How Kingship Changes

Märta Salokoski – HOW KINGS ARE MADE – HOW KINGSHIP CHANGES A study of rituals and ritual change in pre-colonial and colonial Owamboland, Namibia academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, in Auditorium xii, Main Building on the 4th of March 2006 at 10 Märta Salokoski – HOW KINGS ARE MADE – HOW KINGSHIP CHANGES A study of rituals and ritual change in pre-colonial and colonial Owamboland, Namibia research series in anthropology University of Helsinki Academic Dissertation Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki, Finland Distributed by Helsinki University Press po Box 4 ( Vuorikatu 3 a ) 00014 University of Helsinki fax + 358 70102374 www.yliopistopaino.fi Copyright © 2006 Märta Salokoski issn 1458-3186 isbn 952-10-2973-0 ( paperback ) isbn 925-10-2974-9 ( pdf ) , http:// ethesis.helsinki.fi Helsinki University Printing House Helsinki 2006 preface Th is study presents a view of Owambo kingship, its constitution and development in pre-colonial and German colonial times. It off ers a contribution to our understanding of the symbolic world of the Owambo of old, and to the discussion on how political power was constituted in Africa and more widely. Th e voice of local Owambo, most of them men born around the turn of the last century, is heard throughout these pages. Th eir witness is complemented with other voices that broaden the perspective – those of early foreign travellers before 1870 and of mis- sionaries, who, from the 1870s onward, lived with, commented on and intervened in the power politics of Owambo kings. Th e voices of modern scholars of foreign and Namibian origin are also heard off ering their contributions to and interpretations of the nature of political power in Northern Namibia in olden times. During colonial times, which in Namibia lasted exceptionally long – until Indepencence in 1990 – the history of this particular part of the African continent was practically denied existence. Local contemporary historians have made it their task to bring it out into the open, and to make Namibians aware of their own past and to feel proud of it. Th is is a necessary stage in the history-writing of every recently independ- ent country in Africa and elsewhere. With time, however, there must be room for a reassessment of the hegemonic truths expressed in local oral tradition. Aspects of the past that have been forgotten and neglected will, of necessity, resurface and claim their place in remembered tradition. All history writing tends to become myth-making if only one ac- cepted view of the past is recognised and alternative perspectives are not brought out. Th is study provides an alternative perspective on Owambo kingship in the past. Th e aim was to study the religious aspect, formulated as sacredness, of the power of Owambo kings and to understand the link between the political power and the religious authority vested in them. It represents and attempt to place Owambo kings in the context preface 3 of the spiritual realm and in relation to human and other agents of spiritual power that were active in this world, according to local belief. Th is has never been done before. I believe it off ers a valuable contribution in terms of building up a comprehensive picture of the nature of Owambo kingship as it existed in pre-colonial and colonial times. I shed light on the institution of kingship by analysing myths and king lists and by describing ritual regicide and kingly burial and instal- lation rituals all of which were part of the making and unmaking of an individual king. I also show how the consolidation of kingly power took place through the appropriation of rituals related to fertility. I address the paradox of sacred kings who were simultaneously the keepers of fertility and prosperity and dangerous holders of power. I discuss the “devolution of kingship”, by which I mean the tendency for power, once held for the common good, to change into power for power’s sake, to be kept in the hands of the ruling group. Th is kind of development was visible in Owambo kingship towards the end of the 1800s, and I investigate the relation between the dangerous other-worldly aspect of kingly power and external political and economic change. Th e way power was consolidated and changed in northern Namibia has relevance for the study of African kingships of the past, as well as for the analysis of politics in present-day Namibia. It is also illustrative of how political power is constituted more generally, for even if sacred kingships are no longer common political currency, many of the mechanisms of their rise and development are to be observed in modern political arenas. Th is work draws on a number of studies of political power, using the framework of symbol analysis and building on classical studies of sacred kingship in Africa. In homage to James Frazer, the study addresses ques- tions posed by him and his follower Luc de Heusch about the nature of sacred kingship. It considers the critique levelled against de Heusch by Kajsa Ekholm and, indirectly in the work of Michael Rowlands according to which the devolution of kingship in Africa, which they equate with sacred kingship, was a consequence of the colonial encounter. I suggest a new formulation of the creation of sacred kingship based on the Owa- mbo case, in recognition of Frazer and de Heusch who held that sacred kingship sprung from deeper sources. A glimpse into the origin of sacred Owambo kingship is provided through Joseph Miller’s analysis of the role of political titles, fetishes and rituals in the constitution of Umbundu kingships in Angola, not far 4 preface from the Owambo. As Miller shows, and as de Heusch claims for Sub- Saharan Africa more widely, the use of authority of a religious kind emerged locally as the fi rst means of establishing political hegemony over larger populations beyond the kin group. In the light of these studies, it is clear that the nature of sacred kingship is as yet insuffi ciently understood. I challenge de Heusch’s view that being a “sacred monster” is the most important aspect of a sacred king, and I suggest on the basis of the Owambo material that the “paradox” of sacred kingship as it appears in real life is more complicated, and relates both to the constitution of kingship and to its subsequent development. De Heusch, I claim, over- emphasised the monstrous aspect of sacred kings in Africa and neglected the non-violent aspects that he nonetheless presents in his own studies. In my view de Heusch failed to give suffi cient attention to fertility power vested in “ancestors of the land”, or to the benevolent powers of “nature spirits”, as part of the sacredness of kings. I thus present a re-formulation of the constitution of sacred kingship. On the basis of rich and de- tailed narratives by local informants on king-related myths and rituals, I interpret the symbolic meanings of the kingly institution and I show how it changed over time and through deliberate political manoeuvring. Th ese symbolic interpretations are my contribution to the understanding of Owambo kingship. If the study succeeds in triggering an interest among Namibia scholars to follow up my conclusions and to take them further, it has fulfi lled one of its aims. preface 5 acknowledgments I would like to express my thanks to the following people and institutions for support and encouragement in the process of writing. Th e Institute of Development Studies at Helsinki University provided work facilities, a stimulating environment and collegial support for most of the time this study was in process. My thanks go to Th e Academy of Finland, Th e University of Helsinki, Th e University of Tampere, Ella och Georg Ehrn- rooths stipendiefond, Svenska vetenskapliga Centralrådet and Nordiska Afrika-Institutet for fi nancial support received during various phases of the work. Th e baab Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, provided access to their collections, and for that I thank, in particular, Dag Henrichsen. I am grateful for the critical comments, encouragement, collegial and moral support received in particular from Jukka Siikala, Karen Arm- strong, Peter Katjavivi, Meredith McKittrick, Patricia Hayes, Juhani Koponen, Harri Englund, the late Michael Cowen, Holger Weiss, Risto Marjomaa and Henning Melber. My colleagues at Joensuu University ; the late Seppo Rytkönen, Harri Siiskonen, and Martti Eirola of Oulu Uni- versity, supported me during the early stages of the process. Seppo Kalliokoski and Hannu Shipena ushered me into the vast plains of contemporary northern Namibia and helped me in many ways. I thank all the persons interviewed during fi eld visits and in Finland for sharing with me their knowledge and insights on aspects of Owambo kingship and society. I also thank Frieda Williams for letting me use part of her fi eld notes. I am further indebted to Maria Kaakunga who translated some of the interview material collected in Namibia, and to Märta von Schantz who helped me translate certain key sources in the Afrikaans language and to Dora Shivute who checked my Oshiwambo terminology. My thanks also go to Joan Nordlund for help with checking the English language of the manuscript. For his unswerving belief and patience during the various phases of the project, and for his encouraging comments and moral support I am 6 acknowledgements more than grateful to my husband Juuso Salokoski. Finally, for providing music and drama, in short, life, to divert and entertain me in the wake of long hours of writing I give my thanks to Anton, Emma and Lauri, our children, who grew up in the process.

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