Brideservice, Residence, and Authority among the Goba (N. Shona) of the Zambezi Valley

Extract

The Shona-speaking complex of tribes covers most of present day Southern Rhodesia, stretching to the Zambian border along the Zambezi River and into Mozambique in the north and to the Indian Ocean in the east. The Korekore group is the major northern division of the Shona-speaking peoples. The original Korekore appear to have been a band of Karanga invaders from the south who entered the middle Zambezi Valley in the fifteenth century and established the Mwene Mutapa confederacy. Today the Korekore group occupies an area extending south from the Zambezi between longitude 28° and longitude 33° east, including the low-lying valley floor and the middle and high veldt or plains to the south where most of the population is concentrated (Garbett, 1966). The valley floor in this region has been considered a poor habitat by African and White settlers alike. The climate is generally poor, there are few cattle because of the tsetse fly, the area is economically undeveloped, and the population is sparse and scattered. Because of their poorer habitat the valley dwelling Korekore have come to be distinguished from their more fortunate highland neighbours to the south and are disparagingly known as Goba or poor lowlanders. In times past they have also been known as Banyai or vassals to the stronger Shona chiefs on the more populous cattle-rich highlands, and also as Chikunda or followers of the Portuguese and half-caste traders operating along the Zambezi in the nineteenth and earlier centuries. This historical background of changing political relations symbolized by changing ethnic identities will be described elsewhere (Lancaster, n.d.).

Résumé

PRESTATIONS EN NATURE, RÉSIDENCE ET AUTORITÉ PARMI LES GOBA (N. SHONA) DE LA VALLÉE DU ZAMBÈZE

Les Goba de langue Shona de la vallée du Zambèze qui habitent près de l'affluent de la rivière Kafue en Zambie occupent une région infestée par la mouche tsé-tsé qui détruit le cheptel. Contrairement aux autres groupes Shona des hautes terres de la Rhodésie du Sud qui épousent traditionnellement des femmes dotées de cheptel et qui sont patrilinéaires et patrilocaux, les Goba, eux, pratiquent une forme de mariage comportant des prestations en nature effectuées dans la résidence de la future femme, vivent en vastes families matrilocales et observent à la fois des règies de descendance matrilinéaires et patrilinéaires.

La migration de la main-d'œuvre comportant une rétribution en espèces ont quelque peu, ces dernières années, mis en échec le travail manuel effectué par le fiancé dans les champs de la famille de sa fiancée, mais les Goba, qui sont peu nombreux en Zambie, ont conservé quelques traits essentiels de leur système de prestations en nature afin de faciliter l'assimilation avec leurs voisins Tonga matrilinéaires qui constituent le groupe ethnique dominant en Zambie du Sud.