ABSTRACT AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES HILL, ERNESS A. B.A. SPELMAN COLLEGE, 1998 REFLECTIONS OF THE PAST: THE CASE OF MOZAMBICAN ART. THE MACONDE AND THE SHETANI Advisor: Dr. Mustafah Dhada Thesis dated December, 2000 This thesis examines to what extent the shetani icon in Maconde Art has been elevated to the status of deity; and what powers it has been endowed with to transform the lives of its "worshippers." The investigation was based on the observation that, although not a recognized 'god' in the traditional Maconde form of worship, nor that of Mozambique, the shetani’s appearance in Mozambican art was consistent and abundant. The investigative approach used was a comparative analysis of three internationally known Mozambican artists, two of which are Maconde. The researcher found that with all three artists, the shetani was an obvious element in their artistic renderings and in each instance, their individual lives, though not unique, were charged with suffering and unhappiness. The conclusion drawn from this investigation suggests that, although created by a Maconde for the purpose of patronage, the shetani icon has become a 'deity' not only for the Maconde, but for Mozambicans, as well. While not 'worshipped' in the sense that Westerners worship, it has been endowed with powers that transform the lives of those who identify with it. At the very least, it has been endowed with the power to promote their artistic abilities with a view to catalyzing greater creativity. REFLECTIONS OF THE PAST: THE CASE OF MOZAMBICAN ART, THE MACONDE AND THE SHETANI A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY ERNESS A. HILL DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES ATLANTA, GEORGIA DECEMBER 2000 R--v. T* ©2000 ERNESS A. HILL All Rights Reserved CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Definition of Terms 2. ART AND THE MACONDE 13 The Maconde: A Brief History Mozambique: A Brief History 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 30 Analytical Review Methodology 4. RELIGION, THE SPIRITS AND ART 42 A. Religion in Africa B. Religion and the Spirits C. Religion and the Arts 5. MACONDE ARTISTS WHOSE WORKS DEPICT THE IMAGE OF THE SHETANI 52 A. Reinata Sadimba Passema B. Malangatana Valente Ngwenya C. ChanuoMaundu 6. CONCLUSION 82 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 86 ii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Akua’ba (Ghanian Fertility Symbol) 16 2. Maconde Masks 19 3. Example of Maconde Sexual Art 21 4. Example of a Jamaa (Totem) 35 5. Artistic Representation of the Revolution 36 6. Pregnant News 55 7. Blood Suckers 56 8. Reinata, Fatima, Viler and Emess 58 9. Reinata 60 10. A Head for Business 62 11. The Quack of Cabo Delgado 64 12. The King of Cabo Delgado 65 13. From the Other Side of the River 68 14. Don’t Strike Down Birds That Fly Free - Once They’ve 69 Learnt to Spread Their Wings 15. Life Unfolds 71 16. From Rovuma to Maputo 72 17. Something Astonishing 75 iii ILLUSTRATIONS - CONT’D 18. Three Mandandosa (People who have been enchanted by a sorcerer to do his bidding) 76 19. Ntukule na Ngang’ole 77 NOTE: Illustrations 1 and 5 were photographed by the author and are from the author’s private collection. Illustrations 2 through 4 and 6 through 16 were photographed by the author in Maputo, Mozambique in July of 1999. Illustrations 17 through 19 were photographed by the author in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in July of 1999. IV ABBREVIATIONS FRELIMO Front for the Liberation of Mozambique RENAMO Resistencia Nacional Moçambicana N.A.T. National Arts of Tanzania CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Throughout history, people residing on every continent having the ability to record their histories have sought the direction of divine powers to understand their fate. Druidism, a religious faith of ancient Celtic inhabitants of Gaul and the British Isles from the 2nd Century B. C. until the 5th Century A. D. believed in the immortality of the soul. Practitioners of Druidism believed that at death, the soul passed into the body of a newborn child, thus life never ends. Christianity, one of the most widely dispersed of the world’s religions, is based upon the centrality of Jesus Christ - a deity bom from a virgin, crucified and resurrected from the dead. Its basic philosophy being based upon a God who “... so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”1 Followers of Islam are guided by the knowledge that they will be, on the Day of Judgement, rewarded solely according to their life’s deeds. Those who have been good will go to a place associated with good (Jannah) and those who have not, to a place associated with negatives ( Jahannam). Practitioners of Buddhism, based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama “Buddha” live to attain nirvana, an enlightened state of consciousness beyond definition. Nirvana is reached only when one has quenched the 'The Holy Bible. Old and New Testaments in the King James Version. John 3:16 (New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., 1972). 1 2 fires of greed, hatred and ignorance. Once achieved, one continues to live, burning off any remaining Karma until a state of parinirvana (final nirvana) is achieved, at the moment of death. Karma is the totality of one’s actions while living that determine the fate of one’s next stage. All of the aforementioned religions, while outwardly different, are quite similar in one thing: the use of representational iconography as symbols of dynamic worship, singular to its believers. In much the same manner, artistic icons of Africans were created for the purpose of communicating with divine powers, deities, ancestors, and other spirits in an effort to obtain insight into their mortality and to offer potential solutions for any contradictions in their state of being. With specific reference to Mozambique, there is evidence in pre¬ colonial Mozambique, to support Mozambicans’ belief in an omnipotent deity, and nowhere can this be more evident than studying the art of the Maconde of Mozambique. Here one ultimately realizes in both traditional and contemporary works a distortion of human likeness known as the shetani. These distortions of the human anatomy became known as the shetani. The shetani, over time, analytically received the designation - sacred. This designation thus prompts the question posed in this thesis: To what extent has the shetani icon in Maconde art been elevated to the status of deity; and what powers has it been endowed with to transform the lives of its “worshipers”? The shetani, Swahili for devil, are many things to many people - earth spirits, demons of the nights and days, tricksters, scoundrels who inhabit forest and thickets. Shetani is also said to be the word used to translate the Nandenga spirits of the Maconde 3 cosmogony and is a bad spirit spreading sickness and misfortune like the wind. Oral tradition states that it has only one leg, one arm, one finger, one eye and one hair.2 Could it be that this oneness represents monotheism? It is agreed that the word can be used to describe any figure or spirit not identified as an animal; covers a whole range of different beings, mostly nocturnal and mysterious; and is of varying sizes. But this plural concept of the shetani did not remain static with the advent of Christianity. Christian missionaries frowned upon what they considered to be “pagan” and “idolatrous” art, destroying the art, and along with it what they thought were the ideologies, beliefs, values and the artists’ vision of the world. Shetani figures, figures of the protective mother and of icons from the spirit world, were replaced with carvings of the Virgin Mary, Christ and crucifixes. The shetani, though seemingly unable to explain the world to the Maconde, apparently enabled and continues to enable them to face up to it and prepares them for the various difficulties they may encounter. In as much as it is not human, it cannot explain human behavior. It does, however, become a source of strength for its believers. Their symbolism is profoundly human, creative and definitely stimulates the imagination. With this thought in mind, the intent of this thesis is to investigate the system of ideas behind the shetani visualized in tangible art form. The thesis will seek to extract from the art the physical manifestations of the shetani in an effort to determine its ordination/sacredness. How then, can we extract the physical manifestations from the art? One approach is through those who produce it, the artists themselves. 2Kerstin Danielson, Exhibition Workshop Programmes Mozambique! (Stockholm: The Culture House, n.d), 18-42. 4 If questioned, most Maconde (artists included) will say that the images formed in their minds come not from a personal relationship with the shetani, but through descriptions from their parents and others who knew them well. Viewing their art, however, leads one to believe just the opposite -- not only have they met the shetani, they too, have personal relationships with them. This investigation will focus on three Maconde artists, who, at the very least seem possessed by the shetani; but whose art has proven to be extremely popular today. They are, along with their mediums of expression, Reinata Sadimba Reinata - pottery/ceramics, Malangatana Valente Ngwenya - painter, Chanuo Maundu - sculptor. Both Reinata and Chanuo are Maconde. Malangatana, however, was bom into a nontraditional Ronga family, surrounded by Maconde neighbors. It was not until his mother became extremely ill and he was sent to live with his grandmother did he begin to learn the traditional ways of the Ronga.