery. In the past elder Kaguru sometimes secured wealth or paid heavy fines by selling the junior members of their matrilineage. These persons were usually redeemed later by payments by their matrilineage. Such persons were usually sold to other Kaguru and were not sent out of their local area. However, sometimes buyers of such persons sold them to third parties such as Arab slavers. Domestic slaves furnished labour for their masters. Slave women were the most desired. While the children of free women belonged to the matrilineages of their mothers, the children of slave women were entirely subject to their fathers and were quasi-members of their fathers' matrilineages.

page 62 note 1 The term mugosi is translated as ‘sir’. It is a form of polite address used to males (kin and non-kin) who are held in high respect. Hyena evidently expects that Rabbit has arrived to fulfil his obligations. See the next footnote.

page 62 note 2 Among the Kaguru, mother's brother (bulai or kolodyo) and sister's son (mwihwa) terms are sometimes used in reverse of their normal order. A mother's brother is a person who aids a sister's son, but such aid is reciprocal. When such terms are used in reverse order, a sister's son is reminded of his duties to repay the kindness and care of his mother's brother, In this case, Hyena is reminding his well-fed sister's son that food should be shared, since Hyena gave Rabbit a share when he (Hyena) had some.

page 62 note 3 For a description of Kaguru social organization, see Beidelman, ‘Witchcraft in Ukaguru’, in a symposium on African witchcraft, eds. J. Middleton and E. Winter, Kegan Paul, London (forthcoming).

page 63 note 1 Rabbit represents all junior males within a matrilineage, i.e. (in a lineage diagram) all males of ego's generation. Hyena represents all senior adult males within a matrilineage, i.e. all males within ego's mother's generation.

The tale presents the members of a matrilineage in a social vacuum. The positions of fathers and affines are ignored. Wealth, political power, and other factors also determine men's power and the number of kin whom they can control, but these factors also are neglected.

The affines of Hyena and Rabbit are notmentioned in this tale. I suggest that this is because Kaguru consciously think of the tale as an illustration of only one problem: the conflict of loyalties within a matrilineage.

There is a potential conflict between women's obligations to their brothers and to their husbands. Kaguru women sometimes obtain advantages by playing off these two groups of males against each other. Although the tale neglects this aspect, in real life Rabbit's mother would probably seek support and protection from her husband against any unjust demands from her brother.

page 63 note 2 Kaguru informants insisted that bulai and kolodyo may be used interchangeably. The word kolodyo derives from lukolo (root), a Kaguru term for a clan or a matrilineage. Kolodyo means ‘head of a lukolo’. The term bulai is the term more frequently used in address.

page 65 note 1 See Beidelman, , ‘Witchcraft in Ukaguru’, in a symposium on African witchcraft, eds. Middleton, J. and Winter, E., Kegan Paul, LondonGoogle Scholar (forthcoming).

page 66 note 1 In the tale there are only two women within the matrilineage. If Rabbit had a sister, the problem of extinction would not be raised.

page 66 note 2 Rabbit can place responsibility for Hyena's mother's death upon Hyena. Rabbit cannot easily do this with his own mother. The Kaguru insist that obligations to one's own mother outweigh all other social obligations.

page 67 note 1 In the tale no such sisters appear. Nor are we told that Rabbit has sisters. However, one may presume that so long as Rabbit's mother lives it is possible she may bear such offspring. In Rabbit's eyes perhaps the greatest value of his mother is that she may provide him with sisters.

page 68 note 1 See Beidelman, op. cit.

page 69 note 1 Kaguru say that they are related to their mothers by blood, to their fathers by bone and the solid parts of the body.

page 69 note 2 As I have shown in my paper on Kaguru witch-craft, an economically or politically powerful person is often unmanageable by his subordinates and he is frequently suspected of witchcraft because of this, Among the Kaguru it is often the affluent and the powerful who can afford to act in an anti-social manner. Therefore we should not be surprised to find that in this tale the witch-like person is Hyena, the superior person within the matrilineage.

page 70 note 1 I use the term ‘rabbit’ rather than ‘hare’. Sungula seems to describe both these animals. The word ‘rabbit ’ conveys better the idea of the diminutive which is important to Sungula's role in this tale.

page 70 note 2 The words kolodyo and bulai both denote any ‘male of my matrilineage who is of the first ascending generation from me’. The word kolodyo is not inflected. The final e appears to be a dialectal variation. The term kolodyo is not frequently used; I never heard it used as a vocative.

page 73 note 1 Last, J.T., Grammar of the Koguru Language, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1886.Google Scholar

page 73 note 2 Cust, R., A Sketch of the Modern Languages of Africa, Trubner & Co., 1883, vol. ii, p. 352Google Scholar. Cust uses the terms Sagara, Sagala, Megi, and Wakaguru for the Kaguru. Johnston, H., A Comparative Study of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu Languages, Oxford University Press, 1919, vol. i, p. 141Google Scholar. Kaguru are classed with north Sagara as part of the ‘Ukaguru-Ugogo ’ language group. With them are north Sagara, Kaguru, Itumba, Kondwa, south Sagara, &c. Itumba and Kondwa appear to be identical with Kaguru; in vol. ii, p. 141, there is a short vocabulary of reasonable accuracy, presumably selected from Last's book. Last, J. T., Polyglotta Africana Orientalis, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1885, p. viiiGoogle Scholar refers to Kaguru; p. 8 refers to Kaguru as a dialect of Sagala; p. 10 refers to Itumba (apparently Kaguru); p. 10 refers to Kondoa (apparently Kaguru); p. 233 there are a few Kaguru songs given together with translations. Werner uses the term ‘Kimegi ’, p. 322. Werner, A., Introductory Sketch of the Bantu Language, Kegan Paul, London, 1919.Google Scholar

page 73 note 3 Guthrie, M., The Classification of the Bantu Languages, International African Institute, 1948, p. 48Google Scholar (Kagulu). Tucker, A. and Bryan, M., Linguistic Survey of the Northern Bantu Borderland, vol. iv, International African Institute, 1957, pp. 40–43 (Kagulu).Google Scholar