Nyau Masks, Ritual and Performance Among the Chewa of Central Malawi

Inscribing the Mask: Nyau Masks, Ritual and Performance Among the Chewa of Central Malawi Laurel Birch de Aguilar Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 1996 ProQuest Number: 11010550 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010550 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT This thesis presents an interpretation of nyau masks of the Chewa people in the central region of Malawi. Theoretically, ethnography in the thesis is informed by text interpretation as in the writings of Paul Ricoeur (1979). Texts in the thesis include the inscription of a performance, narratives of ritual events, oral discourse, and the masks themselves. Masks as texts include form, color, imagery, portraiture, construction and materials used, naming, roles, and movement; and the discourse about these. In the thesis masks are inscribed in their various roles as they are performed in funerals, initiations into the nyau society, and funeral remembrance dances. Each Chapter develops one context of masks and masking, ending with an interpretation of that context. Each interpretation builds upon the interpretations of others from one Chapter to the next, culminating in an overall interpretation of Chewa masks and masking in the final conclusion. This methodology is further focused by one recurring theme of masks; life, death and a sense of rebirth, in reference to the work of Bloch and Parry (1982) and others. Seven Chapters elaborate central ideas about the masks and the nyau masking society. These ideas include: performance and the masked event; the mask materials, mask-makers and re-creation of mask identity; the masks in relation to one another and in relation to the community; masks from historical experience; values and hierarchy of masks; ritual roles in masking; and a construction of nyau cosmology which is embodied in masks, particularly Kasivamaliro. The thesis attempts to demonstrate that Chewa masks, with all the inherent conflicting, diverse and differing local understandings presented in each context, also presents a totality; an interpretation which incorporates all of these contexts into a larger text. This wholeness is shown to be construed from the myriad details which make up masking, accounting for change and adaptation while asserting a continuity in the central theme of death and rebirth. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In researching and writing this thesis, I was assisted by numerous individuals. I wish to specifically acknowledge the assistance of Mrs. Juliet Ngwira, Mrs. Lucy Kachule, Mr. Frank Seekings, Mrs. Valerie J. Seekings, Chief N'gonzo and his wife Rosemary, Chief and Mrs. Makunje, Chief and Mrs. N'gombe, Chief and Mrs. Namalango and the senior Namkuncrwi. Mr. Samu, Major E. W. Ricketts, Fr. Claude Boucher, the women who taught me pottery who wished to remain anonymous, my field assistants and friends who are also anonymous, and all those who assisted me in Malawi, without whose help I could not have conducted field research. I also wish to give a special acknowledgement to Mr. Bob Yosiya, now deceased, who first made it possible for me to study the masks and masked society in 1984. I wish to thank the Malawi Department of Antiquities for their assistance and support, the School of Oriental and African Studies for financial assistance and for the supervision and guidance received, particularly by Mr. John Picton and Prof. David Parkin, and to the British Museum, especially Dr. John Mack for his interest in the masks of Malawi. I also wish to thank and acknowledge Prof. J.M. Schoffeleers and Dr. H. Hinfelaar for their interest and permission to refer to their theses. Finally, and most importantly, I wish to acknowledge the support I received from my family, particularly my mother, Judith Ann Birch, and my husband, Mario, whose love and care during the last month of field research and the months of writing and re-writing contributed so much to completing this thesis. 4 INSCRIBING THE MASK: NYAU MASKS, RITUAL AND PERFORMANCE AMONG THE CHEWA OF CENTRAL MALAWI INTRODUCTION p. 7 Chapter One: The Masked Event p. 31 Chapter Two: Masks and Historical Experience p. 7 5 Chapter Three: Masks in Social Roles p. 102 Chapter Four: Hierarchy and Values p. 135 Chapter Five: The Individual Mask p. 163 Chapter Six: Masks in Ritual Roles p. 198 Chapter Seven: Knowledge & Cosmology p. 247 Chapter Eight: Interpreting the Whole p. 292 Bibliography p.312 5 MAPS, ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS Introduction: Fig. 1 Spatial arrangement of village Fig. 2 Map of central region of Malawi Fig. 3 Map of Malawi: Malawi Government Press Chapter One: Fig. 4: Gule Wamkulu dance performers: Simoni Fig. 5: Mniedza dance before Gule Wamkulu in bwalo Chapter Two: Fig. 6 Ngoni Warrior Fig. 7 Portuguese Slaver Fig. 8 Chilembwe Fig. 9 Makanj a Chapter Three: Fig. 10: Chadzunda Fig. 11: Old Maria Fig. 12: N'gan'gande Fig. 13: Kadyankhadze Fig. 14: Pedegu Fig. 15: Nyolonyo (For Photo of Kasinja/Kachipapa-like masks see Fig. 21) Chapter Four: Fig. 16: Diagram of bwalo arrangement Fig. 17: Chimbano, old Maria, Djibebe and Simoni Chapter Five: Fig. 18: Chadzunda, Mr. Makoko1s mask Fig. 19: Chadzunda, (left) Chief Chauma Chapter Six: Fig. 20: Map of funeral site Fig. 21: Funeral guards: Kasinja-like masks Fig. 22: Graveyard before night dance Fig. 23: Girl's initiation dance Chapter Seven: Fig. 24: Diagram of Life Cycle Fig. 25: Diagram of construction of mask form Fig. 26: Kasiyamaliro Hand-drawn diagrams by Alexander Zarzuri 6 KEY CHICHEWA WORDS IN THESIS Nvau: name of masking society; also used to refer to large mask constructions, and all masks as a whole Bwalo: ritual and community space; a designated space for the Gule Wamkulu Gule Wamkulu: name of the masked dance performance, more specifically the public dance event Namkuncrwi: teacher; also title of senior woman in nyau Wakuniira: male nyau leader, the organizer of the dancers Dambwe: secretive space as in graveyard clearing, where dancers dress and prepare for Gule Wamkulu, and site of boy's initiation Mzimu: name of spirit, and more specifically ancestor spirit Chirombo: wild animal; also name of large animal constructions such as Kasiyamaliro and Njobvu. Fano: Image Common mask names are listed at the end of the Introduction. INTRODUCTION 'Lament of the Images' They took the masks The sacrificial faces The crafted wood which stretches To the fire of the gods The shrines where the axe Of lightning Releases invisible forces Of silver. And when the Images began To speak In forgotten tongues Of death The artists of the alien Land Twisted the pain Of their speech And created a new Chemistry Which, purified of ritual Dread, They called Art. Touch the spirits Of the deepest night. The masks still live Still speak... Hear the terror of their Chants Which breed powers Of ritual darkness The makers of Images Kept their secrets well For since the departure Of the masks The land Has almost Forgotten To chant its ancient songs Ceased to reconnect The land of the spirits. The makers of Images Dwell with us still We must listen To their speech Re-learn their Songs Recharge the psychic interspaces... Of the magic and fearful Universe. - Ben Okri (Excerpt from poem. 1991. p.9-13) Inscribing the Mask: Nvau Masks. Ritual and Performance Among the Chewa of Central Malawi is a thesis about nyau masks, the nyau society which makes and performs the masks, the Gule Wamkulu performance with masks, the dancers who wear masks, and the larger Chewa society including all who organize, observe, perform, and participate in any way with masks, the masking society and masked performance. My involvement with this topic coincided with interest in field research, first-hand observation of a masked performance, and awareness of the insistent discourse about masks as a great secret. Curious, I pursued this secret and continued to do so over a period of nearly ten years. Some of the results of this curiosity and the elusive secrecy grounded in formal study are written herein. There are several problems inherent in field research which necessarily also exist in the study of African masks, including the confrontation with this mystery of masks suggested by Okri. One is the range of answers about what the masks are and are not, which seem to be conflicting and contradictory. Another is the appropriation of what is foreign so that it may be understood in terms the researcher and a western audience may understand. These two problems and a host of others including language, differing conceptions, the difficulties of living and working in the field in a particular time and place, have been engaged in research and the material now presented in written form is one outcome of this engagement. Herein is not a list of objectives which were devised for study, carried out and presented. Both the research and the writing of this document have unfolded over a period of years of reflection about observations, interpretations, and necessarily my own experiences in research. Had this been a thesis based primarily upon literature research it would, indeed, have been a very different approach.

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