Female Initiation Practices: Their Influence on the Social Life and Status of Women Among the Chikunda Community of Zambia

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How to cite this thesis

Surname, Initial(s). (2012). Title of the thesis or dissertation (Doctoral Thesis / Master’s Dissertation). Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/102000/0002 (Accessed: 22 August 2017).

FEMALE INITIATION PRACTICES: THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE SOCIAL LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN AMONG THE CHIKUNDA COMMUNITY OF ZAMBIA

Carina Mweela Talakinu

Supervisor: Dr Liela Groenewald Co-supervisor: Prof Kezia Batisai

2018

Female Initiation Practices: Their Influence on the Social Life and Status of Women among the Chikunda Community of Zambia

By Carina Mweela Talakinu Student no 201335757

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree D Litt et Phil in Sociology in the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg

Supervisor: Dr Liela Groenewald Co-supervisor: Prof Kezia Batisai

November 2018

Acknowledgements

First of all - My Lord, Your grace has always been sufficient. You fight all my battles, and supply all my needs no matter what storm comes my way – I could never have done it without You – Ambuye ndinu achifundo;

I am most indebted to the Chikunda community of Chief Mphuka’s area, Luangwa district – this dissertation would not have been possible without your participation and sharing your knowledge and experience of chinamwali. I am particularly grateful to Mrs Anna Dilau for sharing and explaining the chinamwali songs, Mr Matebele for making the necessary accommodation, transport and other logistical arrangements to ensure that my stay in Luangwa was comfortable, and also to Chief Mphuka, Luciano Kalamenti Malunga for allowing me to undertake the research in his chiefdom;

I am grateful to Dr Liela Groenewald for planting the seed of pursuing my ARM proposal to a PhD, for her valuable assistance throughout the research, and for stretching my imagination beyond my wildest dreams – your dedication set an unparalleled example – thank you;

I am also grateful to Prof Kezia Batisai for your attention to detail, academic experience and your constructive criticism and advice;

To my daughter, Lumeta Victoria Ngalande, you are my shining light – you listened to my groaning when you were tired, put up with my impatience when interrupted, and have stood by my side through all battles – you are the best daughter anyone could wish for;

To my father, Antonio Meza Talakinu, forever my inspiration – revisiting the home of your birth led me to a better understanding of my Chikunda identity;

To my mother, Martha Wanga Talakinu, my biggest cheerleader even when you have your doubts – thank you for reading my drafts and for your support in translating the chinamwali songs, and for standing by me through all my difficult periods – I can never thank you enough;

To my sister Dorcas, brothers Ivan, Harvey and Onesmus – my nephews and nieces: Taza Nkhoma; Wanga, Anthony and Kapeta Talakinu - thank you for cheering me on and putting up with my silent world – I love you all so much;

To all my colleagues who supported me in one way or another – thank you.

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Abstract

Framed within the feminist theory, this study seeks to gain an understanding of how chinamwali, the female initiation rite of the Chikunda community of Zambia, influences the social life and status of the women concerned. The central arguments within the study reflect a preoccupation with feminist central categories of gender and sexuality, which are key to understanding the structural relationships between women, and between men and women. After reviewing the historical eras of feminism, and western originating feminisms namely: Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminisms, this study adopts an African feminist ideological framework to examine the chinamwali. Specifically, African feminism challenges the public/private dichotomy of the first wave of feminism by scrutinising all areas of human social life previously thought of as private, such as the institution of marriage, motherhood, heterosexual relationships, and sexuality which are critical elements in chinamwali. Furthermore, this theoretical framework, unlike the second wave of feminism which is believed to contain certain different theoretical frameworks such as Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminisms, argues like the third wave of feminism, that women’s experiences are not universal, but contextual. Hence, I found that the African feminist ideological framework has the capacity to engender certain African traditions, a goal to which the chinamwali is well suited, as it is an institution through which African experiences can be examined. The ways in which the initiation rite shapes the lived experiences and self-conceptions of the Chikunda is examined by incorporating scholarly insights from the global North and global South. Feminist research methods were used in order to generate an in-depth understanding of the women’s experiences (Reid 2004: 9; Neuman 2014: 118), and to enable participants to describe their experiences and thoughts of chinamwali in their own words. The method of data analysis was a qualitative thematic analysis of transcribed data which Braun and Clarke (2006: 79) describe as a method for “identifying, analysing, and reporting themes within the data”. The findings revealed that chinamwali is a traditional means through which education on cultural mores and tradition is passed on to the initiate. However, the rite has the potential to influence the social life and status of the women concerned in such a way that they accept notions of inferiority in relation to men throughout their lives and can lead them to accept a lower position in the community. The findings also contribute to feminist scholarship on gender and sexuality, and the dominant academic discourse on initiation, by pointing to the potential role of the initiation rite in empowering women through practices such as labia elongation, and also its positive potential role to sexuality education. Furthermore, the findings on the coercion effected by maternal presentation of the initiate to the rite suggest some degree of tension and partial distancing on the part of the initiate. In addition, the findings on Chikunda masculinity give impetus to feminist scholarship regarding a new focus on women’s sexuality as a source of legitimising men’s dominant position over women.

Contents

Affidavit ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Glossary viii Chapter One : Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Problem Statement 2 1.3 Background 4 1.4 Motivation for Undertaking the Study 6 1.5 Research Question and Objectives 7 1.6 Key Concepts of Concern in the Study 9 1.6.1 Coming of Age 9 1.6.2 Initiation 9 1.6.3 Gender Roles 10 1.6.4 Woman’s Status 10 1.7 Methodology Adopted for the Study of Chinamwali 11 1.8 Significance of the Study 11 1.9 Structure of the Thesis 12 1.10 Conclusion 13 Chapter Two : An African Feminist Perspective of Female Initiation Practices 15 2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 The Ideological Debate: Western vs African Feminisms 17 2.3 The Choice of Theoretical Framework: African Feminism 18 2.4 Waves of Feminism 22 2.4.1 The First Wave of Feminism 22 2.4.2 The Second Wave of Feminism 23 2.4.3 The Third Wave of Feminism 24 2.4.4 Commonalities: African Feminism and the Three Waves of Feminism 25 2.5 Theories of Gender Inequality 27 2.5.1 Liberal Feminism 27 2.5.2 Radical Feminism 28 2.5.3 Marxist Feminism 30 2.5.4 Contrasting Feminisms: African Feminism and Western Feminisms 31 2.6 Feminist Politics of Gender and Sexuality 32 2.6.1 The Essentialist – Constructivist Dilemma 33 2.6.2 Intersectionality: An Interlocking Matrix of Women’s Oppression 36 2.7 Conclusion 38 Chapter Three : Social-Cultural Constructs of Coming of Age 40 3.1 Introduction 40 3.2 Perceptions of Male Circumcision 41 3.2.1 Religious Reasons for Male Circumcision 41 3.2.2 An Indication of Socio-Economic Status 42 3.2.3 A Rite of Passage and a Mark of Identity 43 3.2.4 Potential Impact of Male Circumcision on HIV/Aids 44 3.3 Cultural Context of Female Initiation 48 3.3.1 A Case of Identity 49 3.3.2 Group Cohesion 50 3.3.3 Sexual Repression 51 3.4 Female Initiation without Circumcision 52 3.4.1 A Channel of Sexuality Education 53 3.4.2 Female Bodies and Sexuality Control 54

3.5 Gendered Dynamics of Initiation 55 3.6 Initiation and Women’s Status 57 3.7 Conclusion 59 Chapter Four : Methodology for the Study of Chinamwali 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 Positivist and Phenomenological Perspectives of Research 61 4.3 Pursuing a Feminist Methodology 65 4.4 Research Site 67 4.5 Study Population and Sampling Strategy 70 4.5.1 The Chikunda: A Brief History 70 4.5.2 Sampling Strategy 73 4.6 Gathering Data 75 4.6.1 The Narrative Approach to Data Collection 75 4.6.2 Using In-Depth Interviews 77 4.6.3 Preparing the Interview Guides 79 4.6.4 Navigating the Field: Approach and Challenges 80 4.6.5 Ensuring the Trustworthiness of Data Collected 85 4.6.7 Ethical Approach to Fieldwork 86 4.7 Analysing the Data 88 4.7.1 Identifying Concepts and Coding the Data 88 4.7.2 Using the Thematic Analysis Approach to Data Analysis 90 4.8 Conclusion 91 Chapter Five : The Symbolic Structure of the Chinamwali 93 5.1 Introduction 93 5.2 The Organisation of Chinamwali 94 5.2.1 The Announcement: Kutha Musinku 94 5.2.2 Seclusion: Kulanga Ndola 97 5.2.3 The Exit Ceremony: Kumalidza 100 5.3 The Next Menstrual Cycle 102 5.4 The Chinamwali Curriculum 102 5.4.1 Teaching on Respect 103 5.4.2 Sexuality Education 104 5.4.3 Lessons on Sacred Emblems, Food Taboos and Hygiene 104 5.5 Demonstration through Dance and Song 107 5.6 Attendance to Chinamwali and the Different Actors 110 5.7 Conclusion 111 Chapter Six : Becoming a Woman among the Chikunda 113 6.1 Introduction 113 6.2 Motivation for Girls to be presented for Chinamwali 115 6.3 Desirability and Attraction 118 6.3.1 A Necessary Prelude to Marriage 118 6.3.2 Eroticism and Sexual Pleasure 120 6.4 Presentation of data 122 6.4.1 Gender Identities 122 6.4.2 Construction of Subservient Femininities 124 6.5 Construction of Chikunda Masculinities 125 6.5.1 Unquestioned Authority of Men 127 6.5.2 Gender-Based Violence 129 6.6 Chinamwali: A Tool for Women’s Empowerment? 130 6.6.1 “I Am Because of What I Know I Have” 130 6.6.2 Compensation for Pleasure 131 6.6.3 Taking Control of One’s Sexuality 132 6.7 Views on the Utility and Importance of Chinamwali 133 6.8 Who Defends Chinamwali? 135 6.9 Conclusion 138 Chapter Seven : Summary Discussion and Conclusion 140 7.1 Introduction 140

7.2 Discussion 141 7.2.1 Tensions between Western and African Epistemological Assumptions on Female Initiation 142 7.2.2 Female Initiation in Africa from a Feminist Perspective 144 7.2.3 The Potential Role of Female Initiation in Sexuality Education 146 7.2.4 Politics of the Body: Female Initiation in African Culture 148 7.2.5 Female Initiation and Women’s Immediate Sphere of Experience 149 7.3 Summary of Key Findings 149 7.3.1 The Chinamwali Curriculum 150 7.3.2 Importance and Utility of Chinamwali 150 7.3.3 Motivation for a Girl to be presented for Chinamwali 151 7.3.4 The Impact of Chinamwali on Women’s Status 151 7.3.5 Gender Power Relations 152 7.3.6 Potential Role of Chinamwali in Sexuality Education 153 7.3.7 African Gender Identity in Relation to Colonial Constructions 153 7.4 Issues of Positionality 154 7.5 Contribution to Academic Knowledge 155 7.6 Recommendations and Future Directions for Research 157 7.7 Conclusion 159 8 . List of Cited Sources 161 Annexure A: Letter of Informed Consent 177 Annexure B: Question Guides 178 Annexure D: A Namwali 184 Annexure E: Maps 184 Annexure F: Villages in Chief Mphuka’s Chiefdom 186 Annexure G: Traditional Dances of the Chikunda 187

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Glossary

Bwadwa Beer Chezela Overnight celebrations Chibalo The womb / fertility Chifuba cha mdulo Severe and prolonged cough Chinamwali / Chisungu Initiation rite for girls Chitenge (pl. vitenge) Cloth, wrapped around a woman’s waist Chuulu An ant hill Chiwanda (pl.viwanda) Ghosts or supernatural beings Kalusapo Herbs administered on an initiate at the onset of menstruation Kukhuna To elongate the labia minora Kunda People found in the Eastern Province of Zambia who share a border with the Chikunda. The two tribes share similar traditional cultures including the chinamwali. Ku mwezi Used to describe when a girl or woman is menstruating Makolo Elders Malango (pl.vilango) Traditional teachings Mankhwala Medicine Mbwaya Dog Mdulidwe To cut off, i.e. circumcision for men Mdulo Illness believed to be caused by transgression of a taboo Mfiti/Ufwiti Witch / wizard / witchcraft Milota Ash Mpasa Reed mat Mizimu Ancestral spirits Muliro Fire Mwambo (pl.Miyambo) Custom / tradition Mwezi Moon Namwali/Moye Initiate Nongo Clay pot Phungu (pl.aphungu) Ritual instructor during initiation Phwando Festivities Sowelo/Ku sowela To bestow gifts on a celebrant Tambala A cock/male chicken – symbolises power and leadership Ulemu/Tyola Respect for elders/to show respect by kneeling Ulungu Beads worn around the waist

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Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Introduction This study is about chinamwali, the female initiation rite of the Chikunda community found in the Luangwa district of Zambia. Specifically, the central question of the study – How do female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community of Zambia? – is approached from a feminist perspective. The central arguments within this study reflect a preoccupation with issues of sexuality, gender identity, and positions of power and social relations, which are key to discussing structured relationships such as those between women, and between men and women. The feminist perspective specifically focuses on the experiences of women to guide the whole research process (Hussain & Asad 2012: 202), on those factors that cause the inherent discrimination of women (Letherby 2003: 4), and actively involves the participant as much as possible (Jayaratne 1983: 40; Westmarland 2001: 1). The importance of foregrounding the subjective experiences and meanings of participants is the focus of feminist writing (Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11). Therefore, for the study to be meaningful, the approach is chosen as it allows the researcher to work from the reality on the ground (Talakinu 2004: 14) of the women that have experienced the initiation rite, in order to develop sustainable solutions that will impact on them in a meaningful way (Tong 1989: 1; Wadsworth 2001: 1).

After reviewing the historical eras of feminism, and the western originating feminisms, namely Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminisms, this study adopts the African feminist ideological framework to examine the chinamwali. Specifically, African feminism challenges the public/private dichotomy of the first wave of feminism by scrutinising all areas of human social life previously thought of as private such as the institution of marriage, motherhood, heterosexual relationships, and sexuality, which are critical elements in chinamwali. Secondly, this theoretical framework, unlike the second wave of feminism, but in common with the third wave of feminism, argues that women’s experiences are not universal but contextual, as it pays attention to the social obstacles that women face. Furthermore, while Liberal feminism focuses on the structural imbalances that prevent women from participating in the public arena, and Marxist feminism on women’s oppression in relation to their means of production respectively, these feminist theories fail to address the daily experiences of African women at the grassroots who are the custodians of African tradition. Though Radical feminism, like African feminism, focuses on patriarchy and sexuality, it fails to appreciate how other factors such as women’s domestic roles are fundamental to women’s oppression. Hence, I found that the African feminist ideological framework has the capacity to engender certain African traditions, a goal to which the chinamwali is well suited, as it is an institution through which African experiences can be examined.

According to Moodley (2008: 116), initiation rituals carry symbolic meaning relating to the social structure and belief systems of a cultural group, and they are the means through which important knowledge, myths and traditions are communicated and conveyed. These rites are understood as the passage from one stage to another, that is, from childhood to adulthood (Richards 1982; Chikunda et al 2001; Siachitema 2013; Munthali & Zulu 2007; Kuwema 2009; Drews 1995). Similarly, as Stevens (1998: 220) asserts, female initiation rites usually begin with menstruation, and commonly involve separation from family and seclusion in an isolated place or hut, with the initiation process intensified by rites on marriage, pregnancy and child birth. From my research findings, I gathered that among the Chikunda, the transfer of this knowledge may take place at two stages; the onset of puberty, or years after the first menstruation when a woman is about to enter marriage. In some cases, a woman may undergo the ceremony at both stages. In such a case, the two stages may be separated with instructions at the onset of puberty focused on general matters like cleanliness during menstruation, and those relating to marital duties deferred to the period just before marriage. The decision on how to conduct the ceremony rests entirely with the family concerned.

This chapter introduces the study and provides an insight into chinamwali. Firstly, the reader is introduced to the definition of the problem statement, background information on initiation rites in general, and also to chinamwali. Secondly, the motivation to undertaking the study, followed by the research questions and the objectives of the study are outlined. Thirdly, the reader is given a summary of the literature that was reviewed by introducing the key concepts which provide a conceptual framework to the study. Fourthly, the feminist theoretical approach and methodology that was adopted in the study is explained. Lastly, the original contribution of the study to scientific knowledge, as well as the structure of the dissertation are outlined.

1.2 Problem Statement Some research undertaken in Zambia on female initiation practices focuses on their implications for social and reproductive health and social responsibility (Kuwema 2009: 4). An earlier study described female initiation as a secret puberty ritual that plays an important part in the construction of gender identity among the community (Drews 1995: 101). Elsewhere, it has been argued that patriarchal practices such as chisungu have contributed to the vulnerability of women to HIV (Kangwa 2011: 2; Rasing 2003: 19). In contrast, other researchers have uncovered ways in which female initiation rites can empower women. Firstly, a gendered analysis of chisungu among the Bemba of Zambia points to values transmitted during indigenous female initiation rites which critique patriarchy in the context of HIV/AIDS (Kangwa 2011: 21). Secondly, chisungu appears to play a role in disseminating information that directly combats HIV/AIDS (Kapungwe 2003: 35).

Thirdly, through the exclusion of men, chisungu celebrates women as knowledgeable and competent members of the community (Drews 1995: 111). This contrasts sharply with the notion of ideal manhood which emphasises the political, cognitive and cultural responsibility that men are associated with and which may be in tension with the colonial constructions of gender (Oduyoye 1995: 61). Lastly, cultural or customary rites such as female genital cutting, widow inheritance, child marriages, child labour, honor killing, scarification, discriminatory dietary practices and ritual killings, are central issues of concern to African feminists (Miruka 2013: 19), leaving a knowledge gap when it comes to female initiation rites in general, and specifically, to how they influence women’s social life and status. African initiation rites such as chinamwali where women are expected to learn about practices such as labia minora elongation, to have to show respect, to be expected to function as heterosexual, subservient wives, and to be subjected to virginity testing, persist in some parts of Africa because of the need for women to conform to cultural norms of what it is to be a woman, and to avoid being stigmatised.. Historically, there have been contestations on how sexuality, particularly female sexuality has been viewed particularly from a western-centric view point as noted by researchers such as Thomas (2003: 22); Kanogo (2005: 77); and Tamale (2005). What this means for womanhood and woman’s status is that questions arise about the significance of such gendered practices which are framed as cultural or traditional in a post-colonial African context. However, I agree with Tamale (2018, cited in Akumi 2018: 1) that we should be careful not to brand all African traditions as harmful because, as she cautions, there is a thin line between harmful culture and valuable practice and that for example, labelling cultural practices such as women kneeling for men and elders which is also taught in chinamwali, symbolises respect, and is no different from other representations of respect found around the world such as bowing or removing a hat before greeting an elder.

These examples are useful in revealing on-the-ground debates surrounding initiation ceremonies, however, they do not show how they impact on the social life and status of women. This study seeks to move beyond restrictive anthropological and developmental approaches to female initiation practices (see: Richards 1956, 1982; Drews 1995; Rasing 2001, 2003; Kangwa 2011; Munthali & Zulu 2007; Udelhoven 2006), and aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community of Zambia. It is against this background that the findings of this study contribute to scholarly work on African feminist understanding and perception of female initiation practices. Furthermore, this research also contributes to an emerging body of work that develops knowledge on how traditional practices impact on the social life and status of women in order to challenge patriarchal notions that relegate women to “second-class citizens”. The focus is sociological rather than purely anthropological or historical, as it does not dwell on the lives of the Chikunda people in general, but on the ontology of chinamwali and its impact on the knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and social interaction of women in this particular community.

1.3 Background Initiation rites are an important moment in the socialisation process of individuals and the acquisition of gender and sexual identities and a vast critical literature exists on the subject (see: Moore et al 1999: 26; Rasing 2003: 6; Siachitema 2013: 1; Jules-Rosette 1980: 390; Rasing 1995: 340). Most, if not all initiation rites distinguish between the two sexes, as in these rites girls are taught what makes a woman, and boys what makes a man (Rasing 2003: 6; Siachitema 2013: 1; Jules-Rosette 1980: 390; Moore et al 1999: 26). Sexuality education on the other hand should be understood as a lifelong process where information, attitudes, beliefs, values about identity, relationships and intimacy are acquired and formed. It includes matters relating to sexuality development, reproductive health, and affection, intimacy, body image and gender roles, and also addresses the biological, socio-cultural, psychological and spiritual dimensions of sexuality (National Guidelines Task Force 1992: 3). A number of anthropological studies (see for example: Rasing 1995 & 2011; Drews 1995; Udelhoven 2006; Chikunda et al 2001), have described how the ceremonies that African societies practice to mark the transition from childhood to adulthood are organised. They mention that these traditional initiation ceremonies come in various forms, ranging from ones that are very structured involving large numbers of children to those involving residential counselling in secluded places, and usually have a set criteria used for attendance at the ceremony. Munthali and Zulu (2007: 153) note that others are loosely organised and often target individuals soon after attaining a milestone such as menarche.

To begin with, it is important for us to understand that rituals and ceremonies form part of a society’s culture. Njogi and Orchardson (2008: 1) note that culture may be viewed as the sum total of a people’s way of life which includes norms and values, religion, politics, rules and food habits. Furthermore, Rasing (1995: 36) has described ritual as a specific type of action whose performance requires the organised co-operation of individuals. She also states that there are rules indicating which persons should participate and on what occasions, as often, the rules excluding certain categories are just as important as those that permit others to take part, it is understood that initiation rites constitute rituals and ceremonies guiding an initiate on her journey from childhood to adulthood (Rasing 2001: 128). Most of these rituals and ceremonies have a deep meaning and are designed to invoke memories of the transformation from childhood to adulthood. Richards (1956, 1982), in her elaborate account of the female initiation rite among the Bemba of Northern Zambia, notes the importance of these rituals and ceremonies in the moulding of a “girl” into a “woman”.

In Zambia, young girls from a few parts of the country, especially in rural areas, undergo traditional initiation ceremonies (Kuwema 2009: 1). The most common is the puberty rite or ritual which is performed at the onset of menstruation, almost invariably marking a girl’s attainment of sexual maturity and is considered a necessary prelude to marriage (Kapungwe 2003: 36; Richards 1982: 18; Rasing 1995: 101). According to Rasing (1995: 101), reaching sexual maturity

implies that the girl has also reached social maturity and is now fit to assume adult roles in society. This study focuses on the traditional female initiation rite of the Chikunda which does not involve circumcision. The Chikunda however, practise labia minora elongation. However, based on literature, this practice has been categorised under Type IV Female Genital Mutilation. In this study, labia minora elongation is seen as an empowering practice for participants who associate it with confidence and self–esteem, and as a marker of Chikunda identity that can be experienced in an intimate space.

The Chikunda, a matrilineal ethnic group found in the Luangwa District of Zambia, emerged from the slave armies of Portuguese prazos or estates first established in the late sixteenth century (Isaacman et al 2004: 36). They practise an initiation ceremony for girls interchangeably called chinamwali or chisungu, a customary practice performed when a girl receives her first menstrual period. The aim of the ceremony, through the symbolism of menstruation, is to transform a young girl into a woman (see: Drews 1995: 103; Richards 1982: 52; Udelhoven 2006: 87). There is no difference between the terms chinamwali and chisungu as they both refer to one and the same practice hence, for uniformity, the study will use the term chinamwali to refer to the initiation practice. It has been speculated that any woman who has not gone through the ceremony is uncultured (Richards 1982: 120), and that men prefer a wife who has gone through the rite and has as a result become more docile (Udelhoven 2006: 86).

The chinamwali ceremony requires a namwali, or girl initiate, to be confined in the house for a specific period, though the training aspect is normally kept a secret and is conducted by experienced elderly women, known as the aphungu. These are the personal advisors to the initiate, whose knowledge of chinamwali has been passed on from generation to generation, and are normally the first women initiates go to when they first menstruate (Drews 1995: 108). Girls’ earlier socialisation of submissiveness to men is reinforced during the rite, the bulk of which is a heavy sexual content which teaches her the techniques of giving sexual pleasure to a man to ensure that he does not stray to another woman (Siachitema 2013: 4). Personal hygiene and general good behaviour, in particular paying due respect to elders, are also encouraged (see: Siachitema 2013: 4; Munthali & Zulu 2007: 160; Drews 1995: 104; Junod 1962: 175). The importance of chinamwali is that it is a source of traditional education on the marriage, religious and social roles of a woman (Kangwa 2011: 12).

Issues of identity and sexuality are prominent themes explored by the chinamwali, as it is through this process that one makes meaning of what it is to be a woman in the Chikunda community. Similarly, Mabasa (2018: 1-3) has examined the ulwalako, a rite of passage for boys among the Xhosa of South Africa and the way it is experienced and participated in by those who do not necessarily fit the dominant male identity. As with chinamwali, the initiates attempt to reconcile what they see and how they feel about themselves with the demands that the family and community have over them. Mabasa (2018) notes that this identity is under threat when the

perception of what it is to be a man is in conflict with their sexuality, as in the case of individuals in same sex relationships. In a recent case that links culture to one’s identity, a Bill has sparked controversy among Jewish and Muslim communities in Iceland, the first European country to ban male circumcision, citing reasons that it violates the rights of young boys and is incompatible with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The move, which draws a parallel with Female Genital Mutilation, and is already banned in most European countries, claims that male circumcision is performed without anaesthesia and is carried out under unsterile conditions, infringing on the rights of the child. However, the outrage from the two groups is grounded on the basis that male circumcision is an important element of their Muslim and Jewish identity (Sherwood 2018).

There is limited research on the role of the Chikunda female initiation process. Therefore, my motivation for undertaking the study, as will be explained in the following section, is as much as it fulfils certain academic requirements, a personal one, and one that also relates to my interest to engage meaningfully with the subject matter.

1.4 Motivation for Undertaking the Study The choice of the study on the Chikunda female initiation practice is a decision that I made in an attempt to combine my personal experiences with feminist scholarship in order to shed light on an area that holds my interest. To begin with, in developing the study, I was conscious that the topic is a contentious one, in that those who have undergone female initiation very seldom relate their experiences. This may be in part be because it is seen as a personal journey for those concerned and more, so, as Drews (1995: 111) notes, the female initiation rite is shrouded in secrecy. Similarly, Mabasa (2018: 1-3) mentions how the recent film on ulwalako has sparked criticism from some quarters for revealing the secret and sacred traditions of the Xhosa initiation ceremony. However, as a social scientist grappling with what to, and what not to reveal about chinamwali, I seek transparency in examining the initiation rite to contribute to the body of academic analysis on such practices in changing attitudes for the greater good; and to confront such cultural practices that impact on women’s social life and status in general. Moreover, this conviction is anchored to the second wave of feminism which challenges the private/public dichotomy of the first wave of feminism by advocating for the scrutiny of all areas of human life previously viewed as personal, such as women’s sexuality (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7). I was also aware of the strengths and limitations arising from the study and my inherent subjectivity in the process. As Jayaratne (1983: 17) cautions, feminist researchers should recognise, examine and understand how their social background and assumptions affect their research practice. As an African woman interrogating a cultural practice of her own community, I was able to engage with the participants in sharing their stories on chinamwali. At the same time, positioning myself

within a feminist framework meant acknowledging that this positioning has an effect on the entire research process, from the choice of methodology to the method of data analysis.

As a young girl growing up in the city, I was curious to know what this female rite was all about. Living in the suburbs, my earliest recollection of female initiation practices was watching “coming out ceremonies” in a nearby peri-urban area called Chilenje. These ceremonies were the climax or end parties of the initiation ceremonies where the initiate would be released after many months of seclusion in a room or specially made hut. My friends and I would watch from a distance as the initiates danced on a make-shift stage, scantily dressed and smeared with some white powder. We would later playfully enact what we had observed without grasping the full meaning of the practice. We were however, warned not to venture near the stage or else we would be locked up in the huts as well. This raised curiosity in my young mind as I yearned to know what actually went on in the enclosed spaces, and of course no one would tell us anything, save to promise us that we would one day earn our place in those very huts. Growing up with older cousins did not do much to dampen this curiosity, as any wrong doing on our part would quickly be followed by a threat of the “growing list of punishments” that awaited us when the time to be a namwali came.

My interest in the study of female initiation was further sparked by the fact that the practice still exists, and that while it still serves as a school through which sexual norms, morals and practices are related to successive generations, it is now also carried out as a modern business through kitchen parties. I have spent most of my working life working on issues that concern women. One of the most interesting moments was at the Pan African Parliament (PAP) where I was assigned to service the PAP Women’s Caucus, a multi-national women’s parliamentary grouping. During that time, I had the opportunity to accompany the Caucus to Ethiopia in 2009, on a fact-finding mission on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, where this tradition is practised in some communities as a rite of passage. I observed first-hand how such cultural practices impact on the women who pass through this ordeal, as they do so not out of their free will, but through other women who in line with cultural dictates, believe that they should pass on this tradition to successive generations. Therefore, the motivation to undertake the study on the Chikunda female initiation rite, as well as being an academic pursuit, is the fulfilment of an interest in an issue that affects women, as well as a personal journey to reflect on, and learn more about my culture and heritage.

1.5 Research Question and Objectives The study seeks to answer the overarching question - How do female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women among the Chikunda community of Zambia? No literature could be found that compared initiated and uninitiated women, and whether there is a difference in the submissive behaviour of initiated and uninitiated women towards men. Having more

information such as the actual aspects, content, attitudes and importance attached to chinamwali can shed more light on this. Therefore, the questions asked and the objectives pursued seek to explore the ontology of chinamwali in order to address these concerns, and to provide a comprehensive understanding of how female initiation impacts on the social life and status of women. Therefore, the following were the areas of concern: • Rituals and ceremonies associated with chinamwali; • Motivation to undergo chinamwali; • The significance of the rituals and ceremonies in chinamwali for women; • The impact of chinamwali on women’s lives; • The role of chinamwali in relation to the HIV/AIDS pandemic; • Opinions on the usefulness of chinamwali in modern day Zambia; • Knowledge of, and general feelings about rituals and ceremonies associated with chinamwali; • Opinions on the subservient behaviour toward men of initiated and non-initiated women respectively; and

• General views on chinamwali. In order to investigate and find answers to the above concerns, questions relating to the participant’s motivation to undergo chinamwali, general views on the importance and significance of the initiation rite, and the description of the rituals and ceremonies associated with the rite, were asked. Participants were also asked to explain what impact chinamwali has had on their lives in general, and whether the rite was useful in modern day Zambia. Other questions related to the role that chinamwali plays in relation to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and whether there is a difference in the subservient behaviour between initiated and non-initiated women to men. Participants who had not undergone the practice were asked to explain the reasons for their choice, and whether the fact that they had not undergone the practice had impacted on their lives. In order to create a better understanding of the epistemology of chinamwali, and specifically how this initiation rite influences the social life and status of women, I sought to explore the cultural meanings, as well as the general perceptions of the community with regards to the rite; therefore, as its main objectives, the study aimed: • To describe the issues addressed in the chinamwali curriculum; • To determine the importance attached to chinamwali in the Chikunda community; • To explore the motivation for girls to present themselves for chinamwali; • To explore the impact of chinamwali on women’s status in general; • To investigate the role of chinamwali in gender power relations in the Chikunda community; • To explore the potential role of initiation to sexuality education; • To explore the construction of African gender identities in relation to colonial constructions; and

• To explore the theoretical significance of women’s own narratives in comparison to that of the dominant academic discourse regarding female initiation.

Having outlined the overarching research question, I now explain the key concepts that formed the basis of the study, and provided direction for the objective of the research.

1.6 Key Concepts of Concern in the Study The study used the definitions of the following key concepts as points of departure: coming of age; initiation; gender, and women’s status. I introduce these concepts here; they are further developed in the literature chapter to see how they interact to impact on women’s status in general.

1.6.1 Coming of Age

The concept coming of age, often used interchangeably with initiation, has been practiced throughout the ages and in various cultures (Berk 2009: 198). The aim is to incorporate a new member into the existing group, and is practiced more often when there are marked changes in the lives of individuals (Chikunda et al 2001: 146). Though coming of age traditions vary drastically from culture to culture, nearly every society designates specific rituals, ceremonies and traditions as a way to symbolise and celebrate the transition. For example, the Jewish bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah coming of age ceremonies for boys and girls respectively, while western cultures often celebrate coming of age with “Sweet Sixteen” parties (Kuwema 2009: 1).

1.6.2 Initiation

Initiation is a ritual practiced among various groups to incorporate a new member into an existing group, and is practiced more often when there are marked changes in the lives of individuals to announce to the community that a young person is ready to make the transition from childhood to adulthood (Chikunda et al 2001; Richards 1982; Rasing 1995; Siachitema 2013; Kangwa 2011; Kapungwe 2003; Munthali & Zulu 2007). Adolescent initiation has been defined as ‘some social recognition, in ceremonial form, of the transition from childhood into the next state….a ceremony as we define it must include at least two participants; at least one initiate, and at least one initiator’ (Barry & Schlegal 1980: 277). In this study, the initiate will be referred to as a female who has had her first menarche and has undergone an initiation rite. Anthropologists such as Richards (1982); Drews (1995); Jules-Rosette (1980); and Rasing (1995), working in African societies, have described the various initiation rites involving the transfer of knowledge and expertise from one generation to another through the preparation of initiates in sexual, familial, and broader social responsibilities.

1.6.3 Gender Roles

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and attitudes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women (WHO 2014). Studies have been undertaken to show the differential significance of initiation practices on men and women. Researchers, who have carried out work in South Africa on initiation for girls (Junod 1962: 175; Jules-Rosette1980: 390), suggest that puberty rites for girls are about sexual education. For males, literature suggests that initiation rites bestow status, rights and privileges and obligations on the individuals concerned. For example, studies undertaken on the Amaxhosa in South Africa on male initiation show that it serves as a doorway through which the adolescent male must step in order to become a respected member of society and that prior to initiation, boys are not regarded as accomplished persons yet; they are seen as “sub-human beings” (Venter 2011: 560; Twala 2007: 22). Drews (1995: 104) questions whether this is an example of the dominant discourse of gender inequality, where this ceremony serves as a powerful instrument of female insubordination.

1.6.4 Woman’s Status

A woman’s status has been defined as the degree to which women can have access to and control over material resources such as food, land, income and other forms of wealth and social resources such as knowledge, power and prestige within the family, community and society (Stromquist 1998: 7). Some studies have established a link between initiation traditional practices and women’s status. A study of Khomba established that the curriculum content is designed along gender lines (Chikunda et al 2001: 145). The ceremony seems to tell initiates that they are ‘‘ripe’’ for marriage and hence divert their attention from formal education. By so doing, Khomba restricts women’s space both in terms of their condition and position in society and restricts women to the reproductive sphere. In yet other studies, such as that of the Ngulu of East Africa, men’s initiation rites have a political focus in training them to assume prominent leadership responsibilities in their respective communities. In contrast, women’s initiation rites focus on domestic responsibilities and are structurally linked primarily to the family rather than to the community at large (Beidelman 1965: 146). Some literature suggests that girls are initiated in order for them to gain respect in society, though this may not necessarily imply a change in status (Cory 1956: 27). In the chisungu, women are in charge, but the man is the official head of the house (Udelhoven 2006: 87). The submissiveness of the wife taught in the initiation rites can give control to the woman: she cleans and guards the house and the kitchen, guards the act of procreation and the ritual state of the children; and the right and wrong time for sexual intercourse will depend more on the rhythm of her body than on his (Udelhoven 2006: 87). One recent study by Maluleke (2004: 3) in South Africa found that during the rite, women temporarily acquire

recognition and status in the community, but once the ceremonies are over, they go back to the low status prescribed by society.

1.7 Methodology Adopted for the Study of Chinamwali The approach that I have adopted in the study is a “feminist research practice” (Kelly 1988: 6) which includes reflexivity, or locating oneself within the research question; drawing on one’s experience as a woman; and acknowledging the problems of power and control. Traditional female initiation practices are deeply rooted in societal culture and traditions, and are experienced within a local context that a woman finds herself. Thus, I find that a feminist lens is important to interrogate these structures, in order to explore ways in which current practices in society must be addressed to dismantle these gendered structures and practices that serve to subordinate women (Tuyizere 2007: 96). As the aim of the study is to gain an in-depth understanding of chinamwali, feminist methodological tools were used to collect data as advised by Wadsworth (2001:1); Reinharz (1992: 18 – 18); Reid (2004: 9); and Moore (1986: 92), as well as to analyse the data collected as Wuest (1995: 132) suggests. In conforming to research ethics, full collaboration was sought from the research participants, as recommended by for example, Babbie and Mouton (2001: 407) and Reid (2004: 9), and prior authorisation was sought from Chief Mphuka to conduct fieldwork in the area. I also implemented Neuman’s (2014: 154) recommendation of keeping the identities of the participants anonymous through the use of pseudonyms. Finally, trustworthiness was pursued by prolonged engagement with the participants to minimise bias, as recommended by Guba and Lincoln (1994: 114), as well as Patton (2002: 544).

1.8 Significance of the Study It is evident that traditional initiation practices have a different impact on men and women respectively, and that they have very little impact on women’s status in general. However, the impact of traditional initiation practices on the social life and status of women remains understudied, as most studies in Zambia and elsewhere have looked at initiation from a general anthropological or reproductive health standpoint. It is against this background that the findings of the study significantly contribute to scholarly work on empirical literature on initiation and coming of age, theoretical literature that I considered, and for the dominant discourse concerning the role of initiation by examining chinamwali in order to assess its significance for the social life and status of women. For this purpose, it has been found important to consider the participants’ own experiences of chinamwali, a goal to which a feminist approach is well suited. The metaphorical description of the waiting room by Burns (2014) illuminates the way in which context is important in knowledge construction, as “dismantling the waiting room” is powerful for the seeker as well as the giver of knowledge: it is, ‘a liminal place, a place of ritualised passivity,

dependant on the cooperation of the patient, the supplicant’. Perhaps even more powerful, Parle (2007) in her study of colonial mental health in Natal and Zululand shows the importance of context in studying a phenomenon. In this study, Parle (2007, cited in Jones 2008: 1-3) argues for context, emphasising that the study on mental health in the mentioned areas could not be divorced from the socio-political context of that time which was marked by ‘violent subjugation, economic undermining and political marginalisation of indigenous peoples…fractured along the lines of race, class and gender.’

This study aims to contribute to the overall understanding of female initiation practices and also seeks to fill the void in social sciences with regards to female initiation practices by bringing to light the experiences of women. The study enables the participants to tell their stories in their own “voices”. In this way, it is hoped that an insightful understanding of the social reality of the female initiation ritual will be attained. It is also hoped that this will in turn increase awareness of, and assist to close the knowledge gap with regards to these practices. The study is therefore significant as it does not look at chinamwali in a narrow way as an initiation ceremony only, but as a cultural practice which impacts women throughout their lives.

1.9 Structure of the Thesis The thesis is organised into seven chapters which address the issues raised in the research question. The chapters also reflect on chinamwali and how it relates to women’s space in general.

Chapter One: This chapter introduces the study and provides a background and motivation to the study. It details the problem statement, the specific objectives, and the justification of study. A summary of the literature reviewed, the theoretical approach and methodology, as well as the original contribution of the study to scientific knowledge are also given.

Chapter Two: This chapter gives a description of the theoretical framework of the study. The feminist theoretical framework which is the overarching framework of the study is explained in detail. In order for the study on chinamwali, which is a traditional African female practice to be meaningful, the African feminist theoretical perspective is engaged to examine analytically the lived realities of Chikunda women in relation to the initiation rite.

Chapter Three: This chapter provides the conceptual framework of the study. The chapter builds on the body of work of various scholars on initiation and coming of age to illustrate ways in which various cultures elaborate on this transition from childhood to adulthood. The chapter also introduces the following key concepts: coming of age; initiation; gender and status, to elaborate on how they interact to influence women’s space.

Chapter Four: The methodology chapter motivates the research approach and the methods used to collect data. The chapter includes a detailed discussion of the Chikunda community and motivates the choice of this research site as the choice of location. In addition, the chapter

explains how the participants were selected and how the data was analysed and interpreted. Ethical issues addressed during the fieldwork are also addressed.

Chapter Five: The chapter examines the symbolic structure of chinamwali. Here, a description of the initiation rite is given in detail in order to provide an understanding of, among others, the rituals and ceremonies that constitute chinamwali as has been practised from early generations. Key aspects of chinamwali and a discussion of what they mean to women’s space are elaborated upon.

Chapter Six: The chapter presents and analyses the key themes arising from the narratives collected in the field. These narratives are obtained from the participants’ own accounts of their experience with chinamwali, and specifically, on what it means to become a woman among the Chikunda.

Chapter Seven: To conclude the thesis, the chapter gives a summary of the key findings in the study. The chapter also presents a thematic analysis of the narratives by comparing them to the dominant academic discourse on initiation. The limitations of the study are highlighted, and recommendations are offered that could be used to address the challenges that have been identified in the study.

I am therefore presenting my thesis on female initiation among the Chikunda in a traditional structure through an African feminist lens.

1.10 Conclusion In this first chapter, I have given an introduction to the study on chinamwali, the female initiation rite of the Chikunda. While many studies have examined initiation practices as they relate to sexual and reproductive health, I find that there is a gap in so far as they influence the social life and status of those that have undergone the practice, especially women. This study seeks to fill this knowledge gap by going beyond this aspect, to look at how these female rites influence women’s space. In doing so, Chief Mphuka’s area, home to the Chikunda people of Zambia was specifically targeted for this study. I have argued that the Chikunda provide a good case study of female initiation, as chinamwali is still practised, even though it is now carried out on a smaller scale. Teenage pregnancies and early marriages are also on the increase, and there is a high school dropout rate for girls as a result. This calls for an examination of the reasons for this phenomenon. Furthermore, the limited availability of scholarly work on Chikunda culture in general provides a compelling reason to adopt this group as a case study on female initiation.

The findings of the study answer the central issues relating to gender identity, sexuality, and positions of power and social relations. The main thrust of the findings focus on what it means to become a woman through chinamwali. These are examined on the basis of the themes that emerged from narratives in the field. After reviewing the literature on traditional initiation

practices, it has become clear that such an examination could help in understanding the extent to which socialisation systems prepare individuals, particularly women, for the challenges associated with puberty later in their lives. However, the research only touches on one aspect: the influence of female initiation on the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community and therefore, it gives limited scope for generalisation. Future research therefore needs to look at the general attitudes of traditional initiation practices for women in Zambia in order to find their relevance, if any, in modern day Zambia. The following chapter gives an overview of the theoretical framework within which the study on chinamwali was undertaken. This framework provides a solid structural base, as well as explanatory models that incorporate an analysis of gender and sexuality.

Chapter Two: An African Feminist Perspective of Female Initiation Practices

2.1 Introduction The primary objective of this chapter is to provide an analysis of the theories that direct the study of female initiation practices among the Chikunda of Zambia. Despite the fact that research has been done on female initiation practices in Zambia (see: Richards 1982; Rasing 1995; Drews 1995; Kapungwe 2003; Kangwa 2011; Siachitema 2013), none of these studies look specifically at their influence on the social life and status of the women concerned. This study seeks to explore the cultural context of female initiation practices as they impact on the lived realities of women, and in order to elaborate on their epistemology and dimensions, one has to take an approach from the personal understanding and experiences of those involved in the process (Harding 1987a: 6-8); to do so, a feminist approach is preferred. This is in line with the later standpoint theory which contends that commencing research from women’s perspectives will generate less partial and distorted accounts not only of women’s lives, but also of men’s lives and of the whole social order (Harding 1993: 56; Harding 1987b: 78-88), as opposed to the early universalist feminism that a general and univocal theory of global feminism addresses the special conditions in which African women find themselves (Azodo 1997: 203; Ebunoluwa 2009: 228).

It has been noted that all feminisms pivot around the experiences of females. Therefore, regardless of a woman’s ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, nationality or ideology, if she addresses an issue with reference to how women are affected or excluded, or with an awareness of the inequalities often perpetrated against women, then her scholarship is feminist (see: Ebunoluwa 2009: 228; Hussain & Asad 2012: 203). As Neuman (2014: 118) notes, feminist research argues that the subjective experience of women differs from that of men and seeks to advance feminist values. This means that while the researcher does not herself have to undergo female initiation practices, she can live these experiences by adopting methodologies developed through the feminist approach. Thus, the feminist approach is particularly well suited for the purposes of the study, as it is centred on exploring the experiences of women.

The origins of feminism are said to be diverse, ranging from resistance to oppressive practices such as foot-binding and clitoridectomy in the third world, to the struggles for equal rights in the first world (Friedman et al 2011: 3). However, Gaidzanwa (2011: 7) notes that feminism is thought to have been influenced by socialist thought and practice, anti-imperialist struggles and nationalist struggles of the third world. The term “feminism” as an ideology focuses on the need to transform society so that women are not marginalised and are treated as full citizens in all areas of life (Mekgwe 2008: 13). According to Gilligan (1982), to understand feminism is to understand the systematic discrimination with which women live every day in society, which

recognises only the male voice as the norm. In other words, feminism seeks to explain the unequal power relations between men and women that favour men to the disadvantage of women in all aspects of their lives. Thus, it is my understanding that female initiation practices take place within the unequal power relations in society.

However, it has been observed that despite increased interest in feminist theory and research, there is a lack of consensus concerning its definition (Ebunoluwa 2009: 227; Mekgwe 2008: 13). While recognising the implications of a sweeping definition, the following definitions throw light on the concept: according to Hussain and Asad (2012: 202), feminism is defined as the belief that women should have the same rights, powers and opportunities as men; to Richards (1980, cited in Gaidzanwa 2011: 7), feminism focuses on the systematic economic injustices that women experience as a result of their sex. In this study, feminism will be used as a term for the liberation of women from any form of oppression or subjugation that hinders them from realising their potential as human beings. Therefore, I consider the following definition by Mannathoko (1992: 71) most appropriate:

Feminism is a broad term for a variety of conceptions of the relations between men and women in society. Feminists question and challenge the origins of oppressive gender relations and attempt to develop a variety of strategies that might change these relations for the better.

Notwithstanding definitional differences, it is my belief that feminism seeks to understand social life and human experience from a woman–centred perspective (see: Ebunoluwa 2009: 228; Hussain & Asad 2012: 203; Neuman 2014: 118). As can be been noted from the definitions above, all feminisms pivot around the recognition of existing women’s oppression and address the prevailing unjust discriminatory gender relations (Hussain & Asad 2012: 203; Ebunoluwa 2009: 227). Feminists such as Tuyizere (2007) also argue that without gender as a central catalytic category, social life, work, family, the economy, politics, education and religion cannot be adequately studied. Moreover, Tuyizere (2007: 96; see also Aina 1998: 65) aptly notes that a feminist lens is important to interrogate and explore ways in which current practices in society must be changed in order to dismantle those gendered structures and ideologies that subordinate, oppress and exploit women, and other major categories such as race or class.

It is argued that feminist scholarship is distinguished from other scholarship on the basis of four distinct grounds which include; its focus on gender relations; its emphasis on the validity of personal knowledge as opposed to scientific methods; its rejection of the hierarchy between the researcher and researched in research relationships; and its adoption of the emancipation of women as the goal of research (Hussain & Asad 2012: 202; Funow & Cook 2005: 2213). However, this foundation has been criticised by Hammersley (1992: 137) on the grounds that among others, to focus on the study of women’s experiences is to ignore the social world that actually produces these experiences, and that in addition, it is difficult to avoid a hierarchical relationship in the research process. It should however be noted that in recent years, there has

been a shift from confining feminism to the study of women only (Harding 1993: 56). There has also been a shift towards an emphasis on the study of men and masculinity within the overarching context of gender relations (Wiegman 2002: 32, 33). Thus, the definition of feminism has expanded from an early notion of simply challenging women’s subordination to men and arguing for their equal rights, to seeing and understanding the social world from the vantage points of men (Ishii-Kuntz 2009: 193-194). Ramazanoglu and Holland (2002: 7) add that since understanding power relations is central to feminist research, investigation of gendered lives by feminists includes the study of men and masculinity.

Contrary to popular beliefs that seek to stereotype feminists into one or the other mould (Horn 1995: 71), there are different brands of feminism. Therefore, in my search to find a feminist approach that speaks to a traditional African practice, I find the African feminist approach (a specific feminist approach), as propagated by Nnaemeka (1998); Aidoo (1998); Ogundipe-Leslie (1994); Hudson-Weems (1991); Walker (1983); Collins (1991), relevant to the study. It should be noted that while Collins (1991) focuses on African-American women, she raises issues which resonate with those raised by African women. Echoing concerns about the problem of universalising feminism by the West, Collins (1991) argues that feminism very often sidelines issues relating to racial difference, hence her development of a black feminist perspective that reflects the realities of black women. Specifically, the reason for the focus on the African feminist approach is that this brand of feminism speaks to issues of concern to all aspects of the lives of African women. Having introduced the overarching theory of the study, I now proceed to discuss my choice of theory, beginning with a discussion on the debate between Western and African feminist thought, in order to justify my choice of theory.

2.2 The Ideological Debate: Western vs African Feminisms The concept of African feminism has generated debate among African scholars (see: Ogundipe – Leslie 1994; Aidoo 1998; Walker 1983; Ogunyemi 1997; Nnaemeka 1998 & 2004; Hudson- Weems 1998). Therefore, to put into context my choice of theory, I find it important to engage in what I call the “ideological debate” between western and African feminist thought. Essentially, it has been said that western epistemologies have failed to take into account local cultural realities in their explanations for phenomena which affect indigenous African people (see: Ampofo 2004; Aina 1998; Kolawole 2002a, 2000b, 2004; Dangarembga 1989; Ogunyemi 1997). Acknowledging that the gender struggle is not new to Africa, Aina (1998: 68) asserts that western feminism faces a battle for acceptance, both in Africa and the diaspora. Moreover, Hudson-Weems (1998) argues that the western feminist agenda is designed to meet the particular needs of white women. In the words of Kolawole (1997), ‘many African scholars resist the tag “feminism” because of the general assumption that it is a western ideology that might be problematic if grafted indiscriminately to an African cultural context’ and that, ‘strangers cannot name your

struggles appropriately’ (Kolawole 1997, cited in Kolawole 2004: 261). Dangarembga (1989), a Zimbabwean writer, also rejects feminism as a label of her African identity when she posits that white western feminism does not meet her needs as a black woman (Dangarembga 1989 cited in Kolawole 2004: 260). Another black woman, Ogunyemi (1997), castigates what she sees as an invention of images of African womanhood to fit western images of black people, and rejects what she sees as western universalisation of women’s reality on Africa (Ogunyemi 1997, cited in Kolawole 2004: 261).

Aina (1998) observes that many of the issues that concern the African feminist are often left out of the western feminist agenda, for example, how to successfully combine mothering and nurturing roles with productive roles (Aina 1998: 71). Furthermore, African feminism opposes the western feminist notion that heterosexual relations disempower women and should be changed (Rich 1993, cited in Aina 1998: 72). Thus, in relation to the goals of female initiation in Africa, it is my understanding that a woman goes through socially prescribed rituals to prepare herself for a heterosexual union. The emphasis on sisterhood by Radical feminists seems to suggest that all women experience oppression in the same way and is at odds with African feminist thinking that other circumstances are at play as women are not homogeneous. Furthermore, it has been said that the focus on putting women first in Radical feminist thought suggests an inclination to accord lesbianism more recognition than heterosexuality which African feminism places more emphasis on (Beasley 1999: 54). The different feminisms that will be discussed in a later section underpin the theoretical framework underlying the phenomenon under investigation in this study. This theoretical framework is important because of its critical explanations of the issues that prevent women from accessing equal opportunities. It is worth noting that despite the different views taken by western and African feminists, both agree that the considerable inequality between men and women should be eliminated. This debate is not worth pursuing; however, being an African study, I have included this discussion in an effort to assist the reader to properly locate the understanding of African female initiation practices.

2.3 The Choice of Theoretical Framework: African Feminism It is said that feminism in Africa is extremely heterogeneous as it has developed in diverse colonial contexts such as British, French, Portuguese, Italian, Belgian, and Spanish, and has been influenced by Islamic, Christian and indigenous cultures, and further shaped by a variety of anti-colonial and nationalist movements (Mama 2011: 4). Therefore, in order to advance a theory for the liberation of African women from the injustices of racism, colonialism and of the international political economy (Oyewumi 2005: 325), one needs to understand African gender relations and the specific problems African women face in order to transform these relationships, and ultimately improve their situation (Arndt 2002: 32). As the focus of the study is on a traditional African initiation practice, I sought inspirational basis for the study from an African perspective.

My belief is that traditional African initiation practices have to be examined within African cultural experiences and epistemologies as this is the only way through which African experiences can be taken into account; such an undertaking has to take into consideration Africa’s specificity even while using western paradigms. As some African feminists like Ogundipe-Leslie (1994: 37) advise, in developing an African feminism, we should be open-minded enough to borrow from other cultures that which is relevant and useful. With this in mind, I wanted to understand how female initiation in Africa is tailored towards women’s emanicipation in line with existing feminist theories. This means examining whether their objective is to transform women’s subordination. Thus, they provide an avenue through which we are able to create new knowledge about African identity.

It is important to note that in Africa, modern feminism is rather complex, and has many manifestations and expressions (Gaidzanwa 2011: 7). Indeed, various scholars on the African continent have sought to explain and offer strategies for the emancipation of women from male domination from different standpoints. As I note at the beginning of this chapter, there is much debate on what should constitute African feminism (see: Ebunoluwa 2009; Ogundipe-Leslie 1994; Aidoo 1998; Walker 1983; Ogunyemi 1997; Nnaemeka 1998, 2004; Kolawole 2002, 2004). One strand according to Gaidzanwa (2011: 7) focuses on recapturing African traditions and cultures by writing about powerful women whose lives have been documented and whose works have been used as examples of women’s legacy prior to colonisation. Likewise, Amadiume’s (1997) Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture, shows that a strong matriarchal legacy throughout Africa allowed women to acquire unique powers and positions of authority distinguishing them from women in the west (Oyewumi 2005: 383). On the other hand, Fayemi (2009: 205) argues that African feminism is distinct from feminism as understood by the west in that the challenges some African women face are different from those of her western counterparts.

I take the lived experiences of African women as the starting point, and it is within this context that the work of theorists such as Alice Walker (1983) and Clenora Hudson-Weems (1991) are significant in taking on board all aspects of African women in order to properly situate and locate the peculiarities of these women and their experiences in the gender discourse. Specifically, Walker (1983: xii) developed a brand of “African” feminism called “Womanism”, which she defines thus:

a black feminist or feminist of colour … a woman who loves other women, sexually and/or non- sexually, appreciates and prefers women’s cultures … sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually, committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female … womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.

In support of Walker’s (1983) brand of African feminism, others such as Hooks (1998: 1) insist that it is different from feminism as it recognises the triple oppression of race, class and sex that

a black woman suffers, and is also different to the main focus on sexist oppression of (western) feminism. The term “womanism” is also used by Ogunyemi (1996: 116) to describe what she says are the distractions associated with using the term feminism. Though Ogunyemi’s (1996) conception of African womanism might differ slightly from the womanism presented by Walker (1983), there are many points of similarity. Ogunyemi (1996), in accepting “womanism”, states that the concept is a preferable term as it addresses what she calls the “separatist nature” of feminism by recognising men as partners and not as foes. Furthermore, Kolawole (2002a: 92- 98) in supporting womanism, posits that it is an inclusive approach and reasons that policy makers in Africa are men and that policy changes which seek to address women’s needs cannot succeed if men are alienated. She further suggests that because womanism emphasises among others, the importance of including men, it better accommodates African women’s realities.

Similarly, Ebunoluwa (2009: 230) supports womanism as more suitable for African women because she believes that it recognises the triple oppression of black women of racial, classist and sexist oppression, whereas in her view, feminism is concerned with only sexist oppression. She adds that womanism also differs from feminism because it recognises and accepts male participation in the struggle for emanicipation and its methodology of ending female oppression. Another proponent of womanism, Mangena (2003: 100), also adds that womanism questions some of the assumptions of western feminism and centres the position and experiences of the African woman both in Africa and in the diaspora. In addition, Emecheta (1989: 19) who also endorses Walker’s (1983) African type of feminism, states that the concept addresses the specificities of African women’s ordinary lived problems such as education, welfare, inheritance and other fundamental issues of existence and survival. However, as Ebunoluwa (2009: 232) rightly observes, though womanism purports to address the needs of all black women, including African American women, it is generally inadequate for the specific concerns of African women for example, cultural or customary practices such as female initiation that impact on their daily lives.

On the other hand, Hudson-Weems (1991) proposes “Africana womanism” to counteract what she sees as the limitation of African feminism and black feminism as conceptual and analytical tools for examining the lives of black women (Nnaemeka 2004: 21). Hudson-Weems (1998: 154) notes that, ‘the African woman and the white woman’ come from different segments of society and thus, feminism as an ideology is not equally applicable to the two groups. However, I find that speaking of all white women and all black women as a block is a dated and problematic way of dealing with identity, as women regardless of racial grouping are not a homogeneous group as they experience life differently. According to Hudson-Weems (1998: 154), Africana womanism is not an addendum to feminism, but is an ideology created and designed for all women of African descent. In Hudson-Weems’s (1998: 149) view, Africana womanism includes Africans in the African continent and also those in the diaspora, and differs from black feminism, African

feminism and African womanism in that these are aligned with mainstream feminism. She further posits that African womanism is an ideology grounded in African culture, designed for all women of African descent, and specifically focuses on the unique experiences, struggles and needs of the African woman (Hudson-Weems 1998: 154-155). Hudson-Weems (1998: 155) posits that Africana men and women do not accept the idea of African women as feminist and there is a general consensus in the Africana community that the feminist movement is by and large a white woman’s movement. It is for this very reason that she concludes that Africana womanism and its agenda are unique and separate from mainstream feminism (Hudson-Weems 1998: 150). The shortcoming of Africana womanism is in my view its outright denial of any association or relation with feminism.

It is useful to note that there are other “stands” of African feminism (see: Ebunoluwa 2009: 228- 232; Oyekan 2014: 8) that have been developed such as Catharine Achlonou’s (1995) “Motherism”; Molara Ogundipe-Leslie’s (1994) “Social Transformation Including Women in Africa”, (STIWANISM); and Obioma Nnaemeka’s (2004) “Negrofeminism”. However, though I take inspiration from Alice Walker’s (1983) “womanism” and Hudson-Weems’s (1991) “Africana womanism”, I do not dwell on these or other “strands” of African feminism mentioned, as firstly, neither concept as Ebunoluwa (2009: 232) points out, has gained wide acceptance or popularity as an indigenous African gender theory. Secondly, as Mama (2011: 5) notes, notwithstanding the diversity, it is possible to identify feminists in African contexts as those women who commit to radically transform the unequal gender relations of African social relations, and work across national, ethnic, class and creed boundaries in order to uphold women’s rights.

However, in acknowledging that traditional female initiation is a specific African experience, it is my view that any methodology that is designed to capture this specificity of African women’s reality needs to accept the underlying issues of African feminist concepts (Kolawole 2004: 262). In any case, I find that selecting any one of the various conceptualisations of African feminism will fail to capture African women’s realities as a whole. Arndt (2002: 32) notes that the African discourse on feminism is manifested by theorisations of alternative concepts to feminisms which are a result of the diverse social realities of the African continent. Nonetheless, they have a common denominator in that they attempt to address the problems of African women in order to improve upon their situation. Indeed, an integral component of African feminist strategies is the empowerment framework, which aims at improving peoples’ lives as the key to achieving the goals of feminism. It is my belief that the African feminist theory is useful in this study as it is an indigenous African ideology that captures the specificity of African women’s realities as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and nurturers. Therefore, I choose the concept African feminism as an umbrella term to attempt to globalise African women’s experiences. Having discussed my choice of theory, I now discuss the history of feminist thought. I also endeavour to show how these different points of feminist thought compare with my choice of theory, African feminism.

2.4 Waves of Feminism It must be noted that feminism is described as having occurred in waves as it has acquired different meanings at different points in history, many of which indicate key turning points in the history of feminist thought (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7). It is common to speak of three phases of feminism; first wave; second wave; and third wave (see: Oyekan 2014; Barnett 1997; Cudd & Andreasen 2005). However, Rampton (2015: 1) notes that there is little consensus as to how to characterise these waves, or how to explain women’s movements before the late nineteenth century and explains that what makes this characterisation complex is that a new “silhouette” is emerging, taking the shape of a fourth wave of feminism. This section gives an overview of the main waves of feminism; first wave; second wave; and third wave, and examines their main areas of influence. To conclude, this section examines the key areas of commonality between African feminism and the three waves of feminism.

2.4.1 The First Wave of Feminism

The first wave of feminism began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, marked by a critique of dominant western thinking of that time, which emphasised the importance of individual freedoms in relation to rights or claims to be “free” as far as possible from intervention by government (Beasley 2005: 18). This wave largely focused on equal political rights and economic opportunities for women (Oyekan 2014: 2). Thus, while the first women’s movement in North America and Western Europe began to gain momentum, much of its reasoning was based on liberal theory (Beasley 2005: 31), framing their arguments for advancement of women on the premise of this (liberal) theory’s assumptions about the intrinsic dignity of the person/woman and in the human/woman’s capacity for reason (Jaggar 1983: 173; Beasley 2005: 7). This wave led to an increase in opportunities for women with specific focus on suffrage (Beasley 2005: 7). Other gains made included property rights, more reproductive freedoms and greater access to education and the professional realm for women (Beasley 2005: 7).

It is also believed that the first wave dates to Wollstonecraft’s (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman whose aim was for women to be given access to knowledge and public life and to attain what men of similar class had in terms of opportunities and access to public life (Beasley 2005: 30; Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7). It is believed that Wollstonecraft wanted women to attain what men of similar class had in terms of opportunities and access to public activities, and in common with other liberal feminists of this wave, drew on their traditions’ value of equality and individual freedom to argue that, just as social status at birth was no longer a legitimate basis on which to discriminate among men as liberals argued, so also, sex at birth was no longer a legitimate basis on which to discriminate against women (Beasley 2005: 31), in other words, advocating for the inclusion of women into society at all levels. This wave is important for setting

the pace for the gains mentioned above. However, in echoing Beasley (2005: 7), I argue that although political and legal equality is important, it is not enough to end women’s oppression. As second wave feminists maintain for example, sexist oppression is not simply rooted in political arrangements as its causes are deeply embedded in every aspect of human social arrangements, as well as societal norms, habits, and everyday interactions between people. Mackinnon (1989: xiii) is quick to note that, law alone cannot solve the problems of the world. Indeed, if all that is required to end oppression is for women to gain legal identity, this neglects their experiences of being women and the issues that they encounter on a daily basis.

2.4.2 The Second Wave of Feminism

By the time the second wave of feminism emerged in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, most women in Western countries had gained basic social and political rights such as the right to vote (Beasley 2005: 31). However, this wave argued that despite gaining formal rights, most women remained confined to the domestic sphere and were still subject to many legal and customary constraints which significantly hindered their ability to access public life and its opportunities as men did (Beasley 2005: 31). Also, second wave Liberal feminism believed that women continued to be seen as lesser human beings, because they were judged firstly as women, and only secondly as individual human beings (Beasley 2005: 31). This meant that women continued to be discriminated against not on the basis of merit, but on the basis of their sex. This understanding remains an important aspect of the focus of this study.

The second wave challenged the public/private dichotomy of first wave thought by scrutinising all areas of human social life that were previously seen as personal (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7), such as the institution of marriage, motherhood, heterosexual relationships and women’s sexuality. Thus, rather than trying to reform existing political structures, second wave feminists aimed to radically transform every aspect of personal and political life. The publication of Simone de Beauvoir’s (1949) The Second Sex is seen as the initial effort to challenge human history from a feminist perspective (De Beauvoir 1949: Lundgren-Gothlin 1996: 117; Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7). De Beauvoir’s (1949) idea that the situation of women is unique, and in particular her notion of woman as “the other”, is referred to in this thesis. When she refers to women as the second sex, what she means is that the man is considered to be the standard, whereas the woman is defined in relation to the man (De Beauvoir 1949: 111-115). She adds that a woman becomes a woman not because she was born a woman, but because her identity is shaped by the environment. Her comment on how subjectivity is produced suggests that gender is an aspect of identity that is acquired (De Beauvoir 1949: 9). What makes her work important, according to Moi (2010: 2), is that she:

Formulates three principles and applies them to women’s situation to the world. First is her foundational insight that man ‘is the subject’, he is the absolute, she is the “other”. Man incarnates humanity; woman by virtue of being female, deviates from the human form. The consequence is that women constantly experience a painful conflict between their humanity and their femininity.

This wave continued well into the 1990’s and was a phase in which the debate broadened to include a growth of interest in sexuality (Jackson & Scott 1996: 2), along with a fight against the ideology that reduced women to objects of beauty dominated by patriarchy to keep them in the home or in lesser-paying jobs. This resonates with Siachitema (2013: 1, 2), who contends that initiation rites, a sexuality issue, prepare boy and girls for adult roles and particularly leads women to associate with the home, marriage and reproduction. Interestingly, Moi (2010: 15) posits that Betty Friedan’s (1963) The Feminist Mystique, influenced by de Beauvoir’s (1949) publication, recognises a malaise among contemporary women that she named “the problem that has no name”, protesting against the mainstream media image that reduces women to the role of wife and mother. The second wave of feminist thought is believed to contain different theoretical frameworks; Liberal, Radical, Marxist and Psychoanalytic (Adriaens 2009: 2; Beasley 2005: 19, 225) that have influenced later feminist thought in one way or another. These theories, united by a commitment to sameness, equality, universal action, sisterhood and scientific understanding (Adriaens 2009: 2), will be discussed in detail later in this chapter to examine their relevance to the study. However, Genz (2006: 337) notes that the tendency to universalise women’s oppression fits women into a single category. This tendency further alienates women of color who cannot speak of advancing their rights without reference to other intertwined elements such as race and class.

2.4.3 The Third Wave of Feminism

Third wave feminism, sometimes referred to as “post-feminism”, began in the late 1980’s when United States women of colour and lesbians, responding to their marginalisation by the mainstream white, middle-class women’s movement, extended the insights of second wave feminism by theorising about their experiences (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 7). For example, women of colour maintained that their experiences, interests, and concerns were not fully represented by second wave feminism. Part of their reasoning was that second wave feminism was largely represented by middle-class white women who tended to focus on the commonalities among women and their experiences of oppression without taking their social circumstances into account (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 8).

This wave of feminism argues that the 1960’s and 1970’s women’s movement overestimated social obstacles and were less inclined to admit women’s own responsibility as explanations of their oppression. Thus, they explain that women’s inequality should be blamed on women as individuals and not as a social group (Beasley 2005: 32, 33). According to Beasley (2005: 33)

and Wolf (1990, 2001), a third wave liberal feminist could be said to influence modern feminist thought by devoting considerable attention to the social obstacles that women face, and like other liberal feminists of this wave, focuses on women’s empowerment as a goal of feminist research.

2.4.4 Commonalities: African Feminism and the Three Waves of Feminism

As noted in the previous section, there have been attempts by some African feminists to disassociate themselves from feminism as it is understood in the West (see: Hudson-Weems 1991; Kolawole 2002a, 2002b, 2004; Dangarembgba 1989; Mangena 2003; Ebunoluwa 2009; Ogundipe-Leslie 1994; Achlonou 1995; Nnaemeka 2004). However, when weighed on merit, I find that African feminism and the three waves of feminism share some similarities. These commonalities emanate from the assertion that feminism called by any name, western, African, or Asian is global in its goal to address the inequalities that women worldwide face in their day- to-day life (Ebunoluwa 2009: 228; Hussain & Assad 2012: 2003; Neuman 2014: 118); it is this key similarity that I attempt to highlight in this section. Summarily, I maintain that the arguments of these three waves of feminism in relation to the plight of women are still relevant today and African feminists still use their goals in an attempt to put an end to the perpetuation of women’s subordination. In other words, for one to understand African feminism, it is important to understand the history of feminism and this includes its goals and accomplishments.

To start with the earliest wave of feminism, literature shows its pioneering role in efforts to promote women’s equal rights and to open up opportunities for women (see: Beasley 2005; Oyekan 2014). Bakare-Yusuf (2011: 106-129) reasons that as a result of women’s limitations to decision-making structures, most women become dependant on their bodies and sexual relations with men, for example through marriage. She says that the result is a heterosexual structure where women and their relationships with men are controlled by men. Similarly, it has been said that feminism has been part of Africa’s history for a very long time – long before the advent of colonialism (Gaidzanwa 2011; Adele-Fayemi 2005; Weir 2007). Adele-Fayemi (2005: 88) argues that Africa has some of the oldest civilisations in the world, and has the oldest patriarchies making it the oldest tradition of resistance to patriarchy, and that to believe otherwise would be to imply that African women have embraced and not resisted oppression (see also Synder & Tadesse 1995: 21). Among the Zulu people of South Africa, Weir (2007: 8-12) notes that royal women occupied leadership positions in various areas, including military, economic and religious even before colonialism.

Furthermore, Kolawole (2002b: 31) notes that although many African languages have no synonym for feminism as it is understood in the West, in practice, the concept was familiar to a majority of African women. Secondly, the importance of the early wave of feminism cannot be ignored as it laid a foundation for raising consciousness, an aim that the modern study of

feminism strives to achieve. I agree with Mackinnon (1989: 244-248) when she cautions that women ignore its (first wave feminism) consciousness-raising and legitimacy at their peril as through this process, women may discover the harm suffered to begin thinking of dismantling male domination. Undoubtedly, African feminism as a social movement also aims to raise consciousness by focusing on legal and social reform, violence against women, economic empowerment and other such issues (Higgs & Smith 2006: 90).

It is important to note that while we recognise that the second wave feminism involved white women who monopolised the movement by making white women’s concerns central to the feminist discourse, it has left a legacy for the third wave feminists and contemporary feminists to follow and be influenced by. Also, second wave feminism, by employing analytical terms like “patriarchy” and “heterosexuality” (Beasley 2005: 19), influenced how we understand the theory of power, in particular men’s systematic power as a group over women today. Patriarchy is seen as deeply entrenched in African societal structures and deemed to contribute significantly to the oppression of African women. African feminists have associated traditional female initiation practices with a patriarchal desire and need to control women, their bodies and their sexuality (see: Higgs & Smith 2006: 90; Kamlongera 2007; Tamale 2005; Kanogo 2005; Diallo 2004; Machera 2004). In Fisi (hyena) culture, a custom practiced in some of the female initiation ceremonies in Malawi, the entire initiation process is based on teaching a girl how to satisfy and please her potential husband (Kamlongera 2007: 85). In Uganda, the Baganda practice of “pulling the labia minora” during initiation is aimed at enhancing men’s sexual pleasure, and a similar practice is noted in Mozambique (Machera 2004: 161).

It is believed that third wave feminism refers to recent feminist thinkers who are aware of the differences between women and reject a universalist way of conceiving the world (Beasley 2005: 74). This thinking is central to African feminist thought and influences what I refer to as the “ideological debate” in a previous section that corrects the assertion that women are homogeneous and that a universal female identity that focuses on the experiences of upper class white women should apply to all women, including African women. Kolawole (2002a: 92) adds that third wave feminism, like African feminism, underscores diversity and difference which Liberal feminism for example, fails to acknowledge. Furthermore, this wave of feminism advocates for a feminism that accepts diversity and allows for a multiplicity of feminist goals (Cudd & Andreasen 2005). Borrowing from this thinking, African feminism in particular argues that women are not homogeneous as they experience oppression in different ways (Oyewumi 2005: 317). This wave also calls for a recognition that identity is intersectional (Cudd & Andreasen 2005: 74); in other words, that gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexuality are interlocking, and that oppression is not experienced simply along one axis. In the same way, African feminism acknowledges the intersections of oppression that the African woman faces by virtue of her sex, class and race (Gan 2012: 1; Tamale 2005: 10). Having discussed the history

of feminist thought and its areas of commonality with African feminism, I now discuss some of the different theories that have been developed to explain the unequal power relations between men and women.

2.5 Theories of Gender Inequality Different theories on the causes of the unequal power relations and the necessary approaches to transforming them and women’s subordination worldwide have been described using various analytical frameworks (Aina 1998: 67; Belknap 2007: 13; Travers 2001: 135; Giddens 2001: 114). It is therefore, difficult to adequately capture the breadth and depth of feminist thinking as it is believed that there are many feminisms each providing its own perspective of women’s source of inequality (Tong 1994: 1; Mekgwe 2008: 13). According to Burgess-Proctor (2006) feminist theory is traditionally divided into five major perspectives including Liberal feminism, Radical feminism, Marxist feminism, socialist feminism and postmodern feminism. Other perspectives of feminism include critical race feminism, black feminism, multiracial feminism, cultural feminism, lesbian feminism, third world feminism, eco-feminism and cyber feminism (Belknap 2007:13).

I am mindful that all these perspectives of feminisms as noted by Stacey (1993: 50) and Tong (1994: 1), view gender inequality from different perspectives and that despite their different philosophical orientations, they all advocate for social and political change (Tong 1994: 2) and seek to understand the gendered nature of virtually all social and institutional relations (Giddens 2001: 114). As a result, they challenge dominant patriarchal ideologies that view women’s subordination as natural. It is worth noting that even from an African feminist perspective, Ebunoluwa (2009: 227-232) writes that there is much debate on what this perspective constitutes. As stated earlier, I find the African feminist approach most relevant to this study, whilst being aware of the rigid categorisation of feminist theories, as well as the fact that within and outside of these theories, there are still other classifications that may warrant more recognition. Despite their limitations as discussed above, Liberal Feminism, Marxist Feminism and Radical Feminism have all contributed important lessons to my view of gender and sexuality, and how African feminism responds to other discourses.

2.5.1 Liberal Feminism

It is believed that Liberal feminism could be regarded as the mother of all feminist thought, nursed in the cradle of the social contract theories of Rousseau and Locke, and the nineteenth century European liberalism propagated by philosophers such as John Stuart Mill, which primarily addresses the autonomy of the person and the rights of the individual (Barnett 1997: 315). It has also been argued that the primary concern of Liberal feminism is to remove obstacles that hinder the advancement of women through a reformist as opposed to revolutionary approach (see:

Nnaemeka 1998: 42; Giddens 2001: 115; Beasley 1999: 52; Beasley 2005: 34). The importance of liberalism to the early feminist movement cannot be overstated, as it set the stage for women to begin to speak on equal terms with their male counterparts. However, though this theory concerns equality, rationality and justice, Nnaemeka (1998: 42) argues that it does not always respond properly to the real experiences of women worldwide, including African women. It should be noted that major historical factors, such as the conquest of the African continent by Europe, indigenous African societal patterns, and the apparent lack of vision or courage in the leadership of the post-colonial period, have influenced the position of African women at a grassroots level today. Indeed for Liberal feminism to be relevant to African women, Aina (1998: 66) says that it must properly incorporate women at the grassroots who not only constitute the majority, but continue to be the custodians of African tradition.

Secondly, though Liberal feminism seems to succeed within the horizon of late western capitalist society, Barnett (1998: 124) posits that it does not venture beyond the prevailing ideology to interrogate to what degree patriarchy should remain the cornerstone of Africa’s civilisation. Moreover, Jagger & Rothenberg (1993, cited in Aina 1998: 67) argue that this Liberal feminist view is narrow and represents the middle – class woman, largely excluding the experiences and perspectives of women of colour. Granted, with wider access to birth control and education for women, as Barnett (1998: 124) argues, Liberal feminism gives some women the opportunity to participate in the public arena but presumes that once all the barriers for participation in public life are removed, feminist objectives will have been achieved. I concur with Jagger (1983: 186) when he argues that liberalism, with its emphasis on rationality and the idea that somehow the mind is transcendent and the body a cage within which it is enclosed, undermines the meaningful centrality of African women’s bodies to their lives. However, I argue that though Liberal feminism has provided women with affirmative action, ambition and access to training, it cannot make up for the structural barriers that women face on a day to-day basis. It could therefore be argued that Liberal feminism’s attempts to make up the difference merely require that women work harder in order to fight inequality.

2.5.2 Radical Feminism

Rather than assimilating women into areas of activity associated with men as in Liberal feminist thought, Radical feminists believe that women are oppressed in society primarily because of their sex and not on the basis of factors such as their social class (Beasely 1999: 53). Radical feminism can be identified as an overarching theory about sex and gender in society (Giddens 2001: 115). At the heart of this feminism is the belief that men are responsible for and benefit from the exploitation of women (Giddens 2001: 115). Specifically, the analysis of patriarchy – the systematic domination of females by males is of central concern to this branch of feminism and is perceived as the primary cause of women’s oppression (Beasley 2005: 47). The focus is on a

system of oppression based on sex/gender distinction where women occupy a lower social status than men. Thus, the political preoccupation of Radical feminism is to undo the impact of patriarchy in order address unequal power relations between men and women. Though Radical feminists differ in their interpretations on the basis of patriarchy, most agree that it involves the appropriation of women’s bodies and sexuality in some form (Beasley 2005: 48).

Shulasmith Firestone (1971), an early Radical feminist writer, argues that men control women’s bodies in reproduction and child-rearing and that because women are biologically able to give birth to children, they become dependent materially on men for protection and livelihood. This expectation from women seems evident in the prescribed role of female initiation where the practice prepares them for motherhood and child birth and is central in shaping a woman’s sexuality (Drews 1995: 104). It also resonates with Siachitema (2013: 12) and Kamlongera (2007: 85) who contend that initiation rites lead women or girls to associate initiation with marriage and reproduction. Radical feminists claim that patriarchy has existed throughout history and across culture, meaning that it is a universal phenomenon (Giddens 2001: 116). According to Aina (1998: 66), factors within traditional African systems have been documented in support of some form of female oppression. These include: (1)The polygamous family arrangement which gave a male member a certain degree of power as head of the family over his many wives; (2) widowhood practices which to this day subject women to obnoxious practices such as shaving heads, drinking water used to wash the corpse of the deceased husband where a wife is suspected as the cause of the husband’s death, widows eating from broken plates, sleeping in ashes; (3) arranged marriages where marriages are contracted without the consent of the bride, and child marriage where a young girl becomes a wife of rape by the would-be husband; and (4) inheritance rights which give primacy to male children inheriting from their fathers, while the female children cannot.

For many Radical feminists, sexuality is seen as the primary means by which men control women and maintain their power over women generally (Richardson 1993: 75), and central to this theory is that sexual relations are not simply a reflection of the power that men have over women in society in general, but also determine those unequal power relations. In other words, sexual relations both reflect and serve to maintain women’s subordination. To emphasise the centrality of sexuality in initiation rituals, Oakley (1996) says that because puberty is a bridge between childhood and adulthood, and because adult roles of the sexes are significantly differentiated in our society both inside and outside the home, the climate which female and male pass through puberty tends to stress rather than ignore sex differences in the physiological process itself. Seen from this perspective, the concern is not so much how women’s lives are affected by gender inequalities but more generally, how male - dominated sexuality constrains women in virtually all aspects of their lives. However, Richardson (1993: 75) says that socialist feminists do not regard sexuality as the fundamental cause of women’s oppression and have criticised this strand of

feminism for underestimating the significance of other factors such as women’s unequal position in the labour market and their domestic roles within the family.

2.5.3 Marxist Feminism

For Marxist theorists, work is the means through which human beings are able to develop their own capabilities and control their environment (Friedman et al 1987: 11 – 15). They also believe that work is an activity which shapes people’s identity and class structure (Mackinnon 1996: 182). With regards to how women fit into the picture, Friedman et al (1987: 11) believe that Marx himself never paid much attention to the question of gender. According to Barnett (1997: 329), Engels, a Marxist theorist, did not fare any better as he stated that women’s emancipation could only come about once their work within the home ceased and they joined the forces of production, in which case they would become part of the class struggle to liberate all workers. Simply put, Marxists in examining history, developed a theory about social change based on its material or economic revolution (Barnett 1997: 329).

In addition, Marxists subsumed women into their analysis, rarely considering their position as unique or worthy of special consideration, and failing to appreciate that their gender neutral categories did not fully understand the position of women in society (Friedman et al 1987: 13). Rather, Friedman et al (1987: 13) continue that women were absorbed into categories given to their husbands or fathers and once in the workplace as members of the “proletariat” or working class, women were workers and their different experiences of wage labour, alienation and exploitation were not taken into account. Thus, one approach to women in Marxist analysis is their relationship to production - either being part of it or outside it, and as Friedman et al (1987: 13) explain, the inferior position of women in society is rooted in the sexual division of labour. Marxist theory goes on to explain that because women’s primary responsibility is tied to the household and child care, they are condemned to seclusion in the home and as a result are excluded from public life as well as participation in collective action to change their lives as members of the working class (Friedman et al 1987: 13; Mackinnon 1996: 182), enabling the creation of a class structure where men assume a higher position in the hierarchy. In her book Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Towards a Unitary Theory, Vogel (1983) explores these concepts in detail when she explains that in a class society, it is the differential role in reproduction of labour power that is to blame for women’s oppression. She says that even amongst the ruling class, women are subordinated to men because of their role in childbirth – a domestic role.

Marxist theory argues that society is fundamentally constructed of the relations people form as they do and make things needed to survive. As a consequence, work is the process of shaping and transforming the material and social worlds, creating people as social beings as they create

value and as Mackinnon (1996: 182) notes, it is an activity through which people become who they are, ‘class is its structure, production its consequence, capital its congealed form, and control its issue’. Implicit in feminist theory however, is a parallel argument that the moulding, direction and expression of sexuality organises society into two sexes, women and men, and that this division is the basis of social relations. Furthermore, as alluded to earlier, Friedman et al (1987: 15) argue that women were oppressed in pre-capitalist societies and that this oppression, whilst alleviated, has not disappeared in socialist societies such as China and Cuba; therefore, Marxism on its own is inadequate to explain the conditions of women and their oppression.

However, Friedman et al (1987: 14) note that this theory has been criticised for its focus on work as the source of women’s oppression and what is seen as an inadequate appreciation of patriarchy and women’s place in the cycle of class, as it looks at the condition of women only under capitalism and only in relation to production, either their participation in production or their exclusion from it. Furthermore, Marxist theory explains women’s labour in the home as a way in which it contributes to the maintenance and reproduction of capitalist society, and seen from this respect, Friedman et al (1987: 14) argue that woman’s oppression is only analysed as they experience life under capitalism, ignoring other aspects of their daily lives, and also rejecting the Radical feminist position that women’s “enemy” is patriarchy rather than capitalism.

2.5.4 Contrasting Feminisms: African Feminism and Western Feminisms

Feminism as a social theory addresses issues that concern women’s experiences (Hussain & Asad 2012: 203; Ebunoluwa 2009: 228; Neuman 2014: 118). This means that despite the variations of feminist theories, they are commonalities in relation to women’s struggles in the world over as they seem to concern themselves with the same issues such as women’s legal and political rights, violence against women, reproductive rights, women’s political participation and representation (Kolawole 2002a: 94). However, as noted earlier, we see differences in the focus of these feminist theories (see: Belknap 2007: 13; Aina 1998: 67; Travers 2001: 135). In order to examine how African feminism differs from the three western theories discussed above, one needs to have an understanding of the factors that make feminism in Africa different from that experienced by her western counterparts. In understanding gender and feminism in Africa, I find that historical and cultural contexts have an impact on African women’s reality and shape the way that gender is understood (Kolawole 2002a: 95). One of the salient features of African feminism is that it includes men in its struggle to end women’s subjugation (Aina 1998: 71). Kolawole (2002a: 94) notes that this inclusive approach is a necessary strategy as the majority of policy makers in most African countries are men; therefore, tactics to include them would be advantageous for African women in situations that require policy changes in favour of women. As Nnaemeka (2004) points out:

By not casting a pall over men as a monolith, African women are more inclined to reach out and work with men in achieving set goals. The language of feminist engagement in Africa (collaborate, negotiate, compromise) runs counter to the language of western feminism challenges (challenge, disrun, deconstruct, blow apart). African feminism challenges through negotiation, accommodation and compromise.

Lastly, African feminism challenges the underpinnings of the belief in the universal subordination of women of western scholarship as it believes that women as a whole are not a homogeneous group. For example, there are women whose ancestry comes from Africa, although they are located in other parts of the world, for example (African) women in the United States of America whose ancestors were enslaved by Europeans, Caucasians who have been born and bred in various parts of Africa even though their ancestors originated elsewhere (Gaidzanwa 2011: 7). Therefore, if one believes in the universal subordination argument, Oyewumi (2005) states that one has to ignore the ways in which factors such as race, ethnicity, class and colour, contribute to the subordination of women, and accept the notion of the essentialist basis of inequality (Oyewumi 2005: 318). Having discussed some of the different perspectives on gender inequality and how they contrast with African feminism, I now discuss feminist theories of gender and sexuality in order to understand the theoretical framework that underpins them.

2.6 Feminist Politics of Gender and Sexuality Essentially, feminist theory argues that the moulding, direction and expression of sexuality organises society into two sexes, women and men, a division which forms the totality of social relations (Mackinnon 1996: 182). Moreover, the notion of women’s sexuality as the property of men still underpins many of society’s laws and social customs (Richardson 1993: 76). Tamale (2011: 11-36) posits that gender and sexuality cannot be divorced from each other as they are both creatures of society and culture, and both play a role in shaping and maintaining the power structures of society. Where feminists differ is over the importance accorded to sexuality in understanding women’s oppression (Richardson 1983: 74). Feminist sexuality and gender theorists can therefore be divided into various sub-schools that bring together the insights of different approaches. The question that underpins this section is - what is the relationship between sexuality and gender inequality? To understand these concepts, it becomes necessary to reflect on initiation rites as an important moment in the socialisation process of individuals and the acquisition of gender and sexual identities. Using the term “sexuality” does not refer to genital sexual activity only, but to all attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours which might be seen to have some sexual significance in our society (Jackson 1996: 62). Thus, I review and analyse feminist theories on gender and sexuality to articulate the theoretical framework from which an analysis of initiation practices is based. This is because initiation rites play a significant role in

the acquisition of gender and sexual identities of the individuals concerned (Siachitema 2013: 1; Raising 2003: 6).

2.6.1 The Essentialist – Constructivist Dilemma

Within much of feminist work, the terms “essentialism” and “social constructionism” are conceptual terms used to describe properties that women share that are either natural or socially constructed (Stacey 1993: 68). These two terms do not represent two fixed positions but rather fall into a continuum within which all theorists can be found depending upon their individual beliefs (Stacey 1993: 70). In relation to analysing gender and sexuality, essentialism refers to arguments which appeal to biological or genetic determination, universalism, or explanations based on the idea of “nature” or “human nature” (Stacey 1993: 68). Many theorists who base their explanations of gender differences on the basis of biology or genetics rely on among others, biblical passages to support their version of natural gender differences (Coltrane 1994: 46).

One of the proponents of biological essentialism is Shulamith Firestone (1971) in her early work The Dialectic Sex (Barrett 1988: 13), in which she argues that the organisation of reproduction is the root of women’s oppression. Firestone (1971) argues that women are subordinated through their role in reproduction and posits that if biological reproduction could be reorganised through the use of technology and thus externalised from women’s bodies, women could be liberated from the restrictive role that biology has assigned to them (Barrett 1988: 13). In this way, Firestone (1971) has been accused of essentialism because of the way she situates women’s oppression firmly within biology itself (Barrett 1988: 13). Radical feminists (Stacey 1993: 70) and some psychoanalytic theorists (see: Jackson 1996; Weeks 1985; Beasley 2005; Chow 2003; Chodorow 1976, 1989, 1979) have also been accused of charges of essentialism as we shall see from the ensuing paragraphs.

For Radical feminists, these charges are fixed in their classification of all women as oppressed and all men as oppressive in a way that fails to acknowledge the possibility of diversity and change within these categories (Stacey 1993: 70). According to Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory (see: Beasley 2005: 54-56; Jackson 1996: 52-73; Weeks 1985: 127-181; Giddens 2001: 110), the inequality between men and women is rooted in biology. Freud states that from an early age, a girl suffers from envy of the male sexual organ and these unequal power relations can therefore be traced to where the young girl, through her envy and desire of this male organ, internalises the belief that men are more powerful (Beasley 2005: 54). According to Freud, boys and girls align with the father, but in the case of boys, this is attained through identification (a sense of sameness), while for girls, alignment is established through desire (desire for the penis).

The critical point of Freud’s analysis is that to become a self requires the adoption of a gendered position. Indeed for girls, negotiation through this psycho-social image is more difficult since they

must shift from clitoral active sexuality associated with the mother/female body to a sexuality which is associated with the father/male body (Beasley 2005: 54; Jackson 1993: 64). Instead of having a penis, they are required to gain one through heterosexual desire and heterosexual intercourse into desire for a baby (Beasley 2005: 54); a male baby in particular is desired since it brings with him the “longed for penis” (Jackson 1993: 63). What this means is that girls discover early in life that men are more powerful, while they belong to a category of lesser status (castrated), and can only aspire to achieve what men are willing to allow or give them (replacement penises/babies). Boys in contrast, can go on having mother/women object of infantile desire, without being cast as lesser, and at the same time gain the reward of being associated with the powerful (Jackson 1993: 54). In my view, perhaps this could explain why in most African societies, male children are desired as they are seen to propagate the family name, again another way in which females are at a disadvantage.

Freud draws attention to the stunning effects human society has on sexuality and explores the hazardous paths that humans must go through in order to attain social acceptance (Chow 2003: 93). In so far as he shows how women, like men, must in the course of maturation abandon their own mobile perverse sexuality in order to become acceptable and respectable, Freud can be seen as an ally to feminism (Chow 2003: 93). With regards to puberty, Freud states for instance that it leads to an accession of libido in boys, but that it is marked in girls by a fresh wave of repression. He argues that it is not until the onset of puberty that social-sexual scripts are learned (Jackson 1996: 67, 68), for it is not until then that a man or woman comes to be defined as a potential sexual actor and to accept herself or himself as such. Thus, as Drews (1995: 104) contends, it is my understanding that in female initiation, women must go through the prescribed rituals to become “women” (Drews 1995: 104). However, Freud is criticised for basing his theory to explain gender identities, social hierarchies and relations on inborn biological sexual hierarchies (Beasley 2005: 55). Furthermore, feminists criticise his work on the ground that he is not simply describing how male-dominated societies come into being, but is accepting and prescribing male dominance as the basis of all human life (Beasley 2005: 56).

Another psychoanalytic feminist Nancy Chodorow (1997), while critiquing Freud’s focus on the penis, makes use of his work to critically evaluate the formation of feminine and masculine identities (Beasley 1999: 67-69; Beasley 2005: 55). She, along with other psychoanalytic feminists, explain how gendered subjects - boys and girls, are produced, not on the basis of anatomical differences between the sexes as reflected in Freud’s theory, but on the basis of the cultural construction of family dynamics. Essentially, Chodorow proposes that the organisation of the family within society produces different kinds of identities for men and women, and in particular for women, emphasising their nurturing qualities (Beasley 2005: 49). Chodorow argues that such positive qualities could be used to reform society by spreading them to men, and that

if family life were altered such that boys experienced fathers (men) as nurturing, men could also acquire these nurturing qualities.

In other words, Chodorow argues that if men shared nurturing activities with women, it would have an undermining effect of sexual oppression of women by men (Beasley 1999; 68). Where Freud stresses boys and girls turning to their father in the oedipal phase as they become gendered individuals (Beasley 2005: 56), Chodorow locates the beginnings of significant personality formation in the pre-Oedipal period, in the sensory closeness of both boys and girls to their mothers and the different ways they are obliged to give her up. Chodorow like Freud, argues that girls retain a longer connection to mothers than boys in the oedipal period. However, for Chodorow, this does not mean that girls remain incomplete but rather impels them to become mothers. This reproduction of mothering behaviour continues to generate women’s unequal responsibility for parenting which contributes to their own oppression. On the other hand, gender imbalances in parenting contribute to the development of conceptions of manhood. She cites Jay’s anthropological study done in Modjokuto, Java, to illustrate that by the time a girl is five years old, she has already identified with her mother’s role in domesticity and caregiving within the family unit (Chodorow 1989: 55).

Chodorow’s work is significant because she highlights the centrality of the social and cultural constructions of the mother-infant relationship which is pivotal to gender development and the relations between the sexes (Chodorow 1976: 6). She also challenges the biological explanations of gender which perceives the formation of gender identity in terms of genital difference and the presence or absence of a penis. Furthermore, Chodorow’s ideas remain important, particularly in teaching us about the nature of femininity and also the difficulty that men have in expressing their feelings to others (Giddens 2001: 111). However, Chodorow’s analysis is mainly criticised on the assertion that a child’s pre-Oedipal relationship is the single factor in the acquisition of gender roles as there are multiple factors that contribute to an individual’s gendered identity. Moreover, universalising womanhood confirms the essentialist notion of women as primary care givers and that there are just two ways of being associated with womanhood or manhood (Beasley 2005: 57).

On the other side of the continuum is the social constructivist theory that challenges the eternal, universal or natural status of gender and sexuality (Vance 1992: 133).Vance (2006: 20) defines social construction theory as the belief that human behaviour is changeable and a product of human action and history as opposed to biological or genetic factors. Vance (2006: 30) further points out that these cultural influences affect society as a whole and not just individuals on a personal basis. I operate from the constructivist perspective which appeals to the idea that gender is a constructed category that differentiates men from women and that furthermore, gender differences operate to maintain a sex/gender hierarchy of male dominance (Richardson 1981: 247). Typically, feminists advocate social constructionist perspectives in contrast to

biological essentialism (Richardson 1993: 68); thus, within much of feminist work, the focus is on gender and sexuality as socially constructed (Goddard 2002: 15; Adeleye-Fayemi 1994: 3).

The tendency towards anti-essentialism and anti-naturalism in feminist theory is initiated by Simone de Beauvoir (1949: 9) in The Second Sex, reflected in her formulation that ‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman’. When Simone de Beauvoir makes this claim, she embraces theories that distinguish physiological and biological explanations of identity from those that advocate for socially constructed identities in the context of lived experiences. Other feminists, such as Judith Butler (1990) and Nelly Oudshoorn (1991), have demonstrated that sex and gender are culturally constructed (Halsema 2006: 151). In Merleau-Ponty’s (1962) reflections in the Phenomenology of Perception on ‘the body of its sexual being’, he takes issues with such accounts of bodily experiences and claims that the body is ‘an historical idea’ rather than a ‘natural species’ (Halsema 2006: 522). Significantly, it is his claim that “women” and by extension, any gender, is an historical situation rather than a ’natural fact’ In other words, Halsema (2006: 522) notes that the fact that gender is constructed through the natural dimensions of the body is not denied, but rather that it is reconceived as distinct from the process by which the body comes to bear cultural meanings.

2.6.2 Intersectionality: An Interlocking Matrix of Women’s Oppression

Feminist theory claims that women’s lives are constructed by multiple and intersecting categories of oppression and critiques the notion that women’s oppression can be captured through analysing gender alone (Crenshaw 1989; Smith 2013; Collins 2000; Nash 2008). Crenshaw (1989), a black legal scholar, coined the term “intersectionality”, to explain how socially constructed categories such as race, gender and sex interact with each other to create social hierarchies in society (see also: Smith 1989; Collins 2000). Crenshaw (2011: 29) suggests that though black women can experience discrimination in similar ways to that of their white counterparts and black men, they often experience double discrimination on the basis of both race and sex. Much like her predecessor, Collins (2000: 42) argues that cultural patterns of oppression combine and are influenced by the intersections of systems of oppression such as race, gender, class and ethnicity. This theory is essentially a critique of the conventional feminist essentialist view that feminism speaks for all women, ignoring the racial, ethnic, class and sexual differences of women (Nash 2008: 3). In other words, this theory explains how women’s lives are constructed by multiple systems of oppression. Specifically, it tells us that to better appreciate women’s oppression, one needs to understand the multiple and intersecting categories of discrimination that women suffer and which contribute to their marginalisation (Nash 2008: 1).

African feminism in particular, in criticising mainstream feminism and its tendency to universalise women’s experiences, claims that the multiple oppressions that African women face are mainly

as a result of the colonisation process (Gan 2012: 1). In understanding intersectionality theory in Africa, it is therefore necessary to explore the complexity of colonialism to show how the intersections of race, gender and class combined to shape women’s experiences and ultimately contribute to the consolidation of the suppression of women in Africa. Aina (1998: 70) notes that in colonial and post-colonial Africa, the subordination of women is seen at different levels – first, male dominance of the traditional patriarchal social structures, second, domination of women members of the peripheral societies subordinated to foreign capitalist males of the metropolitan States; and thirdly, subordination of women as members of the unpaid working class and impoverished peasants.

Across Africa, Tamale (2005: 10) says that the colonial era saw a politicisation of women’s sexuality. It is believed that colonialists worked together with African patriarchs to develop inflexible customary laws that evolved into new structures and other forms of domination; one result was the suppression of women’s sexuality, erotic culture and sexual oppression. Specifically, Tamale (2005: 10) says that the need to control women’s sexuality and reproductive capacity was crucial to capitalist societies. As has been noted, Marxist feminist theory draws our attention to the fact that such control consolidates male domination through men’s control of resources and their relatively greater economic power (Friedman et al 1987; Mackinnon 1996; Barnett 1997). Regulating and controlling women’s sexuality is therefore central to the survival of patriarchal and capitalist structures and systems, as it is an important means through which the domesticity of African women is maintained (Tamale 2005: 11).

A range of publications on sexualities and colonialism (see: Kanogo 2005; Thomas 2003) show how colonial discourses constructed colonised sexualities as opposite to the “civilised “cultural identity of the colonisers. We shall discuss more on this aspect in the discussion on tensions between Western and African epistemological assumptions on female initiation in chapter 7. However, it is important to note here that Tamale (2005: 11) acknowledges that capitalist patriarchal societies are characterised by a separation of the “public” sphere from the “private” sphere. These two spheres are highly gendered with the former inhabited by men while the latter constitutes mainly unremunerated and undervalued domestic activities performed by women. She further indicates that the process of separating the public sphere preceded colonisation, but was consolidated and reinforced by colonial policies and practices. This is why Crenshaw (1989: 166) believes that if any real efforts are to be made to free black people from the constraints of racial subordination, then theories and strategies purporting to reflect the black community’s needs must include an analysis of sexism and patriarchy. Similarly, feminism must include an analysis of race, class, sexuality and gender if it hopes to meet the aspirations of black women.

2.7 Conclusion The main purpose of this chapter was to give an understanding of the feminist approach, which is the overaching theory of the study. This perspective foregrounds the experiences of women to guide the whole research process. Furthermore, I have explained that for a study on a traditional African female practice to be meaningful, it is necessary to engage the African feminist theoretical perspective to examine analytically the lived realities of women through the articulation of their voices, and to make recommendations towards promoting their social lives and status in the larger community. This was done after reviewing the historical eras of feminism, and the western originating feminisms, namely Liberal, Radical and Marxist feminisms. When weighed on merit, I find that these feminist theorisations share similarities with African feminism, particularly in their global goal to address women’s inequalities. However, as has been noted, it has been said that western epistemologies have generally failed to take into account local cultural realities in their explanations for phenomena which affect indigenous people (see: Ampofo 2004; Ogundipe–Leslie 1994; Aidoo 1998; Walker 1983; Ogunyemi 1996; Nnaemeka 1998; Hudson-Weems 1991). To start with, the first wave of feminism played a pivotal role in efforts to promote women’s equal rights. Similarly, feminism has been part of Africa’s history for a very long time. Secondly, first wave feminism laid a foundation for consciousness raising. African feminism also aims to raise consciousness by focusing on legal and social reform, violence against women, and economic empowerment. However, African feminist theory challenges the public/private dichotomy of first wave feminism by scrutinising all areas of human social life that were previously thought of as personal, such as the institution of marriage, motherhood, heterosexual relationships and sexuality, which are essential elements in chinamwali. The second wave of feminism employed words like “patriarchy” and “heterosexuality” to help us understand the power relations between men and women and men’s systematic power over women. African feminism has associated traditional female initiation processes with a patriarchal desire to control women, their bodies and their sexuality. However, whilst the second wave of feminism universalises women’s experiences of oppression, African feminism, like the third wave of feminism, does not fit women into a single category as it seeks to examine how other elements such as class and race explain women’s experiences of oppression. In other words, it rejects the universalised way of understanding women’s oppression. Furthermore, while Liberal feminism focuses on the structural imbalances that prevent women from participating in the public arena, and Marxist feminism on women’s oppression in relation to their means of production respectively, these feminist theories fail to address the daily experiences of the African woman at a grassroots level who are the custodians of African tradition. Though Radical feminism like African feminism focuses on patriarchy and sexuality, it fails to appreciate how other factors such as women’s domestic roles are fundamental to women’s oppression. I recognise the necessity to focus on a theoretical framework that takes the peculiarities of African women’s concerns while acknowledging the tenets of feminism. Thus,

whilst the different feminist theoretical frameworks offer explanations for the unequal power relations between men and women, I find a theoretical gap on how questions of gender and sexuality influence the social life and status of women, particularly regarding initiation practices in Africa. This therefore prompts a discussion on how initiation and coming of age are perceived in the construction and expression of female and male identity in the various cultures as will be seen in the next chapter.

Chapter Three: Social-Cultural Constructs of Coming of Age

3.1 Introduction To properly understand the concept of coming of age, I refer to refer to Van Gennep’s (1960) Rite de Passage, in which he states that rites of passage occur in the context of marriage, birth or death (Duckett 1989: 23; Lamp 2009: 7). In the case of initiation rites, scholars such as Lamp (2009: 7); Kangwa (2011: 11); Rasing (1995: 35), agree that for both boys and girls, these rites are more or less identical and include phases of separation, ordeals, and reintegration, representing the process of symbolic death and rebirth. It is important to understand that initiation takes many forms, and that in many African societies, circumcision is the most commonly practised initiation rite for males (Munthali 2007: 155; Ntombana 2009: 73-84; Gwata 2009: 4; Venter 2011: 87-97). However, literature shows that in some cultures, circumcision is also practised for girls in addition to the education provided (Matobo et al 2009: 106; Chikunda et al 2006: 146). The focus of this study is on initiation for females that does not include circumcision and is an ideal case to study, because as Kangwa (2011: 4) notes, it remains an important source of traditional education on sex and the social and religious roles of women.

This chapter critically considers the body of work carried out by anthropologists and historians, such as Richards (1956, 1982); Jules-Rosette (1980); Drews (1995); Moore, Sanders and Kaare (1999); Rasing (2001, 2003); Chikunda, Marambire and Makoni (2001); Munthali and Zulu (2007); and Kangwa (2011), on initiation practices. As part of the body of work on initiation and coming of age, the chapter seeks to illustrate the ways in which various cultures elaborate on the transition from childhood to adulthood. The chapter also introduces the conceptual tools that I engage with throughout the thesis. The work on initiation rituals is vast, and therefore, in presenting the literature relevant to the study, I have chosen to elaborate on the following key concepts: coming of age, initiation, gender, and status, to explain in detail how they interact to influence women’s social life and status, and while doing so, I explore their limitations. Secondly, in examining initiation practices, I find it important to incorporate a comparative analysis of scholarly literature on coming of age and initiation practices from the global North and global South. It is understood that the global North represents the economically developed societies of Europe, North America, Australia and Israel amongst others, whilst the global South represents the economically “backward” countries of Africa, India, China, Brazil, and Mexico amongst others (Odeh 2010: 338). Having given a general overview of initiation and coming of age as it is understood in different societies, and also having introduced the key concepts in the study, I now look at the socio-cultural significance of circumcision for men and women in different cultures. Though the focus of the study is on female initiation, I have found it necessary to include a broad

discussion on male and female circumcision in order to have a better understanding of the significance of these practices across gender and cultures.

3.2 Perceptions of Male Circumcision Male circumcision has been described as the surgical removal of the skin that covers and protects the head, or glans of the penis (Milos & Macris 1994: 119-122). Globally, it is estimated that 30% of men aged 15 years and older are circumcised, mostly for religious reasons. The WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 7) estimates that of these, around two thirds (69%) are Muslim living mainly in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, 0.8% are said to be Jewish, and 13% are said to be non-Jewish and non-Muslim men living in the United States of America. The WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 3) also indicate that although anthropologists disagree on the origins of male circumcision, the earliest records depicting the practice point to the Egyptian tomb work and wall paintings dating from around 2300BC, showing that the custom has been in existence for many years and practised for many reasons, including as Peltzer et al (2007: 659) note, for religious, cultural, social and medical reasons. However, Gwata (2009: 4) argues that for whatever reason, the literature reviewed shows that male circumcision has a social impact on the concerned individual.

3.2.1 Religious Reasons for Male Circumcision

While some cases of male circumcision are said to be performed for cultural reasons, religion is the primary global reason given for the practice. For example, among the Jews, circumcision for males is performed on male infants on their eighth day of life as long as there are no medical reasons not to do so (Gwata 2009: 4; WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 3). It is believed that the practice is justified in the Jewish holy book (the Torah), that explains that a covenant was made between Abraham and God to ensure that every new born male is circumcised at eight days old in order to be integrated into the Jewish community (Gwata 2009: 4; WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 3). As a result, WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 3) report that almost all newborn Jewish males in Israel, an estimated 99% of Jewish men in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and 98% of Jewish men in the USA are circumcised. The UNAIDS/WHO (2007: 3) further indicate that the same reasons are given in the Muslim community, where the practice is believed to be confirmation of a man’s relationship with God, as part of their “Abrahamic” faith, and though there is no specific mention of circumcision in the Qur’an (the holy book), it is said to be obligatory among one of the six Islamic schools of law, the Shafi’ite school, and also one of the pillars of Islamic faith.

In Africa, though male circumcision has been widely adopted among previously non-circumcising groups, it is a major determinant of religious identity. For example, in the Rakai District of Uganda, 99% of Muslim men are circumcised compared with 4% of non – Muslim men. Other communities that practise male circumcision include the Coptic Christians in Egypt and the Ethiopian Orthodox

Christians, who are said to base the practice on early Christian teaching. It is also reported that 97% of Orthodox men in Ethiopia are circumcised (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 4, 10). Another theory is that male circumcision was used as a means to purify individuals and society, and that because sexual pleasure was considered impure in some societies, the removal of the prepuce was believed to reduce sexual pleasure in order to promote chastity (Zampiere et al 2008: 1305 – 1307). This suggests that circumcision was seen as a religious need to ensure a holy life.

3.2.2 An Indication of Socio-Economic Status

Some studies (see: Lorber & Moore 2002: 97; WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 6) show that male circumcision is an indication of one’s socio-economic status. For example, the WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 6) indicates that in western industrialised communities where male circumcision is usually performed at infancy, male circumcision is done mainly for medical reasons. However, Lorber & Moore (2002: 97) suggest that the fact that the prevalence of the practice in these societies is so deeply embedded in medical culture demonstrates that it has become synonymous with one’s socio-economic position. The WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 6) further reports that studies done in the United Kingdom show that when male circumcision was first practised in the late nineteenth century, it was most prevalent among the upper classes, and another study published in 1953 shows that 74% of private hospital patients in New York City were circumcised compared to 57% of non-private patients. They also report a similar association in Australia that showed that the proportion of men circumcised was significantly associated with higher levels of education and income. In contrast, reports in Africa indicate that there is no consistent association between male circumcision and one’s socio-economic status. For example, studies in Botswana (UNAIDS/WHO 2007: 6) show high rates of circumcision among men with higher levels of education and socio-economic status, whereas in Lesotho, this is not the case as circumcision is most common among men in the lower socio-economic levels.

In South Africa, studies show that there is a general acceptability of male circumcision as both a traditional practice as well as a medical prevention strategy for HIV (see: Connolly et al 2008; Simbayi et al 2011; Shisana et al 2012; Peltzer & Mlambo 2012; Johnson et al 2012; Peltzer et al 2014). According to a national study conducted in 2002, 35% of men were circumcised with ethnic variations (Connolly et al 2008: 789–794). Other studies indicate that male circumcision was on the increase and its acceptability was high, particularly as an HIV prevention strategy (Simbayi et al 2011: 19), with one study showing that the practice was acceptable among 50% of uncircumcised men in African populations (Peltzer et al 2014: 126). Yet another study carried out by Johnson et al (2012: 42) shows that there has been a marked improvement in knowledge of the benefits of the practice in the country. However, what is interesting is that traditional male circumcision is a highly accepted and practised form of circumcision compared to medical circumcision. For example, Peltzer et al (2014: 127) found that 32.1% of black circumcised males

were traditionally circumcised, whereas 13.4% were medically circumcised. There was also a notable difference among traditionally circumcising ethnic groups such as those in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces. What this seems to suggest is that traditional male circumcision is valued as a cultural practice more than medical circumcision. Peltzer et al (2014: 127) also found that traditional male circumcision was higher in rural areas than urban areas, and medical circumcision was higher in urban areas than in rural areas, with higher medical cases reported amongst the more educated populations, which could suggest that medical circumcision is associated with one’s social status. However, though some studies indicate a correlation between economic status and male circumcision, their results are inconclusive as they show the difficulty of making such a generalisation.

3.2.3 A Rite of Passage and a Mark of Identity

Studies done in many African societies show that male circumcision is practised primarily as an initiation ritual into adulthood (Wilcken et al 2010: 907 – 914), but is also a socially significant practice that leads to a boy’s integration and acceptance into a particular community. As a rite of passage, male circumcision is carried out in a non-clinical setting by a traditional practitioner who has no formal medical training and is performed on adolescents or young men, and generally associated with notions of masculinity, self-identity and a test of bravery (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 4). Among the Polynesians, Aborigines and South American tribes, circumcision as an initiation rite is a test of bravery and endurance, and a part of the introduction to the responsibilities of manhood (Boyle 2005: 279-285). Among the Maasai in East Africa, Hodgson (1999: 127) notes that young uncircumcised boys first herd calves and small stock, then as they grow older, cattle. The physical hardship that they endure in the process toughens them for circumcision which marks their transition to adulthood. Thus, conformity to the ideal norms of the dominant masculinity is regulated through a rigid “prestige/stigma” system that relys heavily on praise and ridicule through the rite of circumcision.

In southern Africa, Venter (2011: 560) says that among the Xhosa, male circumcision as a rite of passage serves as a doorway through which the Xhosa adolescent male must step in order to become a respected member of society, or as it is called among the amaXhosa, to attain manhood. Venter (2011: 560) further notes that obtaining this status bestows rights, privileges and obligations on the individuals concerned. For Gwata (2009: 4), this entails a change in status and the creation of a new identity. In Zambia, reports (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 4) indicate that male circumcision is mainly practised among communities in the North western part of the country as an initiation rite of passage, and that the rite bestows certain privileges on the individuals concerned, evident by the importance attached to it. However, the WHO/UNAIDS (2007: 4) is quick to point out that the association of initiation to manhood is not universal, as some ethnic

groups such as the Yoruba and Igbo in Nigeria circumcise male children in infancy. In this case, circumcision is not done as a rite of passage, but purely as a marker of identity.

Other studies show that male circumcision plays a role in the gender identity of the individuals concerned (see: Hodgson 1999; Daye 2005; WHO/UNAIDS 2007; Dellenborg 2004). In a study carried out in Denver in the United States of America (Brown & Brown 1987: 215-219), parents gave several reasons, such as not wanting their sons to look different, as the main reason for choosing to circumcise their male infants. It was also found that 90% of circumcised fathers in this society chose to circumcise their sons, compared to 23% of non-circumcised fathers. Twala (2007: 22) says that among the South Sotho and Xhosa, an uninitiated and uncircumcised man will not be taken seriously, and will be referred to as a “boy”. In these communities, Gwata (2009: 4) and Vincent (2008: 434) agree that male circumcision is seen as a socially significant act which culminates in a boy’s integration within that particular community.

In some communities, culture and ethnicity are some of the reasons given for practising male circumcision (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 4). For example, for the Yao in Malawi, the Lunda and Luvale groups in Zambia, as well as the Bagisu in Uganda, it is unacceptable for a male to remain uncircumcised. It is reported that forced circumcisions are sometimes done on uncircumcised men in order for them to be considered full members of the community. Similarly, among the Muslim Mandinka of Gambia, Dellenborg (2004: 82) says that for a man to be awarded adult status and gain the right to marry and start a family, he has to go through bakut, the male initiation which involves circumcision. Thus, it is easy to see from the studies above that male circumcision is practised mainly as a mark of identity and has a positive impact on the individual concerned. However, what the studies do not tell us is what the relation between circumcised and uncircumcised men in these societies is, and also the relationship of circumcised men in relation to women. For the studies to be conclusive, it would also be interesting to see what status uncircumcised men and women in these societies occupy in terms of privileges, obligations and rights.

3.2.4 Potential Impact of Male Circumcision on HIV/Aids

In a direct contradiction to the portrayal of male circumcision as a means of identity, a rite of passage or a religious or cultural practice, ethnographic and epidemiological studies have been conducted in recent years with the increase of the AIDS epidemic, indicating a link between circumcision and HIV transmission (see: Lorber & Moore 2002: 97; WHO/UNAIDS 2007; Sovran 2013: 1; Fink 2007: 1). Weiss et al (2000: 2369) suggest that there is also conclusive data from studies providing evidence on the protective effect of male circumcision in HIV prevention in Sub- Saharan Africa, particularly in HIV/STD high risk populations. Coincidentally, in the North Western Province, and some parts of the Eastern Province where male circumcision is practiced

in Zambia, these provinces have reported a low HIV prevalence rate of 8% in comparison to the national prevalence rate of 16 % among 15 to 45 year old males (Male Circumcision Consultative Meeting Report 2006).

Studies also indicate that male circumcision is becoming a common practice for other health reasons, and among these, according to Menage (1999: 215) is the belief that it prevents penile and cervical cancer. In this sense, Sawires et al (2001: 17) report that cervical cancer occurs at a higher rate in female partners of uncircumcised males, and that male circumcision also reduces the risk of genital ulcer disease and HSV-2 infection, both of which play a beneficial role in reducing HIV transmission rates and incidences of sexually transmitted infections in uncircumcised men. Other studies conducted in this area note that there is a lower incidence of HIV/AIDS in previously non-circumcising communities (Lorber & Moore 2002: 97; WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 14), suggesting an increase in male circumcision expanding well beyond the communities engaged in the practice for cultural or religious reasons. Furthermore, UNAIDS (2007: 4) observes that attempts are made to distinguish male circumcision practised for religious and cultural reasons from that used in HIV prevention by presenting it as “Safe, Voluntary, Informed Male Circumcision”, which may be translated to mean that male circumcision performed for religious and cultural reasons is undermined and seen as an unsafe and forced procedure.

However, it is interesting to note that though some studies show that though there is supportive evidence for male circumcision in relation to its impact on HIV/AIDS, the strength of this relationship varies across cultures. To support this evidence, Deacon and Thomson (2012: 3) argue that studies undertaken on traditional male circumcision show that the link between HIV and male circumcision is less well developed. The reasons given are that this form of circumcision does not remove as much foreskin as medical circumcision. This means that men that are traditionally circumcised will be less protected, as their remaining foreskin continues to provide a target for HIV infection. Other studies suggest that in addition to male circumcision, societal meanings and behaviours are also relevant in HIV prevention (Deacon & Thomson 2012: 4). This is true in Malawi (Angotti et al 2014: 447 – 473) where messages on moral behaviour have been used as an HIV intervention strategy. In this case, moral injunctions on appropriate behaviour to prevent or reduce HIV risk have shifted from individual effort to formal institutions tasked to drive HIV programmes, with technical and financial support from international institutions which provide support on HIV prevention and treatment. In a study undertaken on media articles and field journals from 1999 to 2008, the most common moral intervention in both sources was faithfulness and careful selection of partner, though there were disparities in the practicality of these interventions, and also, a significant difference with regards to views on biomedical care and support for HIV. For example, it was noted that Malawians, particularly those from rural communities are sceptical when it comes to the debate on male circumcision as an HIV/AIDS prevention method as they question international authority on the subject, preferring local norms.

To the contrary, studies undertaken on female circumcision show that it plays a significant role in the transmission of HIV. A study carried out in Tanzania by Mutenbei and Muesiga (1998) on young girls below the age of 16, revealed that 97% of the time, the same equipment could be used on 15 to 20 girls. The conclusion was that this process therefore facilitated the transmission of HIV/AIDS. In another study conducted in Kenya (Brady 1999: 709-716), it was found that female circumcision predisposed women to HIV infection in many ways including through vaginal tear during infibulation and intercourse. It is speculated that this is mainly because the practice raises the social status of parents due to the high demand for virgin brides who are married off to well-to-do older men who may be already infected. However, though in the Tanzania study the scenario would present different results had strict health standards been followed, one can within the limited studies speculate that circumcision shows different results for men and women. Where the same practice serves to empower one sex – the man, it at the same time disempowers the other, the woman. The UNAIDS (2006: 88) further reports that in Sub-Saharan Africa, women account for 58% of HIV infections; the disproportionate impact of the epidemic on women has been attributed to several factors, including social, behavioural and cultural, increasing the HIV infection rate among women compared to men (Mabala 2006: 407- 432), and contributing to unequal gender relations (Baylies & Bujira 2003: 50). Therefore, this discourse has contributed to approaches to reproductive health, and in particular HIV prevention to address how women’s social status affects risky behaviours, and has implications for feminist research as they consider women’s lived realities in relation to reproductive health in general.

Theories of human behaviour have also played an important role in the development of HIV prevention programmes. However, though these theories have been helpful in understanding some psychological and social factors associated with high risk behaviours, Amoro (1995: 438) notes that their effectiveness has been limited because they have not taken into account the gendered nature of sexual behaviour and HIV risk reduction. The author (Amoro 1995: 438) also points to the fact that despite an increase in the knowledge of HIV transmission, preventive sexual behaviours have generally not been adopted, and that there is growing evidence on the importance of including gender in HIV prevention strategies. The relation of women’s unequal social status and risk of HIV infection has been noted the world over. Thus, a growing number of studies have recognised that gender difference influences high risk behaviours and presents a barrier to behaviour change. From a feminist view point, I argue in support of Jungar and Oinas (2004; 97, 108) that when the gender dimension of heterosexual transmission of HIV is not addressed or ignored, the focus is on protecting men and not women, thereby only serving to maintain the unequal power relations between men and women. However, while these studies do not provide an explanation for the observed gender differences, they have implications for the study of chinamwali as they underscore the need to examine the values, beliefs and practices taught in the rite, and their implications on women’s sexuality, as well as for HIV risk behaviours and strategies for behaviour change.

Some research has looked at women’s issues from the context of their lives including family relationships and other factors that affect decision–making and economic concerns. For example, a study undertaken by Kline et al (1992) sought to look at women’s power in their relationships with men by investigating the extent to which women’s disempowerment and economic dependence on men affected their sexual decision-making (Amoro 1995: 447). Chen et al (1991: 199) noted that the unequal status of women put them at a disadvantage in negotiating their sexuality, calling for frameworks to take into account factors to empower women and protect their sexuality. Diallo (2004: 184) notes that gender roles in most African societies emphasise the value of motherhood. As a result, Amoro (1995: 443) argues that such cultural values, as seen in the findings of this study, are also believed to be an obstacle in the adoption of HIV sexual risk reduction through condom use.

The HIV epidemic has impacted the ways in which research on sexuality is carried out, and has led to a broadening of the focus on research to include a wide range of contextual issues. Initiation rites have been found to present the most appropriate social context for dealing with matters relating to sexuality (Kotanyi & Krings-Ney 2009; Kangwa 2011; Maluleke 2003). For example, Maluleke (2003: 72-73) has looked at the way in which vukhomba, the puberty rite for women can be used to improve their health status. She suggests that since the rite brings together both initiated women and girls, it can act as an avenue to promote health education. In Mozambique, Kotanyi & Krings-Ney (2009) report that HIV prevention messages are included in female rites in order to increase the cultural understanding of HIV and AIDS.

Studies undertaken in Zambia show that female initiation rites can be used as a channel for sexuality education. For example, in his study on initiation for girls in Lusaka, Kapungwe (2003) found that the practice was widely accepted though the content of the ceremony was inadequate with regards to HIV/AIDS, and that the spread of the pandemic was enhanced by introducing sexual education without corresponding knowledge to equip girls with the necessary tools to protect themselves from acquiring HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted illnesses. He however concluded that these initiation rites could be used as an effective tool to disseminate information on HIV and AIDS. Rasing (2003: 19), who also carried out research in Zambia, noted that efforts to teach young girls on HIV/AIDS had failed because the subject did not belong in the repertoire of the rites, and that because no information on HIV/AIDS is specifically included in the training, the gender power relations where girls are seen to be passive participants in sexual relationships are not addressed and are a barrier to HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. However, she also notes that issues such as abstinence from premarital sex are, as in the case of chinamwali, taught, which could be understood as an important component in sexual education. This is why Jungar and Oinas (2004: 99,104) contend that it is clear that young women should be the main targets in HIV research because medical research on male circumcision as a strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention does not question its effect on infection rates on women, and that since

women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV infection than men due to their social position and their biological make up, this group should be given more priority in HIV prevention strategies. Nevertheless, the debate on male circumcision raises an interesting issue as it indicates that while the practice is discussed as a possible strategy for HIV prevention in Africa, there is very little discussion on what its implications are for women. What this seems to imply is that the focus of male circumcision is on protecting the man and not the woman from being infected.

3.3 Cultural Context of Female Initiation Female circumcision also known as Female Genital Cutting or Mutilation is a collective name given to the different practices that involve the cutting or mutilation of the female genital organ in one form or another (Managan 2010: 160; WHO 1997: 3; WHO 2008: 1). The World Health Organization, in an effort to standardise the terminology has divided the practice into the following main categories (WHO 1997: 1; WHO 2008: 4; Shell-Duncan & Hernlund 2000: 4, 5): • Type I: Cliteridectomy, the removal of the prepuce and all, or parts of the clitoris; • Type II: Excision of the clitoris and part of the labia; • Type III: Infibulation, the most extreme type in which the clitoris and labia minora are excised and incisions made in the labia majora to create a raw surface which is then either stitched together or kept in close contact until they seal and form a cover, leaving a very small orifice for the passage of urine and menstrual flow; and • Type IV: All other procedures in the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example, pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterisation.

Though type IV FGM does not necessarily involve the removal of tissue from the genitals like type I, II and III that all involve the removal of genital tissue, it is still considered harmful because of the herbs used for the purposes of narrowing or tightening the vagina, and the fact that it is not practiced for medical purposes (Bagnol & Mariano 2011: 272; OHCHR et al 2008: 4). Globally, it is estimated that between 100 -140 million girls and women have undergone female circumcision, and at least 2 to 3 million girls a year are at risk of undergoing the procedure worldwide (WHO 1997: 3; WHO 2008: 1). It has been observed that female circumcision is common in some regions in Africa and Asia, and also common among African immigrant communities in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand (Managan 2010: 160; WHO 1997: 3). Among the Lola of Casamance in Southern Senegal (Dellenborg 2004: 82), the recommendation for circumcision among women is a religious one as it is felt that women who are circumcised are closer to God than those who are not. For example, it is believed that the prayers of a woman who is not circumcised will not be received as well as those of a woman who is. However, Diallo (2004: 175) notes that the practice has been known to be a source of intense suffering for the women involved as its effects range from painful intercourse, risky child bearing, to misshapen and dysfunctional genital organs. The literature shows that the practice is a

manifestation of gender inequality in society that relegates females to an inferior position (WHO 2008: 5; Meyers 2000: 473). In this sense, Diallo (2004: 135) notes that the feminist concern with female circumcision is that it emphasises women’s lower status in relation to men in patriarchal societies. This section examines the cultural context of female circumcision by looking at the rationale for the practice under three broad themes: (1) sexual repression, (2) gender/identity, (3) group cohesion.

3.3.1 A Case of Identity

Some research points to female circumcision as a process through which a woman must attain her identity as a female. Meyers (2000: 472) indicates that in the United States of America, female genital cutting is a routine, though increasingly contested medical intervention, when a condition called “ambiguous genitalia” is diagnosed. To the extent that this condition warrants intervention, it is believed that because contemporary US culture insists that there are only two kinds of people – males and females, a genetic female endowed with “ambiguous” genitalia will be unable to attain a feminine identity. In agreement, Kouber and Muasher (1985: 95-110) argue that the theme of demasculinisation also found in some non-western cultures, anticipating Freud, see the clitoris as a masculine organ and therefore, regard excision as a necessary act to achieve a feminine gender identity (Meyers 2000: 472). To show how female circumcision is an identity issue, Boyle (2002: 26) says that it has spread to other parts of the world by immigrants who settle in these areas, making it a cultural issue that serves to hold that particular migrant group together.

In colonial Kenya, cliteridectomy was practiced as a form of initiation ritual (Kanogo 2005: 73, 80), and choosing this practice in the colonial context in particular was a way of choosing an identity, as the ritual affirmed an individual’s ethnicity and ties to the family and larger community. Moreover, Kanogo (2005: 98) continues that the ritual gave the girl a certain status that granted her social and economic privileges and responsibilities, and that if she chose to abandon the practice, it meant she was denied access to these privileges; thus, the uncircumcised woman was seen as an outsider or inferior. In Lesotho, where circumcision is practised alongside the education provided (Matobo, Makatsa and Obioha 2009: 108), and in Khomba among the Shangaan (Chikunda, Marambire and Makoni 2006: 146), the rituals are said to be regarded as an indispensable rite of passage through which girls must pass in order to attain the identity and status of a woman. As Oyewumi (2005: 318) postulates, while not condoning harmful cultural practices with patriarchal origins, such as female genital cutting in Africa which have been presented as savagery and barbaric (see: Kanogo 2005; Thomas 2003; Tamale 2005; Gan 2012), harmful plastic surgery to construct otherwise healthy vagina’s, breasts and other body parts have been ignored. Oyewumi (2005: 318) posits that, what is ignored is the fact that western women are also responding to cultural dictates defining womanhood, as plastic surgery is an

example of “docile bodies” succumbing to the coercive pressures of western patriarchal culture. To argue for an anti-essentialist approach to the body, particularly with regards to sexuality, Foucault (1995: 136) uses the analogy of military discipline when he posits that the body is an historical construct and not a natural given where the ‘body is docile that may be subjected, used, transformed and abused’.

In an interesting report in the world of sport, cliteridectomy was suggested as a necessary operation to determine one’s proper identity (Bull 2016: 1-3). This follows Caster Semenya, a South African hyperandrogenic athelete’s record win at the Olympics where the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) ruled that hyperandrogenic atheletes who are believed to have high levels of testestorene which are associated with maleness should not be allowed to compete in sport unless they take action such as cliteridectomy to suppress their naturally high testestorene levels, which it can be deduced would make them more female and able to compete favourably with other females. In reference to Meyers’ (2000: 472) study on demasculisation in some non-western cultures, the clitoris is seen as a masculine organ and therefore, excision is deemed as a necessary act to achieve a feminine identity. What this suggests is that bodily practices on female genitalia such as labia elongation in the chinamwali, apart from being an essential element to female sexuality (Tamale 2011: 272; Richards 1982: 46), also play an important role in the process of cementing a woman’s identity.

3.3.2 Group Cohesion

Female circumcision has also been argued to enhance tribal cohesion as it provides a forum where tribal values, beliefs and practices are imparted to the next generation giving a woman a sense of belonging (Ncube 1988: 255; Meyers 2000: 473; Dellenborg 2004: 84, 85). Dellenborg (2004: 85), writing on female circumcision in Southern Senegal, says that as well as serving as a socialisation process and a source of education, all women in this area, with a few exceptions, are initiated and go on to form a secret society through which much of their social and religious life is organised. An uncircumcised girl is called a solima, which translated means a girl who is not only uncircumcised but one who ‘knows nothing, is rude, ignorant, uncivilised and unclean’. Dellenborg (2004: 84-86) further explains that it is only through marriage and motherhood that women achieve social status and that the requirement for becoming a member of this secret society is that one should undergo circumcision, and that women who are not initiated into this female society are socially excluded in many respects, for example, being insulted or subjected to other women’s harassment. As Richards (1956: 130) notes, in the chisungu, this only implies that a girl’s status changes from unmarriageable to marriageable rather than membership to a new group. Shell-Duncan & Hernlund (2000: 216) also found that among the Mandinga, Fula and Biafiada ethnic groups found in some parts of West Africa,, female circumcision is the principal means through which women define and identify themselves in relation to their non-Muslim

neighbours, and the knowledge that a girl will be marginalised if she does not undergo circumcision places restrictions on her sense of belonging to her religion, and ultimately to her identity.

Thus far, from the literature on circumcision in males and females, it is possible to see how it impacts differently on either sex. For male circumcision, even when practised for medical or health reasons as has been observed, it serves as a tool to empower men, whereas for females, it is generally a form of sexual and bodily control. This suggestion seems to concur with Lorber & Moore’s (2002: 97) viewpoint that female circumcision is a patriarchal ritual that serves to subordinate women, as culturally, male and female genital surgeries have different consequences since they both mark gender and sexual status: for males, these are dominant social positions, while for females, they are subordinate statuses. When understood from another perspective, female circumcision seems to point to the extent to which heterosexuality is upheld as the norm because for those who do not conform, their social survival is threatened. Thus, according to MacKinnon (1989: 1219), we cannot understand how heterosexuality “produces gender” without looking at how men’s interests are put into play.

3.3.3 Sexual Repression

Finally, research suggests that female circumcision is performed to shape and control women’s sexuality (Kanogo 2005; Diallo 2004). As studies done among middle-class white Americans in the late 19th to 20th century show (Meyers 2000: 433), clitoridectomy was a popular and medically certified “cure” for nymphomania, lesbianism, and “excessive” masturbation. This observation is also made by El-Saadawi (2007: 50-65), who reveals that circumcision for girls in a number of Arab countries is widespread as it is believed to preserve the chastity of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse. Similarly, in other parts of Africa, one of the reasons given for female circumcision is that it controls the sexual life of women and young girls (see: Kanogo 2005; Diallo 2004). For example, findings among the Kikuyu in Kenya and in some communities in Mali show that female circumcision is done to control a woman’s sexual drive, to keep them under control (Kanogo 2005) and to diminish women’s sensuality and sexual activities (Diallo 2004: 173, 175). In some countries in Southern Africa, particularly in Lesotho, in addition to the education provided, there was also circumcision for the female initiates (Matobo et al 2009: 106). In Zimbabwe among the Shangaan, Khomba, the initiation practice for girls involves circumcision (Chikunda et al 2006: 146). Similarly, among the Venda in South Africa (Manabe 2010: 168), circumcision for women is often used as proof of virginity and is regarded as a prerequisite for an honourable marriage. Though the three studies from Southern Africa do not elaborate on what this means for the women concerned, one can conclude from the other studies cited, that female circumcision serves to control women’s sexuality. This is linked to the feminist view that women’s

oppression is tied to their sexuality which is socially constructed, and because women and men’s biological differences are reflected in the organisation of society.

Ebunoluwa (2009: 228) and Machera (2002: 8) are in agreement that based on these differences, women are treated as inferior to men. While Gruenbaum (2001: 182) acknowledges the role of female circumcision, she suggests there are strategies that can be adopted in this initiation rite as an empowerment tool in ways that can enable women to assert themselves positively in the community. In this way, Kangwa’s (2011: 7) view that values in the chisungu rites for Bemba women can be retrieved to empower women in the face of HIV/AIDS can be supported. However, though Kangwa (2011) focuses on exploring ways in which the female initiation rite can empower women to take control of their sexuality, he does not show how this can impact on their wellbeing and status in general.

3.4 Female Initiation without Circumcision Literature on initiation in Africa (see for example: Richards 1982; Kamlongera 2007; Dellenborg 2004; Rasing 2001) shows that almost all African societies have female initiation rites to mark the process of growing up, signalling a transition from one stage in life to another. A study conducted in Zambia on female initiation in urban areas (Kapungwe 2003: 37) reveals that about 87% of women undergo initiation rites at puberty and 78% undergo initiation prior to marriage. Furthermore, 88% of young women between the ages of 19 and 28 said they would adhere to the teachings given during the initiation rites. It would therefore seem that traditional initiation practices are acceptable across a broad social spectrum. According to Van Gennep (1909), though these initiation rites associated with the transition from childhood to adolescence often occur around puberty, they are focused primarily on a social, as opposed to a biological transition (Duckett 1989; Lamp 2009). A psychological explanation for this is that an ambiguity in social roles for males and females creates tension and that a symbolic re-classification is therefore necessary as a child makes his/her transition to adulthood (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 5). However, this is contrary to most research which indicates that female initiation is associated with biological changes (see: Richards 1982: 18; Kangwa 2011: 36; Kamlongera 2007; Siachitema 2013) through the symbolism of menarche, to signal the transformation of a young girl into a woman, making a young woman marriageable and ready for child bearing. This can be seen in the Mexican American community that perform a rite of initiation called Quinceaneras at puberty (Duckett 1989: 1), to indicate that the girl is now a woman. On the New Guinea Island of Wageo, Meyer (2005: 86) reports that girls between the ages of 15 and 17 wept at menarche at the thought that they would soon leave their natal homes to marry.

Female initiation is also said to be less common than male initiation and with the exception of female circumcision, is usually less traumatic and less public and generally consists of rites that a young woman has entered the reproductive phase of her life (Stevens 1998: 218), and like

other rites of passage, plays a significant role in establishing group identity. Drews (1995: 105) uses the analogy of the “exclusiveness” of the female initiation ritual to emphasise this point by explaining that the exclusion of men from the ritual serves to fix physical boundaries between men and women which further enhances the solidarity of women themselves as a unified group through their participation in the ritual. In Mali, Diallo (2004: 184) says that male identity is focused on male leadership and its ascribed role of economic provider, and that on the other hand, female identity is centred on domestic and reproductive roles, which are cemented through the initiation process, a decisive aspect of the construction of female identity. Oyewumi (2000: 1096) notes that being a mother is the preferred self-identity of many African women. This is also true among the Bojale of Botswana (Setlhabi 2014: 467), where the Bakgatla-Baga-Kgafela, the women’s initiation ritual is confirmation of an initiate’s identity as a “basadi”, a real Bakgatla woman, and the regimental incorporation in the Bojale, bestows pride and respect on a person as an individual woman, and collectively as a member of the community. Among the Bhaca of South Africa, Makalula and Lumbwe (2014: 171) note that in the female initiation rite, the sense of solidarity among initiated girls forms the basis of their identity as it confirms their “Bhacaness”. The role of initiation rites for girls as channels of sexuality education is also well documented, as can be seen in the following section.

3.4.1 A Channel of Sexuality Education

The growth of interest in sexuality can be traced to the second wave feminist era and has its origins in the political aims of the women’s movement of that time (Jackson & Scott 1996: 1). The feminist definition of sexuality, according to Scott (1996: 2), has not been limited to describing the “sexual act” but goes on to include our sexual feelings and relationships and the way we are defined as sexual beings, and that masculine concerns over feminine sexuality are only present when there is a male need to control female sexuality. One report by Kangwa (2011: 11) suggests that female initiation remains an important source of traditional education on sex and the social and religious roles of women in Zambia, although they are now being performed in a shortened form. So, in initiation, much more emphasis is placed on educating girls about the reproductive implications of menarche than what is expected of boys as sexual beings (Munthali and Zulu 2007: 150). To emphasise the centrality of sexuality in initiation rituals, Oakley (1996: 36) says that because puberty is a bridge between childhood and adulthood, and also because the adult roles of the two sexes are significantly differentiated in society, the climate in which male and female pass through puberty tends to stress rather than ignore sex differences in the physiological process itself.

Others have examined the female initiation rite specifically as it relates to the transformation of the initiate from an asexual to a sexual person, concluding that these rites are a powerful institution which condition the behaviour of initiates in preparation for adulthood and shaping the

initiates’ sexual behaviour and gender relations (see: Siachitema 2013: 1; Rasing 2003: 6; Jules- Rosette 1980: 390; Moore, Sanders & Kaare 1999: 26). Researchers who have done some work in South Africa on initiation for girls, suggest that puberty rites for girls are about sexuality education, though they say that the content of what is taught is not known (see: Siachitema 2013: Kangwa 2011; Kamlongera 2007). Moreover, as indicated in the preceding section, feminist scholars (see: Kamlongera 2007: 85; Tamale 2005; Kanogo 2005; Diallo 2004; Machera 2004) have associated initiation with a patriarchal desire and need to control women.

3.4.2 Female Bodies and Sexuality Control

As Kamlongera (2007: 850) observes, women’s and girl’s sexuality is a social preoccupation of patriarchy and male interests dictate and shape the root that women’s sexuality should take. Accordingly, Horn (1995: 71) has taken this further by arguing that that the feminist struggle is a struggle to end patriarchal domination in society. Patriarchy has been described as a system of male authority which oppresses women through social, political and economic institutions (Davidson & Gordson 1987: 78; Tsanga 2003: 103). Specifically, Davidson & Gordon (1987: 78) have defined patriarchy as a family, government, or society controlled by senior men or patriarchs who are the male heads of a group. Fathers and brothers are the most important members in a family, and men have a higher status in all aspects of life, leading women and children and making the decisions, while women obey instructions from them. Hearn (1987: 36) goes on to say that customs such as subservience reinforce the belief that women are men’s property, and that the husband is the head of the household and in charge of all decision-making processes, both economic and social. Tsanga (2003: 103) posits that patriarchy has its foundations in the political economy of societies which in turn determine the nature of societal relations and that it is important to understand from an historical perspective how women have been marginalised and how cultural roles have been created for them. Therefore, Kamlongera (2007: 85) concludes that it is easy to see that patriarchy not only influences female sexuality, but is also present in all aspects of a woman’s life.

This is why Hearn (1987: 40) argues that within the context of male domination, one discovers that patriarchal societies impose expectations on the behaviour of the members of society and that these expectations are linked to the gender identities of those individuals as prescriptions regarding gender roles are played out in the power relations. The author (Hearn 1987: 40) goes on to say that such activities sustain power relations that give men advantages and privileges over women where the social organisation of family and society is designed to maintain social control over women. In research done among the Baganda in Uganda, Machera (2004: 161) says the practice of pulling the labia minora shows that it is aimed at enhancing men’s sexual pleasure. She notes a similar practice in Mozambique. A study on fisi (hyena) culture, a custom practised in some female initiation ceremonies in Malawi (Kamlongera 2007: 85) shows that the

practice not only serves the appetites of male, but also that of the potential or future groom. The entire initiation process, if not the larger content of it, is based on teaching a girl how to please her potential suitor and that even the initiation processes which do not involve the fisi carry the same theme of pleasing the man.

Much like female circumcision, practices such as foot-binding, breast ironing and corsetry are said to be forms of female bodily and sexuality control (Managan 2010: 172-173) believed to control sexual access to females and also ensure female chastity, seen as necessary for proper marriage and female honour. Foot binding, practised in China from the 10th century until the mid- 1940’s was a girl’s initiation rite into the women’s community, that entailed breaking the feet of young girls and then tightly binding them to make them look smaller, more feminine, and more desirable to men. It was believed that the small, bound feet and hobbling movements by the affected women was an erotic sexual fetish to men and that women who did not undergo this practice risked social ostracisation, and limited their prospects for marriage. In parts of Europe, particularly France and North America, corsetry was practised to physically constrict women’s movement and by so doing, restrict sexual activity. Another practice is breast ironing carried out in Cameroon, Guinea Bissau and some parts of West and Central Africa such as Chad, Togo, Benin, and Guinea Conakry, which entails pressing the breasts of pubescent girls to stunt their development (Reproductive Health Matters 2006: 7). It is believed that the practice was a means to repress female sexual interest and also make them unappealing to men, thereby reducing chances of teen pregnancy, rape, and sexually transmitted illnesses. In Southern Africa, stretching the labia minora is quite widespread (Tamale 2011: 272) and is seen as an essential element to increase sexual pleasure, particularly for men (Kangwa 2011: 19; Richards 1982: 46; Rasing 1995: 72). From the examples above, we can see that female initiation is associated with a need to control women’s bodies and their sexuality. It is this understanding that calls for an examination of the differential impact of initiation on men and women.

3.5 Gendered Dynamics of Initiation This study shows that female initiation rituals carry social and cultural significance, and by implication, are agents of socialisation. Specifically, feminists have used gender as the central category of analysis to explain the unequal distribution of power between men and women (Goddard 2002; Moellendorf 2006). For feminists, Goddard (2002: 15) notes that gender roles are about power: the domination of the stronger sex over the weaker sex. Lindegger and Maxwell (2005: 5) add that it is important to understand how gender construction may be understood as the way in which a person or group of people or a whole society builds clarity of what it means to be a man or women. Research done on initiation practices shows the gendered focus on the roles of the individuals concerned. It is believed that these rituals not only involve a life stage transition of girls into women and boys into men, but serve to socialise girls and boys into specific

gender roles. In these rituals, boys and girls are taught lessons and skills specific to the expectations of what it is to be a man or woman (Phiri 2008: 449). In a study of the initiation rites of a Mexican American community of Southern Arizona (Duckett 1989: 67), female rites of initiation serve primarily to promote cohesiveness within the family in contrast to male rites of initiation which serve to promote a community-wide solidarity. In Hammonde-Tookes’ (1958: 16- 20) study of the Bhaca people from the Eastern Province of South Africa, he observes that though circumcision for boys is no longer practised, the dangers and hardships faced by youth in the gold and coal mines provide the test for a boy’s attainment of manhood. In contrast, the puberty rite for girls, characterised by several days of seclusion as is the case with chinamwali, not only marks a girl’s entry into womanhood but also prepares her for adult membership and marriage.

Oduyoye (1995: 134) has also argued against female initiation rites in Africa, saying that they are a sight through which the subordination of women is maintained. In the same vein, while Mkandawire (2012: 74, 106) agrees that initiation rites play a significant role in gender socialisation, she also argues that they are a tool to socialise women to submit to men. Contrary to these arguments, other anthropologists and sociologists like Rasing (2001), Kangwa (2011) and Richards (1982) have argued otherwise. Rasing (2001: 23) has argued that imbusa - the Bemba initiation rite, defies the Western stereotyped view of the rite as an expression of oppression of women, and that the rite is in fact significant in instruction of female identity, pride and autonomy. Kangwa (2011: 7) has gone further to argue that if retrieved, their values can empower women particularly in the face of HIV/AIDS. Richards (1982: 115) describes how the puberty ritual among the Bemba of Zambia socialises young girls into specific gender roles, which binds them to undertake specific duties that in turn define their womanhood. Though the work of Kangwa (2011) and Richard (1982) is useful, it is merely descriptive and does not examine how these rites impact on the wellbeing of the women concerned.

Literature also shows that, in initiation, the submissiveness of women to men is emphasised and that it serves to reinforce women’s roles and stereotypes (Udelhoven 2006: 87; Maluleke 2004: 3). A study by Maluleke (2004: 3) reveals that sexuality education in puberty rites for girls is limited to personal hygiene, maintaining virginity, self-control and social morals. However, virginity is encouraged for male satisfaction, making it a gender issue because to the contrary, males are not encouraged to be virgins. Similarly, gender construction may be understood as the way in which a person, a group of people or a whole society builds an understanding of what it means to be a man or woman (Lindegger & Maxwell 2005: 9). As noted, early studies recognised the centrality of gender in puberty rituals. It is believed that among certain ethnic groups, including the Dogon and Dowayo of West Africa and the Xhosa of South Africa, the foreskin in males is seen as the feminine element of the penis, and thus, its removal is believed to make a “man” out of the child (WHO/UNAIDS 2007: 5). It is interesting to see that the interconnectedness between gender and traditional initiation practices seems to lie in the emphasis on the scope and content

to the latter. Richards’ (1982) study of initiation among the Bemba in Zambia and a later study by Drews (1995) argue that initiation rites prepare girls for marriage. Drews (1995: 104) questions whether this is an example of the dominant discourse on gender inequality where the ceremony serves as a powerful instrument of female subordination. In this way, the works of Richards (1982) and Drews (1995), though done from an anthropological angle, make an important contribution to the understanding of the gendered impact of traditional initiation rites.

Other studies show the gendered expressions of initiation on sexuality and reproduction. Beidelman (1997: 19, 44), in his study on Kaguru initiation rituals, suggests that these rituals reinforce the power of sexuality albeit in different ways for men and women. In male initiation rituals, there is emphasis on their ability to transcend the physical realities of their reproductive system, which in contrast to women, leaves them physically unattached to their children, that is, they cannot give birth or nurse a child. This separation is done symbolically through circumcision and through emphasis on the male’s reproductive role as primarily economic, not physical, like child birth and breast feeding support. In the women’s rituals however, emphasis is placed on sexuality as a core component of the physical aspects of reproduction, and is celebrated as a highly valued aspect of femininity and the source of their social status within the community. According to Beidelman (1997: 19), these gendered expressions of sexuality and reproduction provide a means through which male domination is expressed, but also the means through which females “elude that domination”. This work is important as it shows that initiation is a gendered expression of sexuality. It also calls for further study in puberty rituals in order to determine the differences in subservient behaviours of initiated and non-initiated girls to men, because in this study, only a sample of 5 non-initiated women were interviewed. Having looked at the gendered nature of initiation practices, I will now examine the link between initiation and women’s status.

3.6 Initiation and Women’s Status Cross-cultural studies have examined the association between female initiation and the social structure while others have undertaken to show the link between initiation practices and women’s status. Some literature suggests that men’s initiation rites have a political focus in training males to assume prominent leadership responsibilities in their respective communities (Jules-Rosette 1980: 390; Beidelman 1965: 164), while women’s initiation rites focus on domestic responsibilities and are structurally linked primarily to the family rather than to the community at large. In a study among the Ngulu of East Africa (Beidelman 1965: 164), where boys are initiated between the ages of about 12 and 16, they must be initiated before they can assume adult responsibilities, and whereas the boys are initiated outside the community in the bush, the girls remain at home. Thus, from the above we can see that to initiate girls in the bush would seem to be inconsistent with the purposes of their initiation ceremonies, which do not involve transformation but control.

Anthropologists examining female initiation have noted the close links between the concepts of sexuality and women’s status (Beidelman 1997; Boddy 1989). In his study of initiation rituals in the East African community of Kaguru, Beidelman (1997: 19, 44) suggests that adolescent initiation rituals reinforce not only the power of sexuality in different ways for men and women, but also their social status within the community, mainly because of the different ways that sexuality relates to parenthood. Beidelman (1997) further says that male initiation rituals emphasise men’s abilities to transcend the physical realities of their reproductive system, which in contrast to women, leaves them physically unattached to their children, that is, they cannot give birth or nurse a child. This separation is done symbolically and through the male’s reproductive role as primarily economic. Boddy (1989: 45), writing on female circumcision in Sudan, illustrates how this practice is perceived as enhancing women’s femininity by de- emphasising sexuality. She argues that the women see themselves as highlighting their important reproductive role as mothers because they cannot achieve the status of wife or mother until they have been circumcised.

In Southern Africa, some studies report a link between traditional initiation practices and women’s status. For example, Chikunda et al (2001: 145) establish that in Khomba, the curriculum for the rite is conducted along gender lines. In another interesting study on Mushecho, a woman’s puberty rite performed among the Vapositori (Apostles) of John Maranke, an indigenous African Church extending from Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jules-Rosette (1980: 397- 402) says that the emergence of the women’s initiation practice suggests an attempt to hold the domestic circle intact by retaining critical aspects of the woman’s traditional status. This church ceremony emphasises the continued importance of the bride’s virginity and her contribution as a producer of offspring and labour for her husband’s lineage and her own in the urban context. This rite is essentially a virginity detection process. She notes that such a process confirms the notion that a woman’s initiation is tied to family structure and marriage. That is why Richards (1982: 51) refers to this as the dilemma of a matrilineal society, where as in the case of the Chikunda, men are dominant but the lineage goes through the women.

The exclusion of women from the Xhosa male initiation process also carries social and cultural significance. In this process, women as well as uncircumcised males are forbidden to participate in all aspects of the ritual. Furthermore, Phiri (2008: 440-456) notes that in the Mukanda, a male mask tradition associated with rites of passage in North Western Zambia, no woman or uncircumcised man is allowed anywhere near the premises as it is believed that whatever goes on in this school is strictly men’s business. This seems to affirm the inferior position of women in this society in general, as well as the important status accorded to the male initiation rite and amplifies the qualities that separate boys from men and males from females (Schneider & Schneider 1991: 287, 279). Having examined the link between initiation and one’s status, I will

now conclude the chapter by providing a summary on the literature, illustrating the ways in which coming of age and initiation have been constructed in various societies.

3.7 Conclusion This chapter has drawn on wide-ranging scholarship to illustrate the various ways in which coming of age and initiation are constructed in a number of cultures. Existing literature shows that in many parts of Africa, circumcision is the initiation ritual commonly practised for males (see: Gwata 2009: 4; Venter 2011: 87-97; Ntombana 2009: 73-84; Matobo et al 2009: 106; Chikunda et al 2006: 146). However, in some cultures, initiation ceremonies include circumcision for girls as well. The chinamwali does not involve circumcision and presents an ideal case to study as it remains an important source of traditional education on sex and the social and religious leadership of women in Zambia (Kangwa 2011: 4). Thus far, from the literature reviewed, initiation has this much in common: rites of passage serve the purpose of facilitating the transition from childhood into some form of given adult social order.

Understanding female initiation among the Chikunda requires a close examination of the diverse ways in which multiple factors influence the social life and status of those concerned. As the work on initiation and coming of age is vast, the literature review has focused on that which is most relevant to the study. The review has included work examining the socio-cultural perspectives of initiation across cultures and its role in shaping gender and sexuality. In other words, I have discussed the work directly relevant to chinamwali, and also examined literature that looks at the influence of initiation on gender, women’s social life and status. From the literature reviewed, it is evident that traditional initiation practices have a different impact on men and women. The literature suggests that for males, initiation rites bestow privileges on the individuals concerned and that they have very little impact on women’s space in general. Some literature suggests that girls are initiated in order for them to gain respect in society though this does not necessarily imply a change in status. Moreover, the influence of traditional initiation practices on the social life and status of women remains understudied as most studies in Zambia and elsewhere have looked at initiation from an anthropological and developmental standpoint. From the literature reviewed, it is evident that traditional initiation practices have a different impact on women’s space in general. It is therefore important to establish the epistemology of chinamwali and its curriculum in order to assess the extent to which it influences the social life and status of women. For this reason, the study does not look at chinamwali in a narrow way as an initiation ceremony, but as a cultural practice that impacts on women throughout their lives.

Of importance in this study is the question of the role of chinamwali in the construction of gender identities. In the introductory chapter, chinamwali is introduced as a puberty rite or ritual performed at the onset of menstruation (menarche). Menarche has a role in attaining adult identity or group status, while chinamwali, through the symbolism of menarche (Richards 1982:

18; Kapungwe 2003: 36), makes a young girl marriageable and ready for marriage. Furthermore, any discussion of sexuality in modern times would need to acknowledge the unparalleled, and controversial contribution made by Sigmund Freud (1975) who draws attention to the effects that society has on sexuality and the paths that one must go through in order to attain social acceptance (Chow 2003: 93). Likewise, in chinamwali, women must go through prescribed sexual rituals to become “women” (Drews 1995: 104; Oakley 1996: 36; Adeleye-Fayemi 1994: 3).

Through a process of gender socialisation, as Mackinnon (1991: 82) notes, women come to identify themselves as sexual beings that exist for men, as it is through this process that women internalise a male image of their sexuality, their identity for women. Thus, mwambo wa chinamwali (chinamwali tradition/rituals) among the Chikunda are understood to signify rituals practiced through the years, where a woman identifies herself as a sexual being (Drews 1995: 104). This calls on the importance of establishing the epistemology of chinamwali in order to assess the extent to which it impacts on women’s lives. It is also important to note that theorising African women cannot be an end but a means to an end. Thus, a study of a traditional African practice needs to be inclusive by embracing a study of traditional cultural practices that shape gender relations, as well as advocating for the application of an appropriate methodological framework that will assist in collecting information in a way that reflects the lived realities of women. Thus, it is important to adopt a methodology, as will be seen in the next chapter that will assist in collecting information in such a way that the lived realities of women with regards to chinamwali are effectively reflected.

Chapter Four: Methodology for the Study of Chinamwali

4.1 Introduction The study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how female initiation practices influence the social life and status of Chikunda women by answering the following questions: (i) what are the issues addressed in the chinamwali curriculum?; (ii) what is the importance attached to chinamwali in the Chikunda community; (iii) what is the motivation for girls to present themselves for chinamwali?; (iv) what is the role of chinamwali in gender power relations in the Chikunda community?; (v) what is the potential role of initiation to sexuality education?; (vi) what is the construction of African gender identities in relation to colonial constructs?; and (vii) what is the theoretical significance of women’s own narratives in comparison to the dominant academic discourse regarding female initiation? The previous chapters have highlighted the overarching theoretical framework of the study and have also discussed the key debates and theories in relation to initiation, gender and sexuality. This chapter presents a detailed discussion of the methodology that was used to answer the overarching research question. The chapter also gives a brief overview of the location of the study, and explains in detail how the participants were selected, the methodology that was used to collect, transcribe, analyse and interpret data. Finally, the chapter provides an account of how I gained access into the research site, and any ethical issues and limitations associated with the study. It is important to first begin with a discussion of the research approach of the study, which is qualitative in nature.

4.2 Positivist and Phenomenological Perspectives of Research This section discusses the qualitative approach, which is the research approach that was taken by the study to effectively uncover the subjective meanings that the Chikunda attach to female initiation. The section begins with a discussion of the positivist and phenomenological perspectives of research to assist in putting into perspective the model of research adopted in the study in order to enrich our understanding of female initiation. According to Taylor et al (2015: 3), two major theoretical perspectives: positivist and phenomenological perspectives are used in social science research. The positivist perspective seeks facts or causes of social phenomena apart from the subjective status of individuals. On the other hand, the phenomenological, or interpretivist perspective, seeks to understand social phenomena from the perspective of the individual in order to examine how she or he experiences the world (Taylor et al 2015: 3). It is also said that there are several factors that influence the choice of research strategy (Saunders et al 2002: 162). These include: how we use a study and its primary audience; why we conduct a particular study; the number of cases we choose to study and how we examine them; and the techniques we choose to employ to gather data.

Taking into consideration the different kind of problems as well as answers that the two perspectives mentioned above seek, as Taylor et al (2015: 3) advise, it is important to note that they require different methodologies to undertake research. In adopting a natural science model of research, the positivist perspective searches for meanings of phenomena through quantitative methods, such as questionnaires, inventories, and demography that produce data that can be analysed statistically, whilst the phenomenologist perspective seeks to understand the social world through qualitative methods such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, and others in order to obtain descriptive data (Taylor et al 2015: 4). In other words, Neuman (2012: 16) says that approaches to social science research depend on whether one’s research involves quantitative data, that is data in the form of numbers, or non-numerical data without statistics. However, Robson (2002) advises that no matter which approach one takes, the research must always be carried out in a systematic and ethical manner in order to discover the truth of the situation.

This study seeks to explore the subjective understanding of female initiation, a real life experience, and seeks to answer a set of questions about the views of the Chikunda community in relation to the practice. The study is also concerned with the meanings that people attach to female initiation in their lives. Taking the above into consideration, the study intends to take a qualitative approach, an approach that is used to understand people from the way they experience reality (Taylor et al 2015: 7, 8). This approach is, according to Kelly, (1988: 6) a “feminist research practice” which includes: reflexivity, or locating oneself within the research question; drawing on one’s experience as a woman; and acknowledging the problems of power and control.

In qualitative research, the researcher looks at settings and people holistically; people are not reduced to variables, but viewed as a whole. According to Taylor et al (2015: 9), this means that people are studied within the context that they find themselves in as opposed to reducing their words and actions to statistical equations. Therefore, this enables participants to describe their experiences and thoughts in their own words. Viewed as an alternative to positivist, quantitative research, this approach places the woman’s perspective, experiences, ideas and expressions in the foreground, a goal espoused in feminist methodology (Olesen et al 1997: 586, 587). Moreover, as Heppner et al (1999: 245) state, in contrast to quantitative inquiry where representations of the world are numerically symbolised, qualitative inquiry offers representations of the world which are primarily linguistic. This means that the method does not rely on statistical descriptions of a phenomena, as the researcher is able to provide detailed descriptions of the social setting under investigation as its methods generally generate words as opposed to numbers as data for analysis (Patton & Cochran 2002: 3; Taylor et al 2015: 9). We are reminded by Taylor et al (2015: 9) that when we study people qualitatively, by not reducing their words to statistical equations, we do not lose sight of the human side of social life.

The study also seeks to provide a deeper understanding of a social phenomenon, in other words, it explores the subjective understanding of a reality. Therefore, the strength of the qualitative approach is that it offers a platform from which to focus on the social contexts of activities and allows the researcher to understand people in terms of their own definitions of the world, that is the insider perspective (Shank 2005: 5; Neuman 2014: 165-195). Furthermore, the strength of this approach is that it enables the researcher to study people from their perspective and focus on their subjective experiences (Mouton 2001: 194). This approach is also appropriate for feminist research as it allows for subjective knowledge and a more equal relationship between the researcher and the researched (Jayartane 1983: 140). Moreover, traditional initiation practices are deeply rooted in societal culture and traditions and are experienced within a local context that a woman finds herself. With this in mind, and as noted by Shank (2005: 5) and Neuman (2014: 165 - 195), a qualitative approach will be necessary to generate an in-depth understanding of women’s experiences.

It is useful to actively engage the Chikunda community to understand how traditional female initiation practices influence their status. In this regard, qualitative research is important as it is about analysing and attempting to uncover the deeper meaning and significance of human behaviour and experience, including contradictory beliefs, behaviours and emotions. Qualitative research strategies are meaning-centered and informed by the interpretive traditional social theory. An interpretivist sociological explanation provides a meaningful account of the action concerned (Neuman 2014: 103). The process of research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participant’s setting, data analysis inductively built from particular to general themes and the researcher making interpretations to the meaning of this data (Kelly 2011: 19). The interpretive element of qualitative research will enable me to validate research participants as social actors in the Chikunda community who are self-aware and who attach subjective meaning to their context, experiences and actions (Babbie & Mouton 2001: 28; Neuman 2014: 103).

There is a clear recognition that one of the main purposes of a research style is to provide detailed descriptions of the social settings under investigation. The emphasis on description entails a researcher to attend to mundane details of everyday life which are seen as worthy of examination. This, as Bryman (2001: 63) says, is because of their capacity to help us understand what is going on in a particular context and to provide clues and pointers to other layers of reality. Thus, a qualitative inquiry would fit this purpose given that the method uses context, individual experience, and subjective interpretation to understand a phenomenon (Heppner et al 1999). For example, by observing women’s access to and control over resources in the Chikunda community and also their place within the family and community, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of their social life.

Qualitative researchers often reject the notion of formulating and testing theories and concepts at the beginning of their fieldwork. Instead, they prefer to formulate theories and concepts as they collect data. In this way, they do not impose a foreign theoretical framework on their subject of study (Bryman 1995: 66-69; Benzton et al 1998: 178). Qualitative research usually uses an inductive approach that has the goal of building theory from the data collected (Charmaz 2007: 6; Benzton et al 1998: 178-179). The purpose of this study is to explore and describe female experiences of initiation. Therefore, as advised by Benzton et al (1998: 178-179), I allowed the data that I collected on chinamwali to explore and construct theories on how this practice influences the social life and status of the women in the community. However, qualitative research has been criticised on several grounds. The main criticism of the approach is the fact that the findings of the study cannot be extended to a wider population with the same degree of certainty that a quantitative approach can. This is due to the fact that the findings of a study cannot be tested to find out whether they are statistically significant or primarily due to chance (Atieno 2009: 17). This means that the knowledge produced may not be generalised to other people or settings as the research findings might be unique to a particular group or setting. Furthermore, it is said to take more time to collect data using this approach when compared to quantitative research, and that the results could be easily influenced by the researcher’s personal biases.

However, despite these shortcomings, qualitative research is the preferred approach in this study. This is primarily because the study is exploratory and seeks to examine how initiation practices influence the social life and status of women among the Chikunda. That said, I am influenced by the feminist mode of conducting research in that I explore the lived realities of the Chikunda with regards to chinamwali, and in this way, aim to bring out knowledge that is situated in the community. As Atieno (2009: 16) notes, this approach allowed me to simplify and manage data without destroying the context. Moreover, the purpose of the study was to learn directly from the subjects on how they experience female initiation and the meanings they attach to this practice. In this way, the qualitative approach was ideal as it enabled me to understand the phenomenon deeply (Saunders et al 2012: 163; Charmaz 2006: 130). More importantly, Hartman (2000: 22) notes that the collaboration between researcher and researched in the production of knowledge should be grounded in the subject’s experience and should bring to the fore, “subjugated knowledge”. With this in mind, this study allowed me to use an approach that produced knowledge situated in the experiences of the participants. Having discussed the approach that I adopted in the study in detail, I will now explain the feminist methodology, the framework within which the study is located.

4.3 Pursuing a Feminist Methodology As pointed out, studies on female initiation, particularly in Zambia, have discussed the practice mainly from an anthropological and developmental viewpoint (see: Richards 1982; Drews 1995; Rasing 1995), and their role in social and reproductive health (see: Kangwa 2011; Kapungwe 2003; Siachitema 2013; Rasing 2003). In an attempt to fill the knowledge gap, I locate the study within a feminist epistemological framework to examine female initiation practices in the context of the lived realities of the women concerned. The feminist perspective is based on the premise that prior to feminism, Sociology ‘systematically privileged male knowledge, experience and interests’ and ‘propagated masculinist notions of reason and science’ (Ramazanoglu 1992: 208- 209). Thus, this perspective puts the social construction of gender at the very centre of inquiry with the ultimate aim of addressing women’s unequal social position in relation to men, and to make gender a fundamental category for understanding the world from a woman’s point of view (Lather 1991: 71-72; Reinharz 1992: 18-19). Moreover, feminist methods of research are best suited for research on sexuality as they are said to foreground the experience of participants as well as the meanings that they attach to these experiences (Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11). As Tamale (2011: 29) also notes, this aspect is important as it allows the researcher to appreciate the issues being studied within the framework of lived experiences and life situations and allows for the actual voices of the participants to be part of the knowledge creation process. Feminists such as Wadsworth (2001: 1) and Reinharz (1992: 18-19) have also consistently emphasised the importance of social context, insisting on using methods that avoid focusing on the individual in isolation, cut off from interactions and relationships with other people. To emphasise this point, Fine and Gordon (1989: 159) note:

…..do not put us in a laboratory, or hand us in a survey, or even interview us separately alone in our homes. Watch me with women friends, my son, his father, my niece or my mother and you will see what feels most authentic to me.

Methodology describes the choices one makes in the process of carrying out an inquiry into an area of interest and can be defined as the choices we make about the case to study, the methods used to gather data and other forms of data analysis in planning and carrying out a research study (Silverman 2005: 99). To justify the status of the study as feminist is difficult, and there has been much discussion over what it is exactly that makes a piece of research “feminist” (see: Hammersley 1992: 202; Guimaraes 2007: 149; Funow & Cook 2005: 2213; De Vault 1996: 29). Harding (1987: 456) argues that there is no distinct feminist method of research but rather that the distinctive features of feminist research focuses on three characteristics: emphasis on women’s experience as empirical and theoretical sources; research of problems which concern women and done for women; and the researchers awareness of his or her subjectivity in relation to the subject matter that she is researching.

On the other hand, scholars such as Funow and Cook (2005: 2213) believe that there is a feminist methodology, which they state ‘involves the description, explanation, and justification of techniques used in feminist research and is an abstract classification that refers to a variety of methodological stances, conceptual approaches, and research strategies.’ Still others such as Guimaraes (2007: 149) propose that, whatever makes research “feminist” is in part an underlying research ethic of “integrity” and responsibility in the research process. Furthermore, Bartlett (1990: 831) argues that the methods she identifies as feminist are those that reflect the status of women as “outsiders”. Her distinctive categories are repeated throughout feminist theory and can be described as identifying and challenging those elements that leave out or disadvantage women. In her argument, Bartlett (1990: 831) raises an interesting point by not limiting her definition of discrimination to women only, but also including members of other excluded groups. In addition, the researcher’s values, assumptions, prejudices and influences must be acknowledged. As Ackerly et al (2006: 7) say, this positionality as they call it, requires the researcher to interrogate his or her research, by asking how his or her subjective experience shapes and influences his or her understanding of knowledge. In other words, this perspective calls on the researcher to be aware of his or her experience in relation to that of the participants and the research process in general (Deutsch 2004: 889). Furthermore, the researcher needs to ask what would be the best way to do her research ethically, as ethics, ‘compel us to ask how our own subjectivities, that of our research subjects, and the power relations between us affect the research process’ (Ackerly et al 2006: 7).

As an African woman interrogating a cultural practice in my own community, I am aware of how my own subjectivity as observed by other feminist scholars (see: Ackerly et al 2006; Dyek et al 1995: 62; Mama 2011: 10) may influence the research process. Furthermore, those we research will also have their own perceptions of us that we may not be aware of and that calls for a high degree of self-awareness and reflexivity on the part of the researcher, adds Mama (2011: 10). Moreover, when we conduct research in our local contexts, we are faced with epistemic advantages, as well as challenges and demands. This is seen in a study undertaken by Tamale (2005: 13-14), who discusses the challenges she faces in carrying out research on Ssenga, an initiation practice in her native Buganda community. While her local identity as a Muganda grants her access that outsiders would not have, it simultaneously poses challenges, for example, how much she should reveal about her community’s secrets and how much not to. In this study, influenced by the feminist model of conducting research, I seek to articulate the lived experiences of the Chikunda community with regards to chinamwali. While Drews (1995: 101) and Udelhoven (2006: 86-88) write about their experience of chinamwali from an “outsider” perspective, by studying a cultural practice in my own community, I am aware of the challenges that I may face and also cognisant of the need to exhibit a high level of social responsibility and accountability. However, though scholars have historically explained the term “insider” to describe a researcher familiar with, and part of the group that he or she is studying, while describing “outsider” as

someone working on a novel social setting, Kaler and Beres (2016: 11) have observed that the division is a difficult one and not necessarily helpful to define a researchers position in the field as “we are always at least partially an insider and partially an outsider”. Tamale (2011: 29) however, posits that feminist methods of research are ideal for research on sexuality as they foreground the experiences, meanings and interpretations that participants attach to these experiences, helping to bring out emotions and feelings through direct interaction.

To summarise the main tenets of feminist research as mentioned above, it is important to note that such research should produce useful knowledge informed by women’s experiences, which in turn can aid social and individual change (Letherby 2003: 2); should contribute to the transformation of society in a way that is beneficial to oppressed persons; not cause harm to those being researched and speak out on behalf of, or represent the voiceless (McCormick 2012: 24). It should also include reflexivity, or locating oneself within the research question, drawing on one’s experience as a woman, and acknowledging the problems of power and control (Kelly 1988: 6; Hussain & Asad 2012: 203). The main purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between female initiation practices and women’s space in general. Maynard & Purvis (1994: 11) note that the feminist perspective foregrounds the subjective experiences and meanings that participants attach to a phenomenon. Thus, undertaking research from this perspective will assist me to gain a better understanding of the Chikunda with regards to these practices. Having discussed the overarching theoretical framework of the study, I now proceed to give a detailed description of the research site from which the study sample was drawn. As will be seen, this will provide the reader with a better understanding of my interest in carrying out the study in this area, as well as the rationale behind the choice of sampling techniques.

4.4 Research Site The aim of this section is to provide general information on Luangwa District, the home of the Chikunda. The section will begin with general information on Zambia and conclude by providing my motivation for the choice of research site. Zambia is a landlocked country located at the South Central part of Africa with a total area of 752, 000,000 square kilometres and an estimated population of 15.5 million (Central Statistical Office 2015: 1).The capital city of the country is Lusaka, located in Lusaka Province. The province covers an area of about 22,000 square kilometres and has 2,190,000 hectors of land (Central Statistical Office 2003) and houses the following four Districts: Chongwe, Kafue, Lusaka, and Luangwa (Central Statistical Office 2003: 3 - 7). The Chikunda are found in the Luangwa District, in the Eastern part of Lusaka Province of Zambia, bordering Chongwe District to the West, Mozambique to the East, and Zimbabwe to the South. The district is located approximately 350km from the capital, Lusaka, lying at the confluence of the Zambezi and Luangwa rivers at altitudes of below 600m above sea level (Luangwa District Council 2000: ii). The District is part of a National Park and Game Management

Area (GMA), and therefore forms part of the animal corridor for the GMA. The population of the District is mainly concentrated along the Zambezi and Luangwa rivers and is sparsely populated with an estimated population of 26, 650 in the year 2007, and a population density of approximately 6.5 people per square kilometre, with an annual growth rate of 11% according to the 2000 census (Luangwa District Council 2007: 2).

It is important to note that in Zambia, despite efforts made by early missionaries and colonialists to eradicate initiation rites for girls, they are still practised today, especially in the rural areas of the country (see: Kangwa 2011: 2; Siachitema 2013: 2; Kuwema 2009: 1). It is also important to note that several studies have been undertaken on the practice, though the focus has been mainly from an anthropological standpoint and on their implications for reproductive health and social responsibility for those concerned (see: Richards 1982; Drews 1995; Rasing 1995, 2003; Kangwa 2011; Kapungwe 2003). As I have noted in the introductory chapter, these studies are useful in revealing on-the-ground debates around initiation ceremonies; however, they cannot show how they impact on the social life and status of the women concerned. As the study can be leveraged and replicated in other parts of Zambia, it becomes a useful advocacy tool to provide a comprehensive understanding of how initiation practices impact on women’s space in general. Furthermore, from my observation, chinamwali is still practiced in the community albeit at a smaller scale, teenage pregnancies and early marriages are on the increase, and there is a high school dropout rate for girls as a result of early pregnancy and early marriage; it will be interesting to explore the reasons for this phenomenon.

The map below is the map of Luangwa District showing the two chiefdoms: Senior Chief Mburuma’s area, and Chief Mphuka’s area, which is home to the Chikunda under study. Annexure F lists all the 22 villages in Chief Mphuka’s area; out of these, I visited 15.The other maps that appear in Annexure E are as follows: Figure 1 is the map of Zambia showing the country’s neighbours and its nine provinces. The map is relevant as it shows the location of Lusaka Province, the capital of Zambia, which is where Luangwa District is located; Figure 2 is the map of Lusaka Province showing the three districts within the Province, including the location of Luangwa District; and Figure 3 is the map of Luangwa District showing the boundaries of neighbouring Mozambique to the East, and Zimbabwe to the South. The map also shows the two main rivers in the district; Luangwa and Zambezi rivers.

Fig 1: Map of area covered by the research Source: Lusaka Province Report 2011

The Chikunda community is generally perceived as progressive in the context of civilisation, with modern and well-functioning political, administrative and social institutions. The Chief has overall control of the area, and within this area are regions which are under the jurisdiction of the local headmen and women. In addition, there are parliamentarians and government officials who represent the area at national level. Furthermore, the recent developments in the District, in particular the recent infrastructural development and expansion of the road networks, have opened the area to new ideological and cultural norms from outside. Local traditional practices have existed alongside Christianity, with the values promoted by both resonating with each other. Whereas in the past, every girl would have had undergone chinamwali, it is becoming a matter of choice probably due to the influence of both Christianity and education, as well as open communication channels that have impacted the area. Thus, the survival of female traditional practices albeit done at a smaller scale, defy not only the changing sound, social, political and economic times, but also the increasing prominence of human and people’s rights agenda; this calls for a close interrogation of the chinamwali practice. Finally, as noted earlier, Luangwa district is my home area and as Neuman (2014: 274) notes, this is significant as I was able to locate research participants, identify particular cases for in-depth study, and also able to communicate with the participants easily.

4.5 Study Population and Sampling Strategy In order to meet the objective of the study, a sample of thirty (30) participants was selected as follows: fifteen adult women who have undergone chinamwali, and who constituted the main research participants. In order to fully address the knowledge gap regarding the role of initiation, five ritual instructors, the aphungu who are the personal advisors to the initiate were engaged. In addition, no literature could be found that compares non-initiated to initiated women, and it is also not known whether there is a difference in the submissive, obedient and subservient behaviour of the initiated and uninitiated women as experienced by men, therefore, five uninitiated women and five men were selected. A table providing an overview of all participants is provided in Annexure C. Next, I provide a description of the Chikunda, the community from which I drew the study population. It is important to give comprehensive information on this population to gain more insight on their historical background and social organisation. To begin with, a brief history and description of the social organisation of the Chikunda are provided. The section ends with a discussion of the sampling strategy used to select the study sample.

4.5.1 The Chikunda: A Brief History

While it is important to note that this is not an historical study, I feel that historical insights inform my central arguments regarding the nature of the gendered organisation of the Chikunda community. The discussion, particularly in this regard, lends insight into the ways in which hierarchies are created and maintained within this community. The Chikunda are believed to have emerged from the slave armies of Portuguese prazos or estates first established in the late sixteenth century (Isaacman & Isaacman 2004: 36). The valley population is said to be one of the poorest in Zambia, with one of the lowest literacy levels of all the regions in the country (Udelhoven 2006: 7). Isaacman (2000), a prominent historian who has undertaken extensive studies of the Chikunda, reports that during the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, the Chikunda had been military slaves in the prazos where they played a critical role in the establishment of a Portuguese political and commercial presence in the Zambezi hinterland. However, with the disintegration of the prazo system in the middle of the nineteenth century, thousands of former slaves fled from Mozambique and became absorbed into the local Chewa, Nsenga, Mang’anja and Gweembe Tonga who lived on the margins of the Zambezi river in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (Isaacman 2000: 110, 118). Isaacman (2000), who calls the Chikunda diaspora “transfrontiersmen”, says that this group was a largely a pre- capitalist migratory group that was typically a victim of class or race oppression who fled from their natal societies.

Literature further reveals that, over time, the Chikunda community grew mainly by marrying captives as well as vulnerable refugees who initially sought food and shelter in their area. These

new recruits and their descendants adopted the Chikunda identity brought by the former slaves from the prazos, including the Chikunda facial scarification, makaju, Chikunda hunting rituals and dance, as well as the Chi-Nyungwe, the language of the Chikunda (Isaacman 2000: 135). Isaacman (2000) continues that these former slaves constructed an autonomous religious system and spiritual hierarchy to gain a measure of control over their new environment and to cope with life crises which they had been disconnected from having fled from the prazo region; their ancestral spirits or muzimu and the regional Mhondoro cult which they had worshipped to ensure divine protection from droughts, famine and other hardships. Creating their own spiritual domain was thus an important process in constructing their Chikunda identity divorced from their previous slave status. This new identity also centred on the cult of warrior hunter. Chikunda mythology and dance, including the mafuwe and gololombe dances, praise the daring exploits of the hunters whose activities ensure the community’s well-being. Annexure G provides a brief overview of Chikunda dances.

The Chikunda finally became a distinct tribe when the British and Portuguese pressure intensified, unravelling their power. Furthermore, when Portugal initiated a major campaign to dislodge the former slaves and their descendants after they refused to recognise Portuguese sovereignty, they once again fled across the frontier into colonial Rhodesia where they were welcomed by the British and recognised as a distinct tribe as it exists today (Isaacman 2000: 135 – 136). Reports on the Chikunda (Isaacman 2000; Isaacman & Isaacman 2004) indicate that whilst the ethnic background of the Chikunda varied from one estate to another, they shared a similar mode of organisation. They were divided into localised regiments or butaka, directed by a slave chief known as the mukazambo, who was assisted by a council of elders. The chief was selected based on his demonstrated loyalty, military powers and ability to command respect and obedience from his subordinates. Next in this hierarchy were the lieutenants or chuanga, who provided intelligence for the slave chiefs and who were primarily responsible for tax collection. These were in turn followed by the council heads, the sachikunda, who directed the nsaka (the council), which consisted of groups of around ten to twelve male slaves and their families

The Chikunda community provides a particularly interesting context within which to examine female initiation practices. In terms of descent, studies identify the Chikunda as a matrilineal society (Udelhoven 2006; Drews 1995); this means that they trace their ancestry through women. Chen et al (1991: 7) point out that in any given society there are rules of descent which are ways through which a society traces its ancestry. These are patrilineal and matrilineal descent. Members in the matrilineal descent grouping trace their indigenous residential and descent through their mother’s side, while those in the patrilineal groupings trace their origins through the father’s side. While in matrilineal descent groups, placement is through the woman, the positions of highest authority are still vested in men, as a woman in authority has to consult with the man

to make an important decision. Thus, it is important to understand that this implication will influence a woman’s space.

Among the Chikunda, indigenous residential and descent patterns were said to obligate these former slaves to reside among the wife’s maternal relatives and to acknowledge that the children belonged to the local matrilineage (Isaacman 2000: 120). Gender relations were structured by two conflicting types of discourse; on the one hand, men and women were considered equal, on the other hand, men were privileged with regard to highly political roles, and had more access to positions of formal authority (Drews 1995: 102). At the time of the research, all the political roles were held by men. However, of the 22 traditional village heads, only 2 were women. Having head women is part of the matrilineal tradition of the Chikunda. Within marriage, the man is considered the head of the household (Drews 1995: 102). That is to say, though kinship is traced through the woman, it is the man that makes all the decisions in the household. Furthermore, gendered patterns are also evident in job opportunities and decision-making structures in the valley (Udelhoven 2006: 60). There is a notable absence of women in formal employment and also, poor representation of women in decision-making structures (Udelhoven 2006: 60). Furthermore, traditionally, the main economic activity in the Chikunda community is hunting, largely the preserve of men; ‘the man goes out hunting in the bush, commercially fishing at the river while the woman’s place is fixed to the domestic sphere’ (Udelhoven 2006: 60). Also, Isaacman (2000: 112) reports that the Chikunda enthusiasm for hunting was matched by their disdain for agriculture, particularly amongst the men. Therefore, to supplement their household diet, it is the women that cultivated small fields. This further confirms the notion that a woman’s status is tied to the household.

There is limited scholarly literature on the Chikunda in general, and on Chikunda culture and tradition in particular. Information on the Chikunda (see: Isaacman & Isaacman 2004; Isaacman 2000; Udelhoven 2006; Drews 1995) is mostly from anthropological sources. Perhaps the low literacy levels in the area as noted (Udelhoven 2006), contribute to the limited scholarly work. Furthermore, reports show how the Luangwa District was for some time cut off from the rest of the country as a result of the civil war in Mozambique in the 1970’s. The floods of the 2006/2007 season are also said to have caused the District to be isolated from the rest of the country due to the road link being severely flooded and washed away (United Nations Research for Social Development 1991). It is within this scope of limited publications and literary works pertaining to the Chikunda in general that I present this study.

Lastly, Drews (1995) in her Covering and Uncovering: Secrets and the Construction of Gender Identity among the Kunda of Zambia, offers an interesting account of chinamwali among the Chikunda though her account is from an “outsider” perspective. Udelhoven (2006: 86-87), in his report on Christianity in the Luangwa Valley, gives an account of chinamwali and Christianity in the Luangwa District. I believe that the works of Drews (1995) and Udelhoven (2006) are “about”

rather than “by” the Chikunda women as they seem to analyse chinamwali from their perspective as anthropologists, speaking for the women as they perceive it, rather than collecting the women’s voices. It is also important to acknowledge the work of Richards (1982) on the chisungu initiation practice, though her focus is on the Bemba tribe found in the Northern part of Zambia. Similarly, Rasing (1995) has carried out work on female initiation practices, though her focus as in the case of Richards (1982) has been undertaken on the Copperbelt of Zambia, and in the context of the Roman Catholic community. For this reason, I seek to employ a novel approach to this study by undertaking the study from an insider perspective. I consider myself as an insider as I belong to this community. Secondly, through the narrative approach, I take the women themselves as a starting point by directly collecting their voices with a view to documenting the results. Having shed light on the historical and the social organisation of the Chikunda, and also providing motivation for the choice of the community as the research site, it is important to highlight the strategy that was used to select the study sample.

4.5.2 Sampling Strategy

In order to obtain the most valid information in a research study, qualitative research commonly uses non-probability sampling, techniques to select a sample or subject of a population from which to gather the required data (Neuman 2014: 246-280). Non-probability sampling relies on the context of the study to be undertaken to determine the study sample. The aim is to select a sample that will assist in deepening our understanding of the social world or a phenomenon (Neuman 2014: 273). I found it necessary to employ two non-probability sampling methods, namely: purposeful sampling, and snowball sampling to select the participants in this study. As indicated, in order to meet the objectives, a sample of 30 participants was selected. Of these, 15 were women who have undergone chinamwali; 5 were women who had not undergone the practice; 5 were the phungu, the instructors of the initiates; and 5 were men.

Purposive sampling was used to select the women that had undergone chinamwali, who were the main participants and who, as advised (see: Merriam 2009: 77; Neuman 2014: 17; Denvers & Frankel 2000: 264; Miles & Huberman 1994: 34), enabled me to accomplish my research goal, as they provided an information rich resource and also provided the greatest insight into the research. The aim of the study was to learn how female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community. Therefore, given this goal, I found that the following criteria were useful: firstly, that the participant is a female member of the community; and secondly, that they have undergone chinamwali. Most of the knowledge and information that I have on chinamwali was passed on to me by older cousins and house helpers from Luangwa who spent a lot of time with us whilst growing up, and shared their experiences of chinamwali.

These were my main contacts in the field as I relied on them to assist me in locating their colleagues who had undergone chinamwali.

Purposive sampling is a type of sampling method based on the assumption that the researcher wants to discover, understand, and gain insight of an issue and therefore, must select a sample from which the most can be learned (Merriam 2009: 77). The main goal of purposive sampling is to focus on particular characteristics of a population that are of interest to a study and which will enable the researcher to answer his or her questions (Neuman 2014: 274). Purposive sampling is referred to as theoretical sampling as it is used to select individuals to assist the researcher in formulating a theory or to generate conceptual categories (Robson 2011: 148-149). According to Neuman (2014: 274), purposive sampling uses the judgement of an expert in selecting cases or to select cases with a specific purpose in mind. Purposive sampling is often employed to enhance the understanding of experiences of selected individuals or groups or for developing theories and concepts. Researchers seek to accomplish this goal by selecting information rich cases, that is individuals or behaviours that provide the greatest insight into the research question (Denvers & Frankel 2000). Therefore, the sampling method assists in identifying participants to enable the researcher to answer questions (Denvers & Frankel 2000: 264). Miles & Huberman (1994: 34) note that three types of cases have the greatest pay-off in purposive samples and these are: typical or average cases; deviant or extreme cases or those cases that represent universal manifestations of the phenomenon of interest; and negative or cases that do not conform to the rule.

I used the snowball method to select the 5 women that had not undergone chinamwali, the 5 ritual instructors and the 5 men. Snowball sampling, also known as network, chain referral, reputational and respondent-driven sampling is a method for sampling or selecting cases in a network. As the name suggests, it begins with one or a few cases and spreads out based on links to the initial cases, as the technique is based on the premise that each person or unit is connected with another through a direct or indirect linkage (Neuman 2014: 275). To explain this concept, Neuman (2014: 275) uses the analogy of a snowball which begins small but becomes larger as it rolls on wet snow and picks up additional snow. The chinamwali, as noted by Drews (1995: 101, 111), is shrouded in secrecy and this is more so for men and outsiders. In view of its secret nature, it becomes prudent to use a sampling method that can select members of a difficult-to-reach population, as advised by Neuman (2013: 277). In this instance, snowball sampling was an appropriate technique to use.

Using this sampling method, I selected the initial participants who in turn helped me to select other participants known to them (Neuman 2014: 275). As I come from this community, I was able to select the initial participants who are known to me and who met the criteria for inclusion and were also willing to share their experiences in relation to chinamwali. These then served as contact persons or informants – people that I was able to rely on to access a wider network of

participants. I was privileged that one of my cousins is a village sub-headman at Kavalamanja village, a small Chikunda community within Luangwa District. My sister in-law is also a school teacher at Katondwe Secondary School. These two provided the necessary guidance and used their influence to assist me in selecting the initial women that had not undergone chisungu. To select the aphungu, the ritual instructors, I relied on the assistance of my uncle’s wife who was once a ritual instructor. Though she has now moved from Luangwa district and has settled in Chongwe district, one of the four districts in Lusaka Province, I relied on her to connect me to other instructors. For the male participants, I relied on my male cousin to connect me to the initial contacts who referred me to other men to include in the study. In order to ensure a broad-based sample, I endeavoured to draw participants from at least all the villages in the Chikunda community, and aimed to ensure that the sample was representative of the different categories of people, including participants from different educational backgrounds and marital status.

Furthermore, as I used interviews as a data collection method, using the snowball method was important for ethical reasons as trust was developed with participants since referrals were made by acquaintances or peers. Using this method was also advantageous as using referrals ensured that the consent of would-be participants was obtained. A copy of my letter of informed consent, which was presented to each participant, is included in Annexure A. Applying ethical principals in the study as discussed at the end of the following section was important to ensure that there was a relationship based on trust with the participants. A description of all the participants in the study is included in Annexure C, while a news media picture of a namwali is included in Annexure D.

4.6 Gathering Data Working from a feminist perspective in the field entailed having face-to-face interactions with participants, directly hearing their stories and recording the verbal information (Wadsworth 2001: 1; Reinharz 1992: 18-19; Reid 2004: 9; Moore 1986: 92). Therefore, this section explains the methods that were used to collect data in the field. Data was collected using the narrative approach which relies on participants to directly narrate their experiences and feelings of a given phenomenon. The narratives of participants were obtained through the use of in-depth interviews. The section also briefly explains how the interview guide was prepared and highlights the advantages of using interviews as a data collection method.

4.6.1 The Narrative Approach to Data Collection

Working from a feminist perspective entails having direct interaction with the participants (Wadsworth 2001: 1; Reinharz 1992: 18-19). Therefore, in order to generate an in-depth understanding of the women’s experience of chinamwali, narratives were used as an approach

to collect data. Narrative research is described as a process focused on how individuals assign meaning to their experiences through the stories they tell (Neuman 2014: 494; Moen 2006: 1; Balcomb 2000: 49). Through this approach, the Chikunda were given a platform to narrate their experiences and feelings, and to reflect on the meaning and values of the significance of chinamwali. Neuman (2014: 495) points out that a narrative approach has the following features: it tells a story or tale, that is, presenting unfolding events from a point of view; it has a sense of movement or process, a before and after condition; it contains interrelations or connections within a complex, detailed context; it involves individuals or groups that engage in action and make choices; it has coherence, that is, the whole holds together; and, it has a temporal sequencing of a chain of events.

As the narrative approach is situated within the qualitative or interpretive research paradigm, using this approach means that researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of and interpret phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them (Moen 2006: 1; Neuman 2014: 494; Reid 2004: 9). It also meant that I used a method that would generate an in-depth understanding of women’s experiences, as the community was provided with an opportunity to be heard and expose first-hand information with regards to their experience of chinamwali. Harding (1987: 78-88) also posits that research approaches which use the insider/outsider perspective, such as the narrative approach, are recommended as reliable approaches to allow women to tell their stories to the world. Narratives are also a form through which people construct their identities (Neuman 2014: 495; Balcomb 2000: 49). This approach was therefore useful in examining how the Chikunda construct and make meaning of their identities in the chinamwali process. This means that as the community reflected and told their story on their experiences of chinamwali, it was easy for me to see how they constructed the meaning of their identities in the process. As Balcomb (2000: 49) notes:

Narratives play major roles as epistemological categories. This is possible as people are able to tell or narrate their human experiences, lifestyles as lived and perceived by them from their own perspectives and that of others as stories are shared or told from generation to generation in a particular community. Thus, meaning is not just shared at individual level only, but also at group level, family level and community level as stories.

Through the narrative approach, the researcher places himself or herself in the inquiry itself, making him or her an integral part of the research process (Moen 2006: 1). In this way, besides giving “voice” to the Chikunda, my personal experiences became part of the narrative. Moreover, as Harding (1993: 56) advises, in using this approach, I directly collected the narratives of the community with regards to chinamwali, thereby producing less partial and distorted accounts of the practice. To my knowledge, none of the research done on female initiation in Zambia contains a “voice” from women who have actually gone through the process (see for example, Drews 1995; Kangwa 2011; Richards 1982; Rasing 1995; Kapungwe 2003). Therefore, I use the

metaphor of “voice” to, as suggested by Krumer-Nevo (2009: 270), emphasise the importance of the spoken word in understanding women’s point of view of female initiation practices. This study is devoted to the documentation and exploration of the voices of women as opposed to an objective, generalised “knowledge”, which is disconnected from the “knower”, which feminism recognises and celebrates as the subjective, personal and situated voice (Reid 2004: 9). As Moore (1986: 92) argues, the only way of knowing a socially constructed world is to know it from within. Therefore, until the world of chinamwali is constructed from the knowledge within, there is no way one can understand its meaning from the viewpoint of those that have experienced it. Having explained the approach taken to data collection, I will proceed to explain how the data was obtained using in-depth interviews.

4.6.2 Using In-Depth Interviews

In adopting a feminist approach in the field, in-depth interviewing was used so that I had face-to- face encounters with the participants and so that the interview was directed towards understanding the participant’s lives, experiences and situations as expressed in their own words (Reinharz 1992: 18-19; Rubin & Rubin 1995: 31). It has been argued that the complexities of women’s lives cannot be isolated or quantified and that attempts to do so can result in misleading and exploitative outcomes (Reinharz 1992: 87-88), hence the use of in-depth interviews. The approach was also used to explore the perceptions of participants in relation to female initiation to enable me to gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomena, as foregrounding the subjective experiences of the people concerned, as Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11) suggest, is fundamental to feminist research. Kasper (1994: 266) also argues that this method enables women to become active participants in the research process and generates detail that is unique to this approach of data gathering. Central to the methodology of this study is the belief that the essential meanings of women’s lives can be grasped only by listening to the women themselves. If by listening to the women themselves, as in more traditional approaches, the terms of the research are imposed on the subjects and they are required to respond within the strict confines of the method, personal meaning may be easily lost or repressed. Kasper (1994: 261, 267) goes on to suggest that this methodology can also capture the realities of women’s lives in the social context in which they are constructed. To involve the participants in the research process as much as possible, interviews were used as they claim, in the words of Jayaratne (1983: 145), to ‘convey a deeper feeling for a more emotional closeness to the persons studied’.

Before venturing into the field, I tried to make prior arrangements with some of the participants. For example, at Thimanimoto and Kavalamanja villages, I made arrangements through Mrs Dilau and headwoman Kavalamanja respectively. Other interviews were arranged through other participants, and I met some participants at meeting places, such as the grocery store at Chiendende where I found some women chatting outside the shop, and at Kakaro where I found

some men drinking the local brew. I also met some participants at the market in the Boma area. The two young women whom I met at the lodge where I was staying had come for a drink and were introduced to me by the manager who was aware of my research. I ensured that the purpose of the research was explained in detail to each participant, and only proceeded to interview them after they understood fully and signed the consent form (see Annexure A). Most of the interviews were conducted one on one, as this allowed the participants to talk freely. However, this was not possible in Amoro, Kavalamanja and Kakoro where I sought translation assistance from my guide as the people in these areas speak very deep Chikunda which was difficult for me to understand. I began the interviews with a greeting and general questions on their well-being, and allowed the participants to choose the most suitable place where we could hold the interview. I also allowed them to ask questions or seek any clarity regarding the interview. This was done in order to create a relaxed atmosphere before delving into the actual interview. The interviews lasted several hours and at times they were prolonged because some participants had to attend to visitors, children or other domestic chores. Robson (2002: 94) warns that interviews may be time- consuming with regard to both data collection and analysis, as the transcribing, coding and sometimes the translation takes time. Therefore, although interviews are a powerful way to gain insight into an interviewee’s perceptions, they should be used hand in hand with other methods in order to provide in-depth information about inner values and beliefs of a participant. To enable me to capture the interviews comprehensively, I made use of an audio recording device which I later transcribed. I also took notes in a journal to capture my thoughts and observations during each interview. This proved to be very useful because I was able to refer to the notes for clarity, especially in instances where the audio recording was not very clear. The notes also helped me to track down participants for follow-up interviews. For example, I was able to make a follow-up interview with amai Dilau, a ritual instructor, for her to explain the chinamwali songs in detail.

However, despite the limitations mentioned above, in-depth interviewing proved to be a useful tool to help uncover a wealth of information on chinamwali (DeVault & Gross 2007: 18). Typically, researchers use in-depth interviews as they are more like conversations which they use to help uncover participant’s views on a particular phenomenon. Another advantage of using interviews is that it is a useful way of gathering large amounts of data quickly, thus saving time. Furthermore, as the interviews meant I interacted directly with the participants, it allowed me to uncover and describe the participant’s perspectives on chinamwali more accurately (Marshall & Rossman: 2006: 110). Using this method to collect data also allowed me to explore the participant’s experiences of chinamwali and to probe the meanings they attach to these experiences. Moreover, the face-to-face interactions afforded me the opportunity to modify my line of enquiry, follow up on responses I found interesting, such as the meaning in chinamwali songs mentioned above, and also to investigate underlying motives that postal or self-administered questionnaires cannot do (Robson 2011: 280-281). Also, I found that talking to and listening to women was fundamental to a feminist research study such as this, as the essential meanings of women’s

lives was only grasped by listening to the women directly (Kasper 1994: 226). In addition, as I used open-ended questions, the participants participated fully by taking control of the interview, recalling and recounting details that were important to them, thereby enriching the study (Kasper 1994: 271) and meeting the feminist research expectations of equity and fairness. As I explain in the following section, before venturing into the field, I prepared interview guides for the four categories of participants which included questions on the thematic areas to be pursued in the study. The interview guides can be found in Annexure B.

4.6.3 Preparing the Interview Guides

The first step I took was to prepare the interview guides, the key instruments to guide me in collecting the information needed in the field. The interview guides covered questions that the participants were required to answer such as: a description of what is taught in chinamwali; views on why girls choose to undergo chinamwali; and, its importance and the influence it has on women’s space in general. The focus of this study is on the views of the participants as to how female initiation influences the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community. Thus, the participants were asked to reflect on the following categories of questions: general views and opinions on chinamwali; a description of the rituals and associated ceremonies that constitute chinamwali and the meanings attached to them; and, views on the role of chinamwali in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. My full qualitative interview guides are presented in Annexure B.

As noted earlier in the chapter, other researchers have undertaken research on female initiation among the Chikunda (see: Drews 1995: 101-113; Udelhoven 2006: 86-88). Drews (1995: 101- 113) has looked at female initiation from the perspective of how it reflects and constitutes male/female relations and relations among women in the community. The research uncovers ways in which the ritual can empower women as knowledgeable and competent members of the community by excluding men. Udelhoven (2006: 86-88) on the other hand has looked at female initiation in the community in relation to Christianity. This study builds on the work of these studies in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of how female initiation practices impact on the lives of Chikunda women in general by pursuing the following main thematic areas: (i) chinamwali and the gender power relations among the Chikunda; (ii) the impact of chinamwali on women’s space; and (iii) the potential role of chinamwali in relation to sexuality education.

Furthermore, it is important to note that Drews (1995) and Udelhoven (2006) carried out their research from an “outsider” perspective. Though Nnaemeka (1995: 86) agrees that it is possible for outsiders to carry out research as what he refers to as ‘inside outsiders’, in this study, I identify with the participants as we have a shared identity as members of the same community. Furthermore, as recommended by authors on feminist methodology (see: Tamale 2011: 29; Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11; Harding 1987: 6-8; Harding 1993: 56), I took the lived realities of

participants with regards to female initiation by adopting feminist qualitative methods such as narratives and in-depth interviews to gather data. Working from a feminist perspective entailed having face-to-face interactions with the participants in order to generate an in-depth understanding of their experiences (Wadsworth 2001: 1; Reinharz 1992: 18-19; Reid 2004; 1; Moore 1986: 92). Having discussed how the interview guide was prepared, I now proceed to explain my experience in the field.

4.6.4 Navigating the Field: Approach and Challenges

As I was based in South Africa for most of the duration of the study, I had initially planned to divide the data collection period into two phases: from October to November, 2016 and from January to March, 2017. The decision on the duration and timing of the fieldwork was arrived at after two main considerations. Firstly, I needed to ensure the security of my home as I would be away for long periods of time, and secondly, my financial situation had to be factored in as I had to meet all the costs relating to the fieldwork. However, the data collection period was extended to June 2017 due to illness and other unforeseen logistical challenges that I encountered. Before I first travelled to Zambia for my data collection, I tried to make contact with the office of the District Commissioner of Luangwa district, as well as the Luangwa District Council offices, to seek the necessary guidance and authorisation needed to undertake research in the district, without success. Kaler and Beres (2016: 7) offer advice on the importance of social connections that a researcher should develop during fieldwork as these are what make data collection possible. Therefore, I travelled to Lusaka on September 29, 2016 and began making arrangements with my contacts in the field, whom I relied on to select the participants for the research. These are Headwoman Margaret Kavalamanja, my cousin who is Headwoman of Kavalamanja village; Mrs Anna Dilau, a ritual instructor referred to me by my aunt who was also once a ritual instructor but has now settled in Chongwe, one of the districts in Lusaka Province; and my cousin, Stephen Talakinu, who is a teacher at Thimanimoto village. Headwoman Kavalamanja is one of the two village heads in the area. I also made transport and accommodation arrangements as I planned to find private accommodation from where I could work freely.

On October 21, 2016, shortly after receiving the final approval and go-ahead to begin fieldwork, I travelled to Luangwa district. My initial plan was to seek authorisation from the relevant officials before venturing into the field. Therefore, the following morning on October 22, 2016, I made my first stop at the office of the District Commissioner. The aim was to pay a courtesy call on his office and to let him know of my presence in the district, as the political/administrative head of the district. I was however informed that the DC had travelled to Lusaka and that as he had recently been appointed following the August tripartite elections in the country, he had not properly settled down. I then decided to visit the Council offices where I was provided with site

maps and given a briefing on the area on information that would be useful in navigating the research site. As was the case with the office of the District Commissioner, the Council Chairperson and councillors had not yet been sworn into office. However, I was able to obtain site maps and other information on the area from the Planning Office. I learned that the district was divided into two main chiefdoms; the Senga-Luzi under Senior Chief Mburuma and the Chikunda under Chief Mphuka. The Chikunda community comprises the following twenty seven villages each headed by a village headman or headwoman: Mulunda; Nyaukwindi; Lufasi; Thimanimoto; Mwantigola; Mpakata; Zavedo; Chabooka; Chaptambiri; Njalaikadza; Yapite; Janeiro; Chimasu; Chavulula; Mbilisau; M’siafumbi; Fungulani; Mkalipilana; Chiendende; Phwazi; Kapyanika; Kamowa; Hotela; Kanyenze; Kavalamanja; Kakaro; and Mandombe. These villages are far apart and it was necessary for me to make reliable transport arrangements to enable me to cover as much ground as possible in order to ensure a wider representation of participants. From my interactions, I also learned that the female initiation ritual is commonly referred to as chinamwali among the Chikunda.

Influenced by feminist research as suggested (see: Mama 2011: 10, 13; Wadsworth 2001: 1; Reinharz 1992: 18-19; Reid 2004: 9), I thought of blending into the research setting before the actual interviewing began. So from October 24 to November 08, 2016, with assistance from Mr. Matebele who agreed to be my guide, I travelled from Luangwa Boma which was my base to Thimanimoto, Janeiro, Mandombe, and Kavalamanja villages. At Thimanimoto village, where one of my contacts lives, I was advised that I could not interview any community member without prior authorisation from Chief Mphuka (Luciano Kalamenti Malunga), who would have to liaise with the Council, comprising all the village headmen and headwomen. Unfortunately, upon reaching Chief Mphuka’s palace, I was informed that he was attending a Session of the House of Chiefs in Lusaka. I was also assured that since I had travelled from Lusaka, arrangements would be made on my behalf to meet with him and that I would be notified of the date of the meeting in due course for me to proceed with my assignment. I decided to return to Lusaka on November 10, 2016 with the hope of returning at a later date. Unfortunately, I contracted Malaria which meant that I was bedridden for several weeks prompting me to reconsider my earlier plans especially that I was left with only a few weeks before returning to South Africa.

Once I had recovered fully, I decided to continue with my fieldwork. However, prior to my departure to Lusaka, it was reported that the road linking Luangwa district to the rest of the country had been damaged by heavy rains and earth movements prompting the government to temporarily close traffic entering and leaving the district until further notice. It was also reported that the government had made an undertaking to construct a temporal detour to ease the passage of traffic (Lusaka Times, February 14, 2017). I realised that this was a setback to my field plans. This notwithstanding, I travelled to Lusaka on February 20, 2017 as I had already made the necessary travel plans. Whilst waiting for information on the construction of the

proposed detour, I received further disturbing news that fresh floods had hit the district again (Lusaka Times, March 14, 2017; Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, March 14&15, 2017), owing to the rising water levels in the Luangwa and Zambezi rivers, displacing households and further affecting the movement of people. In Chief Mpuka’s chiefdom, my research area, it was reported that the area had been cut off from the rest of the district as the rains had washed away bridges connecting it to other areas, forcing pedestrians to use boats to cross crocodile- infested rivers to travel to other areas in search of social and other services. Furthermore, many houses had collapsed leaving a number of families homeless. It was also reported that the most affected areas were Mandombe, Amoro, Kanyenze, and Chief Mphuka’s palace which had been completely cut off, and that the business centre at the Boma Township had also been submerged in water bringing business to a complete standstill.

It was with huge relief that I felt ready to proceed with the field plans after a dry spell, and with the construction of the temporal detour completed, I left Lusaka for Luangwa on March 23, 2017 with these major questions on my mind: In the face of recent developments in the district, was chinamwali widely practised? If so, which aspects were dying and why? I also wondered whether the political environment post August 2016 Tripartite elections would influence how I was perceived in the district (i.e. was the research politically motivated?), especially with recent reports of politically motivated violence in some parts of the country where perceived “enemies” of the ruling party were reportedly being harassed. I settled in at the Boma Town which was my base and the following day on March 24, 2017 I made my first stop at Thimanimoto village, which is my home village. My father’s elder brother had passed away earlier, on March 7, 2017, and as I had not been able to attend the funeral, I felt duty bound to pay my respects before attending to my fieldwork. Funeral rites had been concluded, but as is customary, relations and friends from within, as well as from neighbouring villages, were still visiting with the bereaved family. I also decided to first pay a courtesy call on Chief Mphuka whom I had not had the opportunity to meet during my earlier visit. I felt that it was important that I meet with him in person and inform him of my presence in his chiefdom, as well as to explain in detail the purpose of my research.

Funeral and other protocols done, I decided to take advantage of the situation to make arrangements for my first group of participants. Thus, between March 24 and 26, 2017, I interviewed the first six participants. This initial group was instrumental in assisting me select other participants. After the first interviews, I decided to move to other villages to include Nyaukwindi, Chapitambiri, Mwantigola, Zavedo, Chabooka, Mbilisau, Yapite, Janeiro, Mkalipilana, Chiendende, Mandombe, Hotela, Kavalamanja, Kakaro and M’siafumbi, a mixture of very deep rural and some more urbanised settings in order to compare experiences and views on chinamwali. I also visited the Child Fund, an NGO who provided me with information on the programmes they were undertaking on the girl child in the district. By April 29, 2017 I had

interviewed a total of twenty participants including ritual instructors (5), men (3), women who had undergone chinamwali (10) and women who had not undergone the ritual (2).

At the end of each field day, I typed out the field notes in full. On some days, this was not possible because of the intermittent power supply in the area due to load shedding. I also realised that some participants were more comfortable being interviewed together with others. For example, at Thimanimoto, the three ritual instructors that I interviewed insisted on being interviewed together. The interview proceeded fairly well. The only challenge was that the participants argued as to the actual names of the herbs used at the onset of menstruation, although they were in agreement with the rituals and ceremonies associated with chinamwali. This prolonged the discussion. On other days, my movements were constrained due to fuel shortages in the district. I used such days to revisit my field notes and to catch up on rest. Furthermore, other areas were very difficult to reach because of the roads that had been damaged due to heavy rains. My experience on travelling to Kavalamanja was particularly traumatic. We spent many hours on the road making frequent stops along the way as we struggled to navigate the rough terrain. The threat of meeting wild animals also heightened the anxiety. On several occasions, I was pestered for money from the villagers. This put me in a very difficult position considering the high poverty levels in the area. On one or two occasions, I gave in – at other times I would just offer to buy a soft drink if there was a grocery store nearby. For the last group of participants, I travelled to Amoro, Kakaro and Kavalamanja villages, and thus by August, 2017, I had interviewed all the required participants.

Whilst in the field, I faced a number of challenges; however, I was able to collect the necessary data and I am confident that even if I were to prolong my stay in the field, I would be unlikely to collect any significantly new data. To begin with, as I mentioned earlier, I entered the field after the 2016 tripartite elections which were followed by reports of violence, especially targeted at those perceived to oppose the ruling party. These reports were common in strongholds of the ruling party such as Luangwa district. Despite my earlier concerns on how I would be perceived in such an environment, I did not face any challenges because I made sure to contact the office of the District Commissioner, who is the political head in the district, to explain my presence in the area. In any case, as I had also contacted the Chief, I was assured that it was safe to proceed with the fieldwork.

I faced communication challenges, particularly in Kakaro, Amoro and Kavalamanja villages where the people speak very deep Chikunda which made it difficult for me to communicate effectively. As a result, the interviews were prolonged as questions and answers had to be repeated several times. However, Mr Matebele was able to provide interpretation and I managed to proceed with the exercise. This presented another challenge as some women were not comfortable to share their experiences in the presence of a man, forcing me to abandon some interviews to search for more willing participants. On reflection, the presence of a man may have

influenced the participants, especially the young women and girls to avoid criticising chinamwali. However, I am confident that those who participated did so voluntarily and were open with their information because the issue of confidentiality as well as voluntary participation were emphasised before the interviews, and, I am confident that those who participated were open with their information despite these communication challenges. I was able to proceed with the interviews.

After the first interviews, I also realised that some questions needed to be revisited. For example, I found that the questions on the role of chinamwali on power relations between men and women and the impact that it has on women’s access to, and control over resources and responsibilities were difficult to express in vernacular and were largely misunderstood. The responses given were also very vague. I decided to merge the two questions by asking the participants their views on how chinamwali influenced women’s decision-making roles within the family and the community as a whole. I realised that this way, the question was better understood. I also made a follow-up interview with the first participant, a ritual instructor, as I had requested to interview her again for more information on chinamwali songs and their meanings.

In the process of reviewing literature on coming of age and initiation, it became apparent that there is limited scholarly literature on female initiation in general. Most of the literature on this process relates to female genital mutilation that is sometimes practiced as a rite of passage in some societies. Furthermore, most of the literature on female initiation focuses on its relation to reproductive health. As a result, I found that there is limited literature to compare the results of this study to. Secondly, this study is taken from the perspective of the Chikunda with regards to female initiation. What this means is that the findings are limited to the lived realities of this particular community with regards to the practice. Though this aspect is what makes my research novel, the results cannot be generalised to other African women’s groupings or populations because they represent only the words and experiences of the participants within this study.

The narratives of these participants were analysed to enable me to reach the conclusions highlighted in the following chapters. While the study has achieved the aim of collecting information on the important aspects of what it means to become a woman in this community, it is possible that other aspects were not covered, especially when one considers the size of this population sample in relation to the total population in the area of the study. One can only hope that the sample was representative of the entire population of the chiefdom in particular, and the district in general. Furthermore, these participants were not involved in analysing the data, as the analysis of the data collected was done separately, after I had left the field. This means that the participants were not given an opportunity to ascertain the accuracy of their input. Future research should involve the participants in the analysis process to add more depth and accuracy to the findings, and also to reduce the potential for researcher bias in the interpretation of data.

The interviews were conducted in the local language understood by participants. The data collected was then presented in a foreign language – English. What I find is that this presents a challenge as situated knowledge may be misrepresented. In some instances, I found that there was no direct translation of some terms in the local language. I find that this is a challenge to giving accurate explanation of cultural terminology in English and vice versa. For example, because female genital mutilation is not done among the Chikunda, there is no term to describe it in the community. Male circumcision is referred to as mdulidwe. The direct translation is “chopping”, and this created some confusion when it came to the subject of female circumcision as an initiation rite as it is inconceivable for a female organ to be “chopped”!

Furthermore, it is important to consider some of the characteristics of the study sample. Most of the participants interviewed were illiterate or had attained only a very basic level of education. This was the case particularly with the aphungu, ritual instructors, who are mostly elderly women who have perfected their trade through many years of experience in teaching chinamwali tradition. As will be noted in chapter 5, age and level of education seemed to influence one’s view of chinamwali in this community. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that had an “educated” study sample been selected, the findings could have been different. In addition, the study focused entirely on the initiation ritual for women, even though male views were also sought. Future research could also look at initiation rituals performed for men to provide a more comprehensive and comparable analysis of initiation in the area in general. Lastly, Chief Mphuka’s area comprises 22 villages. As much as my intention was to cover all the areas, this was not possible due to various reasons. However, an attempt was made to cover urban areas like Soweto, and rural areas like Kavalamanja, in order to ensure a more balanced and inclusive study sample. Furthermore, the study sample included participants ranging in age from 19 to over 75, which in my view gives a balanced representation and perspective of chinamwali. Issues relating to how one deals with limitations faced in data collection should be just as important as those relating to the validity and reliability of data collected because, as Alshenqeeti (2014: 43) notes, they assure us of the extent to which research would yield the same results when conducted repeatedly. Thus, as ethics of feminist research demand, these were addressed as will be seen in the following section.

4.6.5 Ensuring the Trustworthiness of Data Collected

In this study, interviews that are one of the methods chosen to collect data have been said to have poor reliability as they are open to many type of bias (Hofisi et al 2014: 60-64; Creswell 2009: 153). However, this claim goes contrary to the ethics of feminist, narrative and qualitative approaches pursued by the study, as Neuman (2014: 218) asserts that most qualitative researchers embrace the core principals of validity and reliability though they do not frequently use the terms because of their association with quantitative research. According to Neuman

(2014: 218), authenticity is the main quality control issue in qualitative research to offer a ‘fair, honest and balanced account of the lived experienced of the people we study’. Therefore, if we have authenticity, it goes on to say that we must also have reliability. Neuman (2014: 218) raises an interesting point when he posits that ‘qualitative researchers want to be consistent (not vacillating and erratic) in how they make observations, similar to the idea of stability’. Hence, this study relied on the model provided by Lincoln and Guba (1985: 112) which identifies the following criteria for establishing trustworthiness: credibility or truth value; applicability or the extent to which the findings can be applied to other contexts or other people; and conformability or whether the findings of the study can be confirmed by another.

I undertook the fieldwork between March and August, 2017. The prolonged engagement with participants helped to minimise bias. As fieldwork constitutes the basis of conducting research, Babbie & Mouton (2005: 277) further give suggestions to ensure the credibility of qualitative research. They suggest that the researcher prolongs their involvement in the field, consistently observe and pursue their interpretations and analysis in different ways, and employ different methodological traditions to arrive at different conclusions. Burger (2003: 67) adds that dependability can be particularly enhanced by recording interviews. Thus, individual interviews with participants were recorded using audio-visual equipment (Wadsworth 2001:1). The use of the recording device made it possible for me to reflect on what the participants actually said during the interviews. I also took notes of key words and converted them into themes afterwards (Dick 2005: 5). These were then collated and transcribed to conclude the data collection process (Mouton 2001: 198). Transcribed data was preserved on a hard drive so that other researchers can check the authenticity of the findings. I also referred to my field notes to reflect on the observations that I had made during the interviews. The interviews were conducted in the local language then translated into English. In some cases, follow-up visits were made to verify the information before and after it was analysed and feedback given to respondents to validate the data and its interpretation (Marshall & Rossman 1989: 143-145). To ensure the trustworthiness of the data that I collected in the study, I used the following techniques: avoided asking leading questions; took notes and not only depended on tape recorders; conducted pilot interviews; and gave the interviewees where necessary, an opportunity to sum up and clarify the issues that they made. Applying ethical principles in the study, as discussed in the following section, was important in ensuring a relationship based on trust with the participants.

4.6.7 Ethical Approach to Fieldwork

As the research involves human beings, I endeavoured to ensure that respondents were informed about the purpose and goals of the study and that informed consent was sought (Reid 2004: 9; Babbie and Mouton 2001: 407). Everyone who participated in the study gave their consent freely, without being coerced or unfairly pressurised to do so. In this regard, participants

were required to sign a consent form which detailed what the study was all about and what their participation entailed. One of the biggest ethical challenges faced by feminist research concerns obtaining informed consent which can be a very complex thing in itself and which requires much forethought to handle effectively (Babbie & Mouton 2001: 407; McCormick 2012: 32; Reid 2004: 9). However, despite the ethical challenges alluded to above, feminist research acknowledges that at all stages of research, full collaboration and participation should occur between the researched and the researcher and among the research participants (Reid 2004: 9). As it is important to protect the identity of participants, ethical issues were taken into account in the form of anonymity and confidentiality. Therefore, to ensure anonymity of participants, pseudonyms were used (Neuman 2014: 154). For confidentiality, a register of real names and contacts was kept apart from the transcripts. Tapes, notes and transcripts were kept in secure places where only I as the researcher had access and will be discarded when there is no longer any need to keep this research evidence.

As noted, chinamwali is a secret puberty ritual where the teachings to the namwali are not open to uninitiated women and to men (Drews 1995: 101). From the beginning, I acknowledged that chinamwali teachings are secret and that they are not to be shared with anyone. I also observed that because of this, it was not easy for some women to share their experiences completely. This was most evident in Kavalamanja, Kakaro, and Amoro where a man was present. However, by using a feminist approach, I allowed the women to tell their stories in their own way, and this allowed them to reflect on their stories and experiences of chinamwali that they may not ordinarily have shared with those who have not undergone the initiation rite. One of the critical issues that a researcher who chooses to undertake research in her local context faces is how to strike a balance in objectivity, and which and how much information of her community to reveal (Undie 2007: 293 – 305). Therefore, similar to Tamale’s (2005: 13) experience of researching in her local context, my local identity as a Chikunda granted me access to the community that an outsider may not have had and also gave me considerable advantage to gather information, some of it extremely intimate, as participants were able to speak freely. Batisai (2013: 67 – 69) also describes how her local identity enhanced rapport with her elderly participants when she undertook research on sexuality in Zaka district in rural Zimbabwe.

Mama (2011: 10,13) cautions that feminist researchers may often find themselves working in areas where secrecy and fears of disclosure complicate conventional methods, making it very difficult to honour feminist methodological considerations. This may require researchers to carry out research in a manner that is respectful towards participants where beliefs and practices may include aspects that may be oppressive to women. Moreover, Mama (2011: 10,13) adds that feminist research ethics demands that we actively relate to and engage with our research subjects and explore ways of supporting them in their struggles. However, McCormick (2012: 28) warns that there are ethical risks to forming rapport with research subjects, which is often a pivotal

quality to obtaining research evidence. As such, researchers who strive for the benefits of close, interactive relations with participants must accept the associated risks. McCormick (2012: 28) adds that these risks include the potential for relationships to end abruptly and for participants to feel that they have been misunderstood or betrayed, especially when the priorities of the participants and researchers differ. Many however propose that whatever the method employed, what makes research “feminist” is in part an underlying research ethic of integrity and responsibility in the research process (Guimaraes 2007). I have discussed in detail the study population, sampling strategy and ethical principles applied to the study. These insights were relevant in providing a clear understanding of the population to be studied and the ethical issues to be taken into account as I engaged with the participants. Having discussed the ethical principles applied in the fieldwork, I now proceed to explain how the data collected in the field was analysed.

4.7 Analysing the Data The main aim of this section is to discuss the methods and processes that were followed to analyse the data that were collected in the field. The section begins with an explanation of how the data collected was interrogated to develop theories or concepts and how the data was coded. The section also explains how thematic analysis was used to gain an understanding of the experiences and feelings of the participants of chinamwali.

4.7.1 Identifying Concepts and Coding the Data

In order to interrogate the data that was collected to develop theories, I used qualitative coding as an integral part of thematic analysis of the data analysis process, from the interview stage, and beginning with the first interview, to categorise the narratives collected according to the emerging themes (Rubin & Rubin 1995: 226; Charmaz 2003: 39; Neuman 2014: 480-485; De Vos 1998: 271; Strauss 1987: 57). Coding is the process through which theories are built from data. It represents the ‘operations by which data is broken down, conceptualised and put back together in new ways’ (De Vos 1998: 271; Miles & Huberman 1994: 56; Charmaz 2007: 43, 45). According to Neuman (2014: 480), coding in quantitative research differs from that in qualitative research, as in qualitative research, raw data is organised in conceptual categories. Accordingly, the inductive approach to coding allowed me to develop categories directly from the data during the analysis process. In other words, the categories emerged as I sifted through the data (Hesse- Biber & Leavy 2006: 244). Following the advice by Bryman and Burgess (1994: 4), I ensured that each transcript was reviewed several times and that the emerging themes, patterns and insights were documented until all the categories were saturated. Analysis of data took place in different stages or phases. These phases included: open coding used to locate themes; axial coding used

to identify concepts; and selective coding used to identify major themes. For a comprehensive description of the phases of coding, see: Neuman (2013); Charmaz (2007); Creswell (2007); De Vos (1998).

Open coding is the first step in the analysis of newly collected data (Neuman 2013: 481). During this phase, Creswell (2007: 67) mentions that the researcher; (i) forms categories of information about the phenomenon being researched by segmenting the information; (ii) finds several properties or sub-categories within each category; and (iii) searches for data to dimensionalise, or show the extreme possibilities on a continuum of the property. Using open coding, the data from the field notes was used to identify the initial themes. The themes were taken from repeated words, sentences or utterances, or paragraphs. These themes were then assigned codes as a label. As this process was going on, I remained open to creating new themes whilst at the same time bringing themes from deep within the data to the surface (Neuman 2014: 481).

In axial coding which is the second phase of coding, I reviewed and examined the initial codes and then organised them together to identify their connections. Axial coding is defined by De Vos (1998: 273) as ‘a set of procedures whereby data is put together in new ways after open coding, by making connections between categories’. Essentially, axial coding concerns linking together the categories developed through the open coding process. Under this process, I put together the data that was initially split into categories in the first phase of coding, and then explored the links between these categories in order to identify key concepts. Thus, in axial coding, I examined the relationships between the various categories to see how they connected. For example, guided by the research question – How do initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community? – and as recommended by Charmaz (2007: 43), I analysed the relationship between chinamwali and women’s status, specifying the properties and dimensions of these categories to give coherence to the emerging analysis.

Selective coding refers to the phase where ‘the researcher may write the “story line” that connects the categories. Alternatively, propositions or hypothesis may be formulated that state the predicted relationships’ (Creswell 2007: 67). In this stage, I put together all the major themes identified in the previous phases and then bound these themes into one central theme. I selected the narratives of the women in the Chikunda community, and as this was the core category of the study, I focused on the group to enable me to generate theories from the data collected. With the research aims in mind, I read through the data collected several times and made notes of the details that appeared to be important and recurred throughout the texts. This helped me to identify key themes until I reached a point of saturation.

4.7.2 Using the Thematic Analysis Approach to Data Analysis

The study used a qualitative thematic analysis of transcribed interviews to investigate how female initiation rites influence the social life and status of women among the Chikunda community of Zambia. The thematic analysis method is built upon the theoretical positions of Braun and Clarke (2006: 77- 101) who define it as a method used for, ‘identifying, analysing, and reporting patterns (themes) within the data’. I found that the method was useful in providing a comprehensive analysis to the investigation of chinamwali because as Braun and Clarke (2006: 97) argue, it is a ‘rigorous thematic approach that can produce an insightful analysis that answers particular research questions’.

This method of analysis was also used as the inductive nature of the study demands that voices of participants are heard (Wuest 1995: 132). Braun and Clarke (2006: 86) further explain that themes in the data can be identified in an inductive “bottom up” way or in a theoretical, deductive “top down” way. Braun and Clarke (2006: 86) however caution that using data collection questions such as those from the interview schedule are the ‘worst examples of thematic analysis’ because they are entirely deductive and fail to take into account the emergent themes based on an induction process. Accordingly, an inductive approach to the data was taken as it allowed me to develop themes that were linked to the data; this ensured that the themes were not driven by my interest in the subject, but rather by the data.

Furthermore, the aim of the study was to gain participants’ understanding of a female initiation practice. Thus, because analysis of the data was subjected to a qualitative analysis of commonly recurring themes in the data, it allowed me to gain an understanding of the practice rather than testing this understanding against a preconceived theoretical framework (Braun & Wilkinson 2003: 30). In this way, this method is similar to the grounded theory approach (Benzton et al 1998: 25; Glasser & Strauss 1967: 4-7; Wuest 1995: 132; De Vos 1998: 282; Strauss and Corbin 1994: 46). However, though the method shares similarities with the grounded theory approach as well as other approaches, it differs from them because it is not tied to any pre-existing theoretical framework, and as such can be used within different theoretical frameworks; therefore, it is a more accessible approach (Braun & Clarke 2006: 77,79).

In using the thematic analysis method as Braun and Clarke (2006: 79) explain, I used my judgement to identify which theories were relevant to the research question. They say that what counts as a theme is something that captures the key idea about the data in relation to the research question, and which represents some level of patterned response or meaning within a data set. Furthermore, I transcribed all the data from the readings into written form from the recordings, interview by interview, in order to allow me to undertake the thematic analysis. In this way, I familiarised myself with the data from the early stages of analysis. I read through the transcripts repeatedly searching for any themes related to the research question without paying attention to the themes that previous research on female initiation might have identified. I also

searched my written transcripts repeatedly to find recurring patterns of meaning – going back and forth between the entire data set, which as Braun and Clarke (2006: 86) advise, ‘…is typically a recursive process, with movement back and forth and between phases … ’. After reading and familiarising myself with the data, I listed ideas about what was interesting in the data and why. In the next phase, I began to develop ideas collected in the first phase. The themes were data- driven as they depended on the data collected and this was done manually. Though the main disadvantage of using the thematic analysis method was that it was time consuming, the advantage was that because of its flexible nature, much of the data not relevant to the central question was generated from the narrative interviews. However, this information could still be used to inform other writing and points to avenues for further research, such as the need for a comparative study on the submissive behaviour of initiated and uninitiated women to men which I have identified.

4.8 Conclusion This chapter set out to provide an overview of the research methodology and methods employed to carry out the study. It examines the link between feminist methodology and female initiation practices. Beginning with the debate concerning the existence of unique feminist methodology, it explores the key tenets of feminist research and examines the ways in which this methodology has been incorporated into research on female initiation practices. This study is qualitative in nature as it seeks to provide a deeper understanding of a social phenomenon than what would be obtained from purely quantitative data, as it seeks to bring out feelings, perceptions and opinions of the Chikunda community with regards to female initiation. In other words, the study explores the subjective understanding of a social reality as opposed to providing a statistical description of the phenomena (Creswell 2009; Merriam 2009; Heppner et al 1999; Denzin & Lincoln 1998; Charmaz 2006). Moreover, the study seeks to answer “how” female initiation influences women’s space, therefore, applying a constructivist approach within this qualitative method of inquiry which allows the researcher to construct meaning from the phenomenon (Charmaz 2006: 130). This type of investigation also allows for subtleties of human experience to float to the surface which requires the researcher to exercise flexibility and openness towards the data (Strauss & Corbin 2006: 5).

The chapter also discussed the methods that were applied to enable me to collect data in the field. These feminist qualitative methods of data collection; in-depth interviews and narratives were important instruments that allowed the participants to explain their life experiences with regards to chinamwali, provided first-hand information on the meaning that they attach to the process, and enabled the reader to understand the ontology of chinamwali as practised among the Chikunda. In addition, the chapter explains in detail the methodology used to transcribe, analyse and interpret data, and the ethical issues addressed in carrying out the study. In

conclusion, I find that the feminist way of conducting research as described in this chapter was best suited for my study as it highlighted the experiences of participants as well as the meanings that they attach to these experiences (Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11; Atieno 2009: 14). This aspect was important as it allowed for an appreciation of the issues being studied within a framework of the lived experiences of participants, allowing them to be part of the knowledge creation process (Tamale 2011: 29; Harding 1987: 456; Nnaemeka 1995: 85; Letherby 2003: 2; Hartman 2000: 22). The next two chapters document the findings of the study that have been arrived at based on the research methodology followed in this chapter.

Chapter Five: The Symbolic Structure of the Chinamwali

5.1 Introduction To begin to answer the question, How do female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community of Zambia?, this chapter gives a detailed description of the initiation rite in order to analyse what it means for the women concerned, and how it impacts on their lived realities from their understanding and experiences. Chinamwali, like other puberty rituals in Zambia (see: Rasing 1995 & 2001; Richards 1982; Kapungwe 2003 & 2011; Drews 1995; Siachitema 2013), focuses on the image of ideal womanhood, encompassing motherhood and female emotional and social roles. Essentially, the chinamwali rite is seen as a symbolic activity where rituals, teachings and taboos are used to impart knowledge to the initiate on what it means to be an adult member of the community.

In pre-colonial Zambia, before the coming of Christianity, it was very common for a girl to be betrothed before she came of age. Where this happened, the girl moved to the homestead of her future husband until she came of age after which the marriage was consummated. The husband to-be in such cases was not present during the rite, but was instructed separately on his future role as a husband. However, I was told by Grace, aged 55, that in the last decade, this practice is being discouraged mainly due to modernisation and Christianity, and is therefore not common. This may be because in Southern Africa, institutions such as the Church and the modern education system discourage cultural rites such as initiation that impact negatively on the formal schooling of girls and boys, as they are considered heathen and backward (Matobo et al 2009: 105). Though the focus of this study is not on the men’s rite, most scholars such as Ntombana (2009) and Venter (2011), who have written on the initiation rites of males conclude that the education of traditional schooling involves physical training meant to equip initiates on the mental, emotional and social roles for adulthood, enabling them to assume leadership responsibilities in their communities. Maria, a ritual instructor, informed me that the chinamwali process varied according to individual families. However, key aspects of chinamwali and the chronology of events have been described as accurately as possible, based on the information passed on to me in the field.

This chapter has been organised as follows: firstly, I discuss the organisation of chinamwali, explaining among other aspects, the rituals and ceremonies that constitute the initiation rite. These are grouped according to the phases in which they occur – from the time the initiate comes of age to the final stage when the initiate is reincorporated into the community with a new status. Secondly, I discuss the rituals in the next menstrual cycle. Thirdly, I discuss the chinamwali curriculum which explains the key themes addressed and through which the messages related to female religious, social, and sexual roles are communicated to the initiate. Fourthly, I discuss

the demonstration through dance and song of chinamwali rituals. This is followed by a discussion on the attendance to chinamwali and the different actors at the various stages. I conclude the chapter with a summary of the key aspects of chinamwali and a discussion of what they mean to women’s space in general. I will now discuss the organisation of chinamwali, including the rituals and ceremonies that constitute the rite.

5.2 The Organisation of Chinamwali As pointed out in chapter 3, most scholars referring to Van Gennep’s (1960) description of phases of initiation (see: Lamp 2009: 7; Kangwa 2011: 11; Rasing 2001: 128; Rasing 1995: 35; Ntombana 2009: 75; Venter 2011: 89), agree that initiation ceremonies for both boys and girls are structurally identical and include phases of separation, ordeals and reintegration representing a process of symbolic death and rebirth, and that the periods of these phases differ from culture to culture. In chinamwali, like in other initiation rites, the first is the preliminal rite that is the rite of separation, in which the initiate leaves her existing status and separates from the community. Though the lines demarcating the different stages are not distinct, I have attempted to separate them into different phases in order to give the reader a clear understanding of the chinamwali journey.

5.2.1 The Announcement: Kutha Musinku

During interviews with the women, I was told that at the first sign of blood, a girl is expected to inform an elderly woman; this can be an elder sister, an aunt, a grandmother, or any elderly woman in the community. The person in whom the girl has confided will inform the mother of the girl that her daughter wakula moye, wa tha musinkhu, has now “grown up”. In some cases, the girl may approach her mother directly to inform her, though this is rare. Francesca, aged 48, related that:

When I started menstruating my mother organised for me to undergo chinamwali. When I saw blood, I went to tell my elders what I had seen. They informed my mother and I was put in the house. My mother gave money to my father and informed him that I had come of age. I was confined in a hut for some time where I was instructed on many things.

Fostina, aged 35, recalled that when she started menstruating, she informed her mother who then arranged for a ritual instructor to perform the ceremony. Maria, a ritual instructor aged 70, narrated that:

When a girl reaches puberty she has now “grown up”, wakula, wafika musinkhu, and she is now referred to as a namwali, or a moye, and sometimes, a ndola. She goes to an elder to explain what has happened to her. In my case, I went to my elder sister as I was shocked at seeing blood on my underwear. My sister immediately took me to my grandmother who approached a phungu and

I was immediately put in the house. I was in standard 2 or 3, but you see in those days we started school late and especially school for girls was not taken seriously.

It is important to understand the role that initiation rituals and ceremonies play in preparing young people for adulthood. In chinamwali, these rituals and ceremonies are passed on to the initiate by the aphungu, experienced women in the chinamwali tradition who through their expertise pass on knowledge to the initiate. As Concillata, aged 40, said, ‘When I came of age I told my sister – she told my mother about it. My mother organised a phungu for me who was coming every day to instruct me.’ The mother will then approach a phungu, a ritual instructor, or a number of aphungu (plural) who as I mentioned earlier, occupy a position of power and knowledge of the chinamwali tradition in the community. This is done upon presentation of a chicken or any form of appropriate payment, inviting the phungu to instruct her daughter on the “mysteries” of adulthood. The mother may also as a sign of respect, upon presenting some money to her husband, notify him that that their daughter has now become a “woman”. In most cases, the girl is not allowed to speak with her father until he gives her money as a sign of respect, and to acknowledge his daughter’s maturity. As Agnes, a ritual instructor told me:

My mother organised aphungu to come and instruct me – first she gave my father money to tell him that I had now become a woman – as a sign of respect – then she found a phungu – she gave the phungu a chicken to come and teach me.

It is also important to understand the role that initiation rituals and ceremonies play in preparing young people for adulthood. In the chinamwali rite, these rituals and ceremonies are passed on to the initiate by the aphungu. Through demonstration, ritual, dance and song, the aphungu will guide the young initiate on acceptable behaviour and on how to conduct herself as a woman in this community. The belief in these ceremonies and rituals is deeply rooted in Chikunda tradition and culture such that any departure from it is believed to have dire consequences on the erring party. As Maria, a phungu told me:

We teach the young girls a lot – we teach them mwambo (tradition) through rituals and the songs also have meaning. Of course now with Christianity we do not punish as such – we do not do some of the things that were done in our time like beating a namwali if there were negative reports received – that is punishment.

If the girl is betrothed and is living with the relatives of her future husband, the elderly female relatives of her husband to-be are informed immediately. A phungu will also be notified and invited to instruct the initiate. In this case, the aphungu have a duty to ascertain that the blood is indeed menstrual blood and not the result of a sexual union. As the girl will most likely join her husband soon after this, he will also be instructed separately. Grace, aged 55, narrated her experience thus:

With my first husband, I had not even come of age when I was married – this man just saw me at my relative’s home – I was very young and he liked me – he approached my relatives for my hand

in marriage but my father said no she is still young – she has not matured – but he insisted and he said he would wait for me to mature – and he pleaded to my father – so he agreed and he paid the bride price – he bought gifts for my family and he insisted that I should stay with his family until I matured then he would get me – that is how I married and moved to his family and stayed there – I was very young but he liked me and he was afraid that another man can come and get me – I stayed with his family for about a year until one day when I saw blood – I told the elders that is when they asked me if I had slept with the man- they checked me – I said no – that is how they put me in the house – a phungu was brought who gave me medicine to drink – samba ndola….”

During the interviews, I was told that at no time will the initiate herself approach the phungu as this is considered taboo as the girl is at this stage considered a child who must go through older women with power and authority as senior women, and who possess knowledge that she must gain in order to be an accepted member of their community. I gathered that from the time that a girl comes of age, she is vulnerable and must be cleansed with herbs. The herbs, Kalusapo, samba ndola, shaumbwa, grow widely in the bushes and their usage is not limited to chinamwali only, as they are also believed to cure other ailments like stomach problems, and are used by women that have miscarried for similar cleansing purposes. Veronica, aged 38, narrated as follows:

They put medicine, samba ndola – the medicine from the bark of the tree was given to me to drink – they put the medicine in a clay pot then I drank some until my period stopped – some was put in my bathing water – what was left in the pot – the herbs were buried in the pot on a hill – that is where we throw milota, ash. They told me that the medicine was for cleansing me – because you are unclean because of the blood you see…..

Faustina, aged 35, told me that the medicine was administered to cleanse her body because:

I know that it is to cleanse your body – you drink it until the end of your period – and you bath – it cleanses your body inside – the blood is not good – so you are cleansed because bad people don’t do anything bad to you -……because bad people can use it for evil purposes…..the menstrual blood attracts mfiti, vi wanda, evil spirits who use the blood for evil purposes.

The reason for administering the herbs I was told was that menstrual blood is linked to the mysterious world, a world of mfiti, vi wanda, evil spirits of the dead, and can be used to cause harm or sickness to the initiate herself, and to all those who come into contact with her. It also has mystical powers to “open” or “close” the womb of the girl. Thus, it is through this cleansing ritual that fertility is ensured. I was also told that the initiate cannot administer these herbs on herself as she must be assisted by elders. Once this is done, the initiate is secluded in an isolated place or hut to begin her journey into assuming her position as a woman in the community. I will sum up this section by saying that the first sign of blood is significant, because it is through this that the journey to womanhood begins. This idea will be developed later in the chapter. Having described the first phase, I will now describe some of the rites and ceremonies in the next phase, the phase of seclusion.

5.2.2 Seclusion: Kulanga Ndola

The period of seclusion differs depending on circumstances, mostly on the school calendar as the majority of girls are in school at this time. If the girl comes of age during school term, she may be in seclusion until the end of her menstrual cycle only, and if a longer seclusion is desired, the seclusion may be deferred to the school holiday. These days, a teacher can report to the Chief any child who absconds from school for long periods on account of being in seclusion, and the family concerned can be made to pay a fine, so the period of seclusion has shortened from three weeks to a week. A long time ago, the initiate was in seclusion until after her next menstrual cycle, which was for a month or longer, whichever came first. What is important to note here is that the chinamwali is not secluded at a specific time of year, but will most likely take place during school holidays, as most girls are in school and parents fear sanctions for allowing their children to abscond from school. Maria, a ritual instructor, informed me that:

These days if a girl absconds from school to attend chinamwali, the teacher can report to the chief and the family can be fined so the period of confinement is shortened and it is usually done during the school holidays.

Another phungu, Catherine, told me that:

In the past however, the initiate was in seclusion for about a month or longer, or until the next menstrual cycle. Most girls were betrothed before coming of age or were married soon after reaching puberty. Nowadays, this has changed as the seclusion period has been shortened – the young girl can be in seclusion for a week, until the end of her menstrual cycle, or for a period of up to three weeks. The ceremony may be organised for one girl at a time, or sometimes a number of girls are placed in seclusion at the same time.

When asked about attendance while the initiate is in seclusion, the women informed me that only other women who have undergone chinamwali are allowed to enter the hut, and upon presentation of money or any appropriate gift may proceed to share their wisdom with the initiate. The seclusion is a private space where men and women that have not undergone chinamwali are not allowed to take part as the lessons are considered secret. Maybin, a 25 year old man, indicated that men were not allowed in the seclusion and that he had only learned about what is taught, ‘I have sisters – I grew up in a house of women – so that is how I know.’ Later in the chapter, we shall learn more about the attendance to chinamwali, and the different roles that the various actors play and its significance. During seclusion, the initiate is under the instructions of the aphungu who must pass on knowledge, the tradition (mwambo/ miyambo- plural) of what it is to be a woman in this community. They too have passed through this experience and are well versed with the rituals and ceremonies of chinamwali that have been passed on from generation to generation. Mary, a phungu narrated that:

I have been practicing as a phungu for many years – I cannot remember the exact year when I started…I learned these skills from my grandmother – she was also a phungu. She would

sometimes ask me to pound roots for her even though at that time I did not know exactly what they were for. I lived with her for a very long time and eventually I learned from her and somehow, I carried on the trade after she passed away.

It is therefore, during this period that the bulk of the education on rituals, symbols and taboos takes place. To sum up this section, the women who had undergone chinamwali explained that the seclusion phase is where the bulk of lessons on matters pertaining to womanhood, marriage, sexuality and religious and social roles are taught to the initiate. The seclusion phase has been likened to the liminal phase described in various studies on initiation and coming of age (Rasing 2011: 129; Sethlabi 2011: 466). As Rasing (1995: 36) observes, the initiate in the liminal phase is considered a blank slate, a tabula rasa as she calls it, a phase from which she must learn new things that she should internalise in readiness for her new status. Thus, it is considered a test that she must undergo to transcend to this new status. Sethlabi (2011: 466) describes a similar phase in the Bojale, the woman’s initiation rite in Botswana where an initiate is secluded far from familiar surroundings, symbolising the preparation for a new status. The aphungu, who are trusted members of the community and who possess knowledge which is a secret for women and the women who have undergone this initiation rite and are willing to share their knowledge, are in charge of the ceremony. As these will be addressed in a separate section later in the chapter, here I will proceed to explain the rituals and ceremonies that take place in this phase, beginning with the cleansing ritual performed on the initiate.

In a previous section, I brought out some points on fear of witches or witchcraft, mfiti/ufwiti. I have mentioned that as soon as a young girl gives warning that she has experienced her first menstruation, herbs will be administered as a first step in the cleansing process. In the seclusion, Veronica, aged 25, informed me that the cleansing process is intensified as the initiate must be cleansed both inside and outside to strengthen her, and to enable her to resume relations with others, and to protect her from bad omen and witches. She narrated,

When they put me in the house the phungu gave me medicine to drink and some she gave me – she put in the nongo, clay pot with water to wash my private parts – it was the bark of a tree – what is it called now? – chilusa I think – it was scraped from the sides of the tree and soaked in water – some of it I was given to drink – some I bathed with here – to cleanse my body – to wash away the bad spirits – you know the blood is bad if you are not given medicine you can make people sick – they can have chest problems and even witches they are after this blood so you need to be protected.

So although this process begins at the onset of puberty, the administering of herbs continues. As indicated earlier, I was told that this process is done to purify the initiate as menstrual blood is believed to be “dirty” and attracts witches. From the time a girl starts menstruating until the end of her menstrual cycle, she is instructed to bathe in water mixed with herbs and also, to drink water mixed with herbs. Juana, aged 47, narrated that the remaining herbs are also cooked

together with chicken pieces in a clay pot, a nongo, whose soup she must drink with her phungu. This was confirmed by Mary, a phungu who added that the ritual is very significant in the chinamwali ceremony and that the roots and chicken pieces that remain in the pot are then buried in the hut or on a chulu, an ant hill outside the hut - a place only known by the initiate and the aphungu. Jane, aged 30, further explained that she was also taught how to “wear” her menstrual cloth in such a way that no one should ever know when she is menstruating. She was also instructed on how to wash her menstrual cloth to maintain cleanliness and hygiene and more importantly, to ensure that it is disposed of properly so that witches or people with ill intentions do not have access to it. The women reported that they were taught how to take care of themselves during menstruation and most importantly, how to use the menstrual cloth properly to avoid staining their clothes with menstrual blood. They were also instructed not to hang the menstrual cloth in the open as evil people could use them for magical purposes.

Among the Chikunda, I was told that from a young age, sometime around the ages of 9 or 10, young girls are encouraged to pull their labia minora in order to elongate them. The girls are encouraged to begin manipulating the labia at this young age because it is believed that left too late, the labia will lose their elasticity and it will become harder and painful to elongate them. The labia are massaged and stretched from top to bottom with the tips of the thumb and the index finger of each hand. The girls do this by manipulating the labia with the help of herbs and oils - the oil from the kernel of the baobab (mukuyu) or castor tree are used to assist in “softening” the labia. According to Mwenda (2017: 346), though the practice of labia elongation is classified by the WHO as a Type 4 FGM, unlike other forms of FGM listed, it involves mainly stretching the labia and does not normally endanger the life or health of the person involved. Among the Chikunda, labia elongation does not involve the partial or complete removal of the external genitalia, nor does it involve any violence or coercive forms of FGM. The practice is perceived as beneficial for men’s, as well as women’s social and sexual well-being. Without malepe, a woman will be perceived an incomplete woman whose upbringing does not comply with tradition.

Matilda, aged 27, who was initiated with other girls, explained that one should not pull the clitoris in the process as this should remain between the two lips. She also explained that:

I was taught that I should pull my labia and they should be this size (indicating the size using her small finger) – and that they should not be too long because they can be watery – so they checked them to see if they were the correct size – those who did not have the correct length they started helping them with medicine.

Most participants indicated that if the labia are too long they could be watery and thus not play their intended function and others said that if they are too long, they could cause friction and bruising, making a woman susceptible to HIV/AIDS. This contrasts with the findings of Perez et al (2013) that there is no risk that elongation of labia minora may lead directly to an HIV transmission. Others however, reported that elongating labia enhanced sexual pleasure for

women when the men “play” with them, and that they also facilitated easy childbirth. Similarly, a study to explore the values, meanings, and experiences that Zambian migrants in South Africa associate with labia minora elongation found that there is personal and social value placed on this practice because of the sexual benefits for men and women, and for women’s enhanced femininity and self-image (Perez et al 2015: 857-867; Perez et al 2015: 5). Though it is expected that the girl would have achieved the required length by the time she comes of age, whilst in seclusion, the aphungu will inspect the initiate to ensure that the labia are the correct length. If the aphungu is not satisfied that the correct length has been achieved, the initiate will be assisted to elongate them with special herbs until she is satisfied, as it is believed that this is the essence of being a woman. Thus, elongation of the labia minora can be seen as part of the process of initiation to female sexuality in this community.

Agnes, aged 55, told me that traditionally, young women were examined as part of virgin marriage. This examination is referred to as “chisungu”, meaning one who is “pure” or “untouched”. The direct translation is “one who has not been touched”, and to be deflowered - ana mudya chisungu or anadyewa chisungu – the literal translation is that “her virginity was eaten”. However, she indicated that in recent years, the requirement to be a virgin was relaxed. When I asked how this testing was done, Matilda, aged 27, explained that the aphungu were able to tell when they inspected with their fingers. They checked to see if I was a virgin – by that time I was okay I did not have a child.’ Grace, aged 55, who was betrothed and staying with the family of her husband to-be when she came of age, explained that, ‘They brought a white cloth to put on the floor so that afterwards they confirmed that I was a virgin – then I became officially married.’

However, Paula, a ritual instructor told me that the girls were taught that if they engaged in premarital sex they would grow long nails, and that the fear of this outward sign was deterrent enough for one to engage in pre-marital sexual relations. However, I learned that if it is found that the girl has lost her virginity, she will be strongly reprimanded as she has brought “shame” to her family and that a girl who was found not to be a virgin at marriage would fetch a lower bride price. In this way, chinamwali is similar to the female initiation rite of the Venda in South Africa where virginity testing is encouraged to discourage teenage pregnancy (Manabe 2010: 81). I will now discuss the exit ceremony – the phase where the status of the namwali as a woman is confirmed.

5.2.3 The Exit Ceremony: Kumalidza

The goal of this part of the ceremony is to celebrate the young girl’s new maturity (Drews 1995: 103). The final preparations of this phase begin the night before the actual exit ceremony. The namwali must demonstrate to the elders what she has been taught during the seclusion - the

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period marking the transition from the old “status” to the “new” one. Patricia, aged 43, narrated that:

I was taken outside and people came to celebrate and dance. And they gave me some gifts – money, vitenge (cloth wrappers) – I received many things – I was taken outside for all to see I was now a woman. The night before all this they were drumming and singing songs – women came to teach me things – they were sitting on top of me to see if I danced properly – then in the morning that’s when I was taken outside – I sat on the mpasa (reed mat) while people sang and danced and gave me money – and I was given new clothes – it was a good day for me.

Here the word “dance” is not used in the sense of a ritual dance, but a dance performed during the sexual act between a man and a woman. During the seclusion, the phungu prepares the initiate for this final stage by clearly monitoring the namwali to ensure that she had indeed grasped what she had learned – what was to be expected of her henceforth. Once the phungu is satisfied that the girl has learned what she has been taught, then she is considered ready to take on her new role. Thus, this night marks the beginning of the initiate’s complete separation from her former life, her “girlhood”, which is the final stage before the “exit ceremony”. I was told by Matilda, aged 27, that to make sure the initiate has learned the art of dancing in bed, elderly women will lie on top of her mimicking a future husband while she performs. This is done repeatedly until the phungu is satisfied that she is ready to perform this marital role. Meanwhile, outside, the celebration goes on; chezela, overnight dancing and beer drinking. Although the men are allowed to celebrate outside, they may not enter the hut. The women who are allowed to enter the hut are now in celebratory mood, and also eager to know whether the young woman is ready for her new role and status as a woman.

The following morning, the namwali is taken outside the hut where she sits on a mat with her phungu – people can now come and see her – to see that she has now come out as a new person – a woman. She dresses in new clothes in what Drews (1995: 103) says symbolises a new beginning. The ritual is likened to the post liminal phase representing rites of incorporation into a new status. In some rites of passage, the new identity may be symbolised by the attainment of new names (Johnson 2011: 204-206). In chinamwali, it is symbolised by wearing new clothes especially bought for the occasion. This symbolises leaving the old life and entering a new one. In some cases, the clothes that the initiate wore at first menstruation are burnt and buried which is usually the pride of the young girl and her new status as a woman. This symbolises “leaving the old life”.

The initiate is showered with gifts in the form of money, beads and cloth, chitenge. These gifts are for her to keep. Meanwhile, the celebration from the day before continues, with people dancing and drinking local beer, bwadwa. Men, children and those women who were not allowed to take part in the “secret” rituals of the ceremony may now participate. Therefore, among the Chikunda, even though chinamwali can be viewed as a ritual that turns a girl into a woman, it is

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also an event that brings together the community. In this way, the social significance of the event is emphasised. Among the Chikunda, the namwali does not take part in the dancing outside – this is for the people who have come to receive her – she sits on a mat and observes them celebrating her new status – her womanhood. Maria, a ritual instructor, was adamant in distinguishing chinamwali from the female initiation rite in neighbouring Chief Mburuma’s area, where she said that the initiate is required to dance for the public on the final day. She however indicated that the end of the seclusion can be a quiet affair or a festive occasion depending on the decision of the family – or finances these days. Having described the final stage of the chinamwali ceremony, I will now discuss the rituals in the next menstrual cycle.

5.3 The Next Menstrual Cycle Though most of the rituals and ceremonies in chinamwali are conducted during the seclusion phase, at the next menstrual cycle, the namwali and the phungu must return to finish off what was started. Maria, a ritual instructor, explained that:

At the next menstrual period, the pot that was buried is unearthed using the feet of the namwali and her phungu and then buried in the bush or thrown into the river to be washed away by the water. Don’t use the hands because this is taboo - the pot should be disposed of facing in an upward position, and then thrown as far away as possible in the river to be washed away.

Paula, another ritual instructor, added that:

Nowadays, the pot can be thrown away in a pit latrine - the important thing is that it must be disposed of in such a way that it should not be seen. No one should see this pot apart from the initiate herself and the phungu, as the young woman’s chibalo (womb or fertility) will be at risk.

The unearthing and disposing ritual symbolises the “opening of the womb” – to ensure the girls’ ability to have children in the future. Therefore, it is believed that if this is not done properly, she may not be able to bear children. This ritual is very symbolic in the expected motherhood role that the namwali has taken on in her new role, as it determines the continuation of her lineage. The ritual emphasises the strong link between femininity and motherhood, as among the Chikunda, being a woman is fulfilled through one’s ability to be a mother. Munalula (2009: 75- 81) posits that motherhood is strongly connected to the identity of an African woman to the extent that a woman who is infertile is identified in derogatory terms. Having discussed the rituals in the next menstrual cycle of the namwali and what they symbolise, let us turn to the chinamwali curriculum.

5.4 The Chinamwali Curriculum A large portion of the chinamwali curriculum is intended to prepare the namwali’s future role as a woman. The importance of the girl’s adolescence teachings in the chinamwali curriculum

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correspond closely to how women are expected to behave in their homes. This education is the responsibility of the girl’s social network, which includes the phungu, the mother, aunts, grandmothers and all women who volunteer to share their knowledge. These lessons are conveyed through songs and emblems which are explained in detail later in this chapter. When the women were asked to describe the teachings in chinamwali, teachings on respect, sex education, sacred emblems and lessons on food taboos were the most highlighted.

5.4.1 Teaching on Respect

Respect is one of the cardinal themes addressed in chinamwali – respect for oneself and to others, especially males and elderly people. The advice given to initiates centres on respecting and obeying parents and other adults. For example, Mary from Chiendende aged 29, informed me that she was taught not to open her mother’s cooking pot, especially without her permission. She was also taught to assist elderly women in carrying their pots from the river, and to give way to elders whom she meets on the path or road. She was also taught to obey instructions and not to question elders, and was taught about self-respect. Catherine, a phungu, explained that men were afraid to approach a girl that had undergone chinamwali because they knew she had been taught to respect herself. She stressed that this was important because how one treats oneself attracts respect from others as well. Clement, a man aged 43, added that chinamwali was useful because it taught a woman how to respect herself and other people. This mirrors findings of other studies on female initiation that have shown that respect for others occupies an important place in the chinamwali curriculum (see: Siachitema 2013; Drews 1995; Jules-Rosette 1980; Rasing 1995, 2003 & 2011: Kangwa 2011; Kapungwe 2003).

As she is not married yet, Paula, a ritual instructor, explained that the namwali is taught how to respect her future husband; how to receive gifts from him, not with an outstretched hand, but to kneel before him as a sign of respect and to express her gratitude for gifts in the confines of the marital space. The namwali is also taught how to receive her husband when he returns from work or the field; she must stop whatever she is doing to receive him, londela whatever he has brought home properly, by kneeling no matter how big or small the parcel is. The girl is also taught to remove his shoes and to and prepare water for him to bath. Reflecting on her experience, Patricia, aged 43, said that she was taught the customary behaviour of kneeling in the presence of males or older women. As a sign of respect to her father, or any father figure, she was also taught not to sit in the seat that her father occupied. This is consistent with the emphasis on respect for males in particular. In summary, it is clear from the above that the chinamwali curriculum places a lot of emphasis on respect – respect for self, and for others, particularly males and the elderly.

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5.4.2 Sexuality Education

In Zambia, the role of initiation rites as channels of education on sexuality is well documented (Rasing 2003, 2011; Kapungwe 2003; Richards 1982; Kangwa 2011; Siachitema 2013). Patricia, aged 43, an elder in the Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA), explained that in chinamwali, women were taught how to look after themselves and not indulge in premarital sex to prevent early pregnancy, or extramarital sex if they were married to avoid contracting illnesses such as HIV. She indicated that at this stage most of the girls are of school going age and that sex education is taught mainly to discourage premarital sex and early pregnancy. This confirms a study done on traditional cultural practices of imparting sex education and the fight against HIV/AIDS in Zambia, which found that initiation ceremonies for girls were the main channels through which the only socially approved sources of information on sex matters were communicated (Kapungwe 2003: 48). Kapungwe (2003) further reports that in the past, initiation concentrated on sex education since the initiate was married immediately after the initiation ceremony. Richards (1982: 139) also notes that lessons on sex were more emphasised in female initiation rites than other lessons. However, in contradiction, Chiwoni, aged 21, who has not undergone chinamwali was of the view that sexual education was not appropriate for young girls because

I think they should wait until the time to get married – that is when they should teach these things otherwise they just cause problems because girls get excited that they know everything and they want to experiment what they are taught exposing them to HIV.

This confirms another study that concluded that while initiation training discouraged teenage pregnancy due to virginity testing, there was a contradiction within the training, because whereas girls were trained to maintain their virginity, the opposite was true of boys who were encouraged to be sexually aggressive, thus defeating the whole purpose of the training, calling for an inclusive training curriculum in initiation rites (Ramabulana 2004).

5.4.3 Lessons on Sacred Emblems, Food Taboos and Hygiene

Sacred emblems contain the secrets of wifely responsibilities (Jules-Rosette 1980: 392). In chinamwali, lessons on sacred emblems centre mainly on the use of clay pots (nongo) and beads (ulungu). Each of these is considered to have meaning in the married life of a woman. With regards to the pots, Jane, aged 30, explained as follows:

I was instructed to keep two pots: one is for the razor blade which I must keep at all times to shave my husband’s armpits and private area. I was taught that a man should be clean in these areas at all times – it is my duty. I was told that when a man dies and they find that he is not “clean”, the wife will be severely punished and ridiculed because it will be seen that she has not been taught well, and has not performed her expected duty as a wife. This pot therefore, has symbolic meaning

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– it teaches the namwali on her role to keep her husband clean. The other pot is for the cloth that she must use to clean the husbands private area after each sexual encounter. These pots are supposed to be kept in the marital room, in a secret place which is only known to herself - these days, even a plastic bowl is allowed to be used for this purpose. The pots are very important in a marriage.

The importance of beads is also emphasised as they are believed to play an important role. Beads are encouraged to be worn around the waist. The reason for this I was told was that they “shapen” and “soften” a woman’s waist – a woman’s waist should be different from that of a man I was told. The beads are also said to be attractive to men as they “excite” them. This is similar to findings in Zimbabwe, where the beads are believed to make sexual intercourse pleasurable (Batisai 2013: 106). When a baby girl is born, I was told that beads are also put around her waist for the same reasons mentioned above. Thus, we can conclude that girls are from a very young age prepared for their role as sexual beings, meant to please men sexually. The beads also play another role. Faustina, aged 35, narrated that she was instructed to use beads to convey a message to her husband thus:

I was instructed on how to signal to my husband when it is safe for us to sleep together – you use beads to tell him that you are okay or no am on my periods – because when you are on your periods you have to make sure that you do not meet – it is dangerous.

Patricia, aged 43, explained that the red beads put on the bed or pillow when a woman is menstruating were meant to warn her husband that she is in danger – she is not clean and may not be touched, as to do so will cause the man to be sick, chifuba cha mdulo. When she is ready to resume sexual relations, she is required to signal to the husband by removing the red beads and replacing them with white ones. Thus, the role of beads are symbolic in that being ku mwezi (in the moon) or ku muliro (fire) stresses the power of a woman to control her sexuality, because for sex to take place, it must as Udelhoven (2006: 87) contends, depend on the “rhythm” of her body and not the man’s.

I was told that in chinamwali there are several taboos that are taught to the initiate and these include the dangers of salt and fire and the sacredness of menstrual blood. The Chikunda believe that salt and fire are mediums through which “mysterious” powers can cause illness or bring suffering. When a woman is menstruating, she is in the moon, ku mwezi and she is “hot”, ali ku muliro. I found out that being “in the moon” explains the fact that her menstrual cycle happens periodically – hence “she is in the moon” because that event happens periodically. And when she is in this state, ali ku muliro, she is “hot” and she must not go near fire and may not cook. For this reason, Grace, aged 35, explained that,

A menstruating woman is not allowed to put salt in food that she is preparing, as to do so will cause illness, chifuba cha mdulo, severe chest problems which is like tuberculosis.

Similarly, Concillata aged 40, told me that,

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A woman who has just miscarried must not touch salt or put salt in the food that she is preparing because she will invite illness.

During this time, Catherine, a phungu aged 49, said that,

A young girl who is not menstruating or in the case of a married woman, the husband may put salt in food, or even prepare the food as the woman is not clean and can bring problems to other people.

During the seclusion, the girl is instructed not to touch salt or eat food with salt. She is also not allowed near the fire or to cook as it is believed that she will suffer from a prolonged cough and could die. This, as has been explained may cause those who eat her food to suffer from chifuba cha mdulo. The initiate is also advised not to put salt in food whenever she menstruates as this will cause illness and sometimes death. Maria, aged 24, explained that, “her husband, or a girl who is not menstruating should put salt in the food, not her”. Most of the participants mentioned that they were instructed not to put salt in food that they were preparing whenever they were menstruating because doing so would make the people who would eat the food to be sick. In some cases, they were instructed not to partake in any cooking during this period. These restrictions as Agyekum (2002: 367-387) mentions, have been made in many other African cultures for example, in Ghana where a girl who is menstruating is seen as unclean and elsewhere, among the Hindus where woman who are menstruating are treated with such sensitivity. In most African cultures, menstrual blood is seen as dangerous as it is believed to cause among others, contamination and death. Among the Bemba culture Kangwa (2011: 37) notes that the myths of menstrual blood centre on its perceived possession of dangerous powers. Among the Chikunda as alluded to, the belief in the power of menstrual blood is very strong as it is believed that it can cause sickness and in some cases, death. The administration of kalusapo or shaumbwa, herbs when a girl first menstruates points to the strong beliefs in the myths surrounding menstrual blood. This sacredness attached to menstrual blood is initiate is emphasised in the instructions that the young girl receives. For example, Juana, aged 47, told me, that she was cautioned not to keep the menstrual cloth carelessly, as it is believed that mfiti, witches can use it to bewitch her or other people. This fear is so strong and was echoed amongst all the participants.

The girl is also instructed that sexual intercourse may not take place when she is menstruating as to do so, would be to put her husband in danger. Although as Rasing (2003: 1) argues, this prohibition is for purposes of hygiene, the main reason given is the fear of witches as blood in most parts of Zambia is believed to be linked to ancestral world. The husband is therefore, supposed to be warned when the woman is in this “dangerous” state by putting bred beads on the pillow or bed notifying him that she is “unclean” and because of the blood, may cause him harm. When we looked at the symbols and their meanings in a previous section, the role of beads was explained in greater detail. The sacredness of menstrual blood and the mysteries

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surrounding it are so intense that sometimes, a woman may not sleep on the same bed or cover the same blanket for fear of “contaminating” him. Although the reasons were not clear, one can conclude that menstrual blood is considered sacred amongst the Chikunda for the power it has to cause harm, and also due to the belief that mfiti, witches, are particularly fond of this blood because of the power it has in wizardry

Lessons on food usually boarder on how food should be prepared, and a woman’s role in food preparation during menstruation. Timely preparation of food for the family, in particular, for the husband is emphasised. In some cases the girl is advised to serve her husband food first before herself and the children. Other lessons on food relate to how to serve a chicken. The initiate is taught how to serve a chicken and the chicken pieces that are the preserve of the man only. The back and the gizzard are for the man. The back I was told symbolises the sexual act - the back is the woman - a woman lying on the back for the man. This I was told is because the woman sleeps on her back during the sexual act. The gizzard symbolises the testicals. The neck and the thighs which are reserved for the man symbolises the male organ and the thighs, the woman, respectfully. I interpreted this to mean that the neck which symbolises the male organ cannot be eaten by the woman, because it is his part. I was however, left wondering as to why the thighs should also be a man’s preserve because they symbolise a woman’s body part – not a man’s. In my view this could be understood as a message to reinforce female subordination to men. I was not told what would happen if a woman ate these chicken parts. The only reason given was that it was taboo for a woman to eat them.

Several studies such as Siachitema (2013), Rasing (1995), Richards (1982), Matobo et al (2009) and Munthali & Zulu (2007), have mentioned how female initiation serves as an avenue to teach initiates lessons on cleanliness and hygiene. In the chinamwali, the young girls are also taught lessons on cleanliness and hygiene, especially during menstruation. Most of the participants mentioned that a girl at initiation is instructed on how to wash the menstrual cloth and also how to ensure that she takes her bath regularly during this period to ensure that she is fresh and to avoid menstrual order. I sensed here that the reason was more to do with the fear of witches, as explained earlier, who will be attracted to the smell of blood which may put the girl or woman in “danger”. The aphungu use various techniques, mainly dance and song to convey these messages to the namwali. They are important means through which knowledge is transmitted and carry messages about different themes of womanhood; cleanliness, maturity, and wifehood.

5.5 Demonstration through Dance and Song Chikunda et al (2006: 143) note that songs are another way in which knowledge can be transmitted to initiates. Makaula and Lumbwe (2014: 167) also show how music is the main tool for communicating and imparting moral, social, cultural, spiritual and political education and plays an important role to perpetuate cultural and religious values that ensure the survival and

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continuity of cultural traditions. Emphasising this point of view, Dontsa (2007: 392) observes that music enables communication through song, to express experiences of social life that are not otherwise expressible due to cultural constraints. In chinamwali, these songs contain what is referred to as mwambo (miyambo plural). Through these songs, bad behaviour such as promiscuity are denounced and messages on behaviours that are considered unacceptable by the community are transmitted. In these songs symbolic languages is used whose meanings as indicated the section on the seclusion, only women who are already initiated are tasked to transmit and explain to the initiate. The following are some examples of chinamwali songs and what they mean:

Namwali bvala nguwo zibili x 2 Ona chikwanka wako wacena muluba

This song encourages the initiate to wear the menstrual cloth properly so that the menstrual blood does not sip through her clothes and it advises her to wear it discreetly in such a way that it cannot be seen. The menstrual cycle is a woman’s “secret” therefore, only she should know that she is menstruating – hence namwali bvala nguwo, zibili, namwali wear two cloths, signifies the importance of this aspect.

Ndaba mbwaya ee Mfamba nciliula x2 Ine ndakula oayee ine ndakula, Mfamba nciliula x2

This song emphasises that the girl has now grown up and should portray the behaviour of a grown woman. It also encourages the initiate not to be mischievous and to respect herself because not doing so will invite men to approach her for sexual relations like an animal does. In this song, the animal is mbwaya, a dog as it does not choose when and with whom to have sex. So here, the initiate is instructed to behave like a human being, and not a dog, that does not choose when, where, and with whom to engage in sexual relations. The overall message in the song is about the need for self- respect.

Nkali kugombe ndabva mukuwee Kwa a Gole Ndabva mukuwee, aye ndabva mukuwee Kwa Gole [Chorus] Ndabva mukuwee aye ndabva mukuwee Kwa Gole

Ndabva mukuwee nkali ku nkuni Kwa Gole Ndava mukuwee aye, ndabva mukuwee

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Kwa Gole Chorus X3

Ndabva mukuwee nkali ku madzi Kwa Gole Ndava mukuwee aye, ndabva mukuwee Kwa Gole Chorus X3

Ndabva mukuwee nkali ku munda Kwa Gole Ndava mukuwee aye, ndabva mukuwee Kwa Gole Chorus X3

This song is sang by women who volunteer to instruct the initiate whilst she is in seclusion to confirm that they have also passed through chinamwali and have been instructed enough to pass on their knowledge to the namwali. The women sing as they enter the hut where the initiate is seated conveying the message that the young girl will learn lessons that will enable her to be accepted in the community of knowledgeable women.

Katewatewa kwalume anabene Tewa londoo Aliye alange tewa

This song teaches lessons on fidelity. It talks about a woman who is promiscuous because she has not been taught well. The song is usually sang when a girl fails to perform what the aphungu have taught her. It is some kind of foolery to embarrass the young girl and to encourage her to internalise what she has been taught so that she does not bring shame to her family when she is married. The song is also used to warn the namwali not to “flirt” or sleep with other people’s husband, like a woman who has not been taught. Maria, the ritual instructor who translated the songs indicated that the message in the song is cardinal in that it emphasises the power of a woman as a sexual being. However, this power should be used for her good and that of the community and should not be misused by engaging in illegitimate sexual relationships.

Ndi daona Nkhando nchembele Niukulu wangu wanifikila Ndi daona amulopa afika

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Ine ninagopa

Ndi nana munkhonde mwa achembele Ndafuna kuti aniudze zacitika

Ndipo aliza nthungulu Ndipo andi udza kuti, ukulu wako wakufikira

Here the girl has no idea about her menstrual period, hence she is afraid. But she approaches an elderly lady who explains to her that she is now matured and that if she sleeps with a man she can get pregnant. It teaches a girl to fear men to avoid being pregnant, because she is now capable of being a mother. Whilst the girl is in seclusion, the aphungu as the personal advisor, and other women who volunteer also physically demonstrate how to perform sexually. Thus, during this period, the young girl is taught erotic dances which she should perform for her future husband as a prelude to, and during the sexual act. In Lumbwe’s (2009: 83-89) writings, he depicts music as playing a crucial role in Bemba oral tradition in order to facilitate the passage of cultural values and morals from one generation to the next during the chisungu, the Bemba initiation ceremony for girls. However, she does not address the issues of power where the initiate is taught to submit to the man, the husband, as is done in the chinamwali, and she has also not analysed how the initiation rite in general influences the social life and status of the women concerned. In a similar study, Dontsa (2007: 383 – 407) shows how intonjane music is performed at puberty rites of the amaxhosa women. However, the author focuses specifically on how the music contributes to the cultural identity of the women concerned and as in the case of Lumbwe (2009: 83-89) described above, does not show how this music influences the wellbeing and social life of the women concerned. This section has shown how lessons are transmitted through song and dance. The examples given, as well as the taboos in the following section underscore the role of song and dance in conveying messages and are a socially and culturally approved source of information on the chinamwali. During the entire chinamwali ceremony, attendance and the role of the different actors at the different stages are clearly defined as will be discussed in the following section.

5.6 Attendance to Chinamwali and the Different Actors The entire ceremony is organised by the parents to the initiate, particularly the mother. It is this mother figure who will decide which phungu to invite to instruct her daughter and also, determine the period of seclusion. In the absence of the mother, a mother figure such as the aunt or grandmother will be in control. From then on, the phungu takes over and she, with other women who have passed through this process, guide her into becoming a woman. The aphungu are usually paid a fee for their important role in teaching the initiate. Usually, a chicken is first

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presented as a sign of respect. Thereafter, some payment in form of money is made though I was told there is no fixed charge, and that it varies from phungu to phungu and also depends on affordability by the family concerned. The aphungu have power and enjoy respect in the community as custodians of chinamwali tradition, which has been passed on to them from generation to generation.

At the centre of the ceremony is the initiate or namwali who guided by expert teaching and instructions from her phungu and other knowledgeable women and, it is she that is instructed on matters pertaining to womanhood – these she should internalise in order to be accepted as an adult woman in the community. As indicated earlier, chinamwali is a secret puberty ritual where only women, especially those who have undergone the practice may take part. Men are not allowed, neither are young girls who have not reached puberty. Although the phungu as the personal advisor to the namwali has the main task of explaining the meaning of the songs to the initiate, all the women who volunteer to share their knowledge can also give their interpretations to the songs. After the seclusion, where the girl is taught the tradition of chinamwali, mwambo wa chinamwali, the namwali is ready to take the final step – the exit ceremony where she must be received by the community as a woman.

At this final ceremony, men, children and everyone else who was restricted entrance during the seclusion period may attend the celebrations – to celebrate her new status as a woman. The men and all those who were restricted in the “secret” rituals can now present gifts, ku sowela, to the initiate and are allowed to share their wisdom. Drews (1995: 105), has interpreted the festivities, the phwando as they are referred to, as an image of men and women equally celebrating the integration of the namwali as a mature member of the community. In summary, attendance to the main “secret” ritual of chinamwali is selective as it is only open to those women who have undergone the ritual, guided by the aphungu. The more public ceremony, the exit ceremony is open to men, children, and women who have not undergone the rite.

5.7 Conclusion In this chapter, I have discussed the symbolic structure of the chinamwali initiation rite. The findings reflect that chinamwali is a cultural practice that guides a girl from “girlhood” to “womanhood”, marking the end of childhood for one to begin life as a woman. However, I find that the ritual and lessons taught in chinamwali neglect this role as they assign women to internalise a lower position in the community. Indeed, menstruation is the first sign that a girl has become a woman, and this is the criteria for one to be presented for chinamwali. Yet, this very “blood” is regarded as dangerous – and the woman in this “blood” state is considered “contaminated”, and “unclean”. As Oduyoye (2004: 37) observes, I argue that such taboos have the effect of linking women to evil which can in turn impact negatively on their status.

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The rituals of “unearthing” and “disposing” of the clay pot described in Section 5.3, performed to “open the womb” of the young woman so that she is able to bear children in future suggest compulsory motherhood, which is problematic, and has the potential to impact on women’s status because if one is unable to bear children, she could be considered a minor, and as Oduyoye (1999: 116) observes, not a full woman, and by implication, not a full human being. Furthermore, though literature has categorised labia elongation under Type 4 FGM, the findings contribute to feminist scholarship on gender and sexuality and coming of age and initiation, by pointing to the ways in which it is beneficial for men’s social and sexual pleasure, and significantly, as a source of identity and empowerment for the women that practice it.

Examining the relationship between the chinamwali rituals and ceremonies on sexuality within the broader community suggests that there is an explicit link between women’s sexuality to their economic wellbeing which has the potential to encourage dependency and also, to disempower women. For example, though virginity testing may be important in discouraging teenage pregnancy and encouraging abstinence, the practice may threaten to objectify women as it is believed that being a virgin at marriage will fetch a higher bride price for the girls’ family. This has the potential to teach young women to be dependent on men to “pay” for their sexuality as they will expect to be supported economically for their sexuality. Of significance however, is the positive potential role of chinamwali to sexuality education as most of the lessons and messages taught suggests that it communicates positive norms and values on sexuality. That is why it is recommended that approaches to sexuality education need to be designed in such a way that they address women’s social status as a key aspect in enhancing their assertiveness and to take control of their sexuality. In the following chapter, I present the findings on what it means to become a woman among the Chikunda.

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Chapter Six: Becoming a Woman among the Chikunda

6.1 Introduction In the previous chapter, I provided a description of the chinamwali process to give an understanding of among others, the rituals and ceremonies that constitute this initiation rite - a rite that has been practiced from generation to generation in the Chikunda community. I have also noted in previous chapters that the role of initiation ceremonies as channels of knowledge on social, religious and sexual roles has been well documented by sociologists and anthropologists in Zambia, and elsewhere. This literature (for example see: Siachitema 2013; Richards 1982; Rasing 1995 & 2001; Drews 1995; Kangwa 2011; Kapungwe 2003; Munthali & Zulu 2007; Chikunda et al 2006), also reports that these ceremonies are an important source of knowledge on what it means to become a woman. However, beyond this knowledge, I discovered that there are experiences centred on sexuality and identity that needed to be closely examined.

In my fieldwork, working from a feminist perspective entailed directly hearing the stories of participants and recording the verbal information (Wadsworth 2001: 1; Reinharz 1992: 18-19; Reid 2004: 9; Moore 1986: 92; Harding 1987: 6-8). Therefore, I interacted with a number of women and men who shared their knowledge and experiences of this initiation rite, which as noted by Mackinnon (1991: 82), is a process of gender socialisation in which women form their identity and sexuality. Through this network of thoroughly immersed participants aged 19 to over 75, I learned what it means to insiders to “become a woman” through the chinamwali process. In this chapter, I describe the narratives that emerged from the participants own account of what this means. However, before I do so, it is important to reflect on the role of the narrative approach to inquiry which I have described in Chapter 3, in providing an opportunity for the Chikunda to tell the stories that reveal their lived experiences in so far as chinamwali is concerned. As I have noted above, the narratives are also used to examine how the Chikunda make meaning and construct their identities in the chinamwali process, as through them, it is easy to understand the processes that are involved and what they mean. In this way, I support Balcomb’s (2000: 49 - 52) point of view that narratives form part of people’s identity as through them, people are able to make sense of their lives and experiences. As the author suggests, the narrative approach was found suitable to the objectives of this study, as through the participant’s narratives of chinamwali, it was easy to understand the rituals and ceremonies involved, and what they mean to the people concerned.

A narrative epistemology recognises that stories are determined by the individual’s circumstances, biographical and cultural histories, and are also related to the social interactions in which these stories are shared (Spector- Mersel 2010: 201). The author distinguishes between the telling of a “life history”, which are the facts and events of one’s life, and “life stories”, the

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ways in which people present themselves. These stories are shared under the influence of the interviewer, and in the context of the time and place of the interview. Therefore, through the information collected and recorded from the participants, I was able to access the subjective and collective experiences of the Chikunda on chinamwali, and explore how to interpret and construct these experiences. Resonating with Spector–Mersel’s (2010) point of view, Moen (2006: 2) outlines four basic claims about narrative research: first, that human beings organise their experiences of the world into narratives; second, that the stories that people tell depend on their past and present experiences, their values, the people to whom they are telling their stories, and the context in which their stories are told; third, that narrative research realises the “multivoicedness” in narratives; and fourth, that narrative research focuses on how individuals make meaning of their lives through the stories that they tell.

One major criteria influenced how I present these narratives; I relied on the themes that recurred repeatedly during the interviews. As Spector– Mersel (2010: 201) recommends, the researchers should frame their inquiry within the theories of narrative inquiry as within this paradigm, the determination of the themes in the stories is driven more by the data itself than by procedures suggested by particular research methodologies. Spector-Mersel (2010) goes on to suggest that the researcher and the researched co-construct their realities and understandings of the stories as they engage in social meaning–making discourses, and that since people create their realities through narratives, realities are essentially a narrated reality. Taking the above into consideration, I have organised the Chapter into 7 main thematic areas which highlight the experiences and insights shared on chinamwali. As I have mentioned, these are presented based on the themes recurring in the narratives and are examined in relation to how they impact on the women’s space. They are organised as follows: Section 6.12-motivation for girls to be presented for chinamwalii; Section 6.3 – desirability and attraction; Section - 6.4 presentation of data; Section 6.5 – construction of Chikunda masculinities; Section 6.6 – chinamwali: a tool for women’s empowerment; Section 6.7 – views on the utility and importance of chinamwali; Section 6.8 – who defends chinamwali? I will conclude the chapter in Section 6.9 by presenting a summary of the key aspects of the narratives, and an examination of how these impact on the lived realities of the participants. It is my sincere hope that telling these narratives is done in such a way that the reader gains an understanding of what it means to become a woman through the chinamwali process among the Chikunda. The critical question that this study asks is – what is the influence of female initiation on the life and status of women in the Chikunda community? Therefore, I find that it is important to reflect on the cultural meanings of chinamwali. In this instance, a discussion on the motivation for one to be presented for the initiation rite, is cardinal.

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6.2 Motivation for Girls to be presented for Chinamwali As noted in chapter 5, in the chinamwali, it is the mother, or a mother figure that decides whether or not, or when a girl should be presented for chinamwali. From the narratives, we learn that the decision to be presented for chinamwali is not made by the young initiate – it is not her choice. However, though the choice on whether or not one should be presented for chinamwali does not rest with the namwali, most of the participants stressed the important role that it has played in their lives. As Anna, aged 24, said, “my mother organised for me to undergo chinamwali.” Francesca, aged 48, said, “when I started menstruating my mother organised for me to undergo chinamwali. When I first saw blood, I went to tell my elder what I had seen. She informed my mother, and I was put in the house.” On the other hand, Matilda, aged 27, seemed to resent the fact that she was never given a chance when she said, “I was just put in the house when I came of age – I was in grade 5 - I did not want – they forced me – they said it was important for me as a woman.” When asked why she was afraid, she said, “because I was naughty as a child – they said you must go – they beat you up – I was afraid.”

A mother would potentially decide not to present her daughter for chinamwali in certain circumstances, for example, if she did not live with her daughter at the first menstruation. In the case of Juana, aged 47, she was working at the Boma when she came of age. It is her employer who decided to put her in the house and her mother was only notified later. For Delphina, aged 23, who did not undergo chinamwali, she was in boarding school in chief Mburuma’s area when she came of age, so the opportunity to be presented for chinamwali passed her by. Mary, aged 26, who had also not undergone chinamwali explained that she did not grow up in the district as her family lived on the Northern Province where her father was employed at the time. The family only moved to Luangwa when she had already come of age. This contrast sharply with an account of the Sierra Leonean female initiation rite described by Coulter (2005: 431-441), where the girl must return home when she comes of age to participate in the rite. Although the girls who had not undergone the rite were not excluded from the community they experienced some ridicule from their husbands and from the community. Malita, aged 20, said that even though she did not undergo chinamwali, she felt that it was important and that her friends ridiculed her for not going through the rite because they felt that she was not knowledgeable enough. Jane, aged 37, explained her ordeal:

When I came of age, I just told my mother and she just talked to me about how to take care of myself and it ended there. I wish I had undergone it because now my husband blames me for not knowing some things – he says I was not taught – but some things I am learning from my friends – but I wish I knew other things.

However, Jane did not indicate the exact things that she wished she had learned. A girl could however, compensate for this exclusion by undergoing the ceremony at a later stage. As Chiwoni, aged 21, explained, her mother decided not to present her for chinamwali after coming of age

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because she believed that she would learn everything at the right time – before marriage. There is no information on transgender or gay girls among the Chikunda therefore, it would be difficult to consider the violent trauma that chinamwali would inflict on such girls, or the legitimate avenue for such a girl to avoid chinamwali. However, within the limited information some girls mentioned fear and a sense of not being in control of their choice to be presented for the ceremony. As Matilda, aged 27, who was initiated with her cousins observes:

When I started menstruating I told my grandmother – I was in grade six – then because I was at school, they just gave me medicine to drink and bathe – I stayed at home for a few days – then after three months they put me in the house with my cousins – it was holiday time. I did not want but they forced me – they said that it was important for me as a woman – I was just childish, I guess.

When asked why she was not willing to undergo chinamwali she said, “they beat you when you don’t learn things quickly – that is why I was afraid – they will beat you up if you don’t learn the things that they teach you.” A phungu narrated that during her time, whilst in seclusion, the namwali was subjected to punishment especially if negative reports of her past behaviour were received by the phungu, thus girls were forced to undergo chinamwali to correct past bad behaviour and this instilled fear in them to undergo the rite. I would like to acknowledge the difference between been presented for chinamwali on the one hand, and being forced to participate, on the other. I find that the fact that the participants indicated that the decision to be presented for chinamwali was not voluntarily made by the initiate, there is some degree to which the young women felt coerced into chinamwali. In a similar study, Manabe (2010: 144) found that some participants mentioned issues of rejection, isolation and humiliation for not undergoing the initiation rite and concluded that the lack of acceptance could lead to feelings of rejection and low self-esteem.

There are no concessions traditionally that would exempt one from undergoing chinamwali including sexual preference. A point to note is that the girls undergo this rite at a very young age, when they are under the responsibility of parents who make decisions for their children. Furthermore, chinamwali is performed by women of an older generation whose responsibility is to prepare the young girls for a conjugal life. In this way, I would like to believe that the chinamwali process is tailored towards compulsory hetersosexuality, as marriage and the family structure are viewed as an essential element of the female experience. Furthermore, chinamwali does not look at any other type of sexuality as it is geared to the idea of women being good wives – as such issues relating to transgender or gay girls would not be considered. As Kolawole (1997: 15) says, lesbianism to the majority of Africans is not accepted as it is seen as a foreign phenomenon. Similarly, Morgan & Wierenga (2006: 11,15) in their collection of narratives on issues relating to sex and secrecy in African countries also observe, same-sex practices in general and in particular women’s same-sex relationships have been difficult to research in Africa due to taboos on the

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basis that it is “un African” and an “import from the West”. In contrast to this perspective, Judge (2018) is critical of the idea that African communities are stereotyped as so much more homophobic than their white counteparts of a similar class, positon or level of education.

In the narratives from the aphungu, ritual instructors, the motivation for them to practice was not only for financial gain, but to teach women to look after their homes when they were married. For some, their role in the chinamwali is that it is a source of income. It is however, possible that this could be an alternative reason for their involvement. For example, Paula, a ritual instructor indicated that though she offered her services to assist women, she charges fees to impart knowledge to the initiate though the fee is usually determined by the girl’s family. She explained that, “sometimes I am given money, sometimes a chicken, a chitenge (cloth wrapper) or anything.” For others, they practice as aphungu only to pass on their knowledge of what it is to be a woman. Maria, aged 70, told me that she became a phungu because, “I just do it to assist girls and to pass on what I also learned as a woman.” As seen in this Section, the “mother figure” plays a cardinal role in presenting the young girl for the initiation rite. The reasons for this motivation may vary from the importance that the practice has in moulding a young girl into “womanhood”, to it being an avenue for punishment for bad behaviour, or as in other cases, in line with customary demands.

It is important to note that chinamwali is performed by older women on other women and girls. Similarly, other female coming of age practices such as Female genital mutilation, breast ironing, corseting and foot binding that have been practiced at different periods and places in history have also been performed on women, by other women (Monagan 2010: 167). Therefore, their common link with chinamwali is that they have been performed on women and girls by other, (older) women. What is also interesting is that it is thought that these women do not engage in these practices for their own benefit, but rather for the benefit of men, and that they continue to be socially accepted and maintain legitimacy in the male dominant sphere. Coming to chinamwali, personally, what I find important is that, the “mother figure”, “her space”, “motherhood”, is likely to be the one that the young girl will tend to identify with and associate with the ritual, and later in her life. This is an important point to appreciate because of the importance attached to the “source of authority”, a source which creates a vision constructed as the female space, and which in turn conforms to the traditional view of “femaleness” and its link to “domesticity.” The domestic space privileges the “private” over the “public” (Mackinnon 1996; 186) and has implications on woman’s status. Having looked at the narratives on the cultural meanings of chinamwali, we will now turn to look at how chinamwali serves the function of making a young woman “desirable” and “attractive” to men.

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6.3 Desirability and Attraction One important theme that emerged from the narratives is the key role that chinamwali plays in making a young woman desirable and attractive to the opposite gender. Another theme constructed around the issue of “eroticism and sexual pleasure”, where a woman is taught to be a good wife or to be able to attract a husband through her ability to please him sexually. As Mary, a ritual instructor said, “about increasing a woman’s chances of marriageability, I would say yes, because a man may prefer a girl who has gone through chinamwali, because he is assured that she will keep the home.” This is also evident among the Shangaan of Zimbabwe (Chikunda et al 2006: 150), where it is said that during the Khomba, the female initiation rite, a young woman is taught that to be “successful” as a good wife and a good daughter in-law, one of the indicators is that she should be able to please her husband sexually. These female initiation rites have similar cultural significance to the chinamwali. Therefore, in this section, I will examine the narratives of the participants within these contexts. To begin with, I will look at how chinamwali has been perceived as a necessary condition for marriage.

6.3.1 A Necessary Prelude to Marriage

During the interviews, most of the participants commonly identified with the notion that the chances of a woman’s marriage were linked to whether or not one had gone through chinamwali. As Francesca, 48 said, “……I don’t know – but I think when a woman has gone through chinamwali men become more interested in marrying you.” To amplify this aspect Patricia, aged 50 said, “I am sure it is helpful. Yes, men prefer a girl who has undergone chinamwali because she will have respect.” Similar to these sentiments, the practice of foot binding (Monagan 2010: 172) which I have discussed earlier, was seen as an erotic fetish to men so that women that did not engage in it, in addition to risking social scorn, also limited their marital prospects. Thus, apart from limiting their physical movement, this practice also had an impact on the women’s space.

Some women indicated that chinamwali not only increased their chances of marriage, but also helped in building stability within the marriage set up. Jane, aged 37, who did not undergo chinamwali felt that though she is married, she feels that the initiation rite is important to maintain peace and stability in a marriage because as she explained, “I feel that I have missed out on a lot and this has brought problems in my marriage because sometimes my husband scolds me for not knowing some things – and it hurts me – but what can I do now – a long time has passed but I am learning.” Grace, aged 55, explained, “it has helped me to stay in my marriage for this long – I was married when I was 16 but I am still here – there is peace in my marriage and my home because I do everything that I was taught.”

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This notion was not only limited to one being a potential wife but was also seen to have social repercussions – as one’s acceptability within the wider community to some extent was seen to depend on whether one was a “taught” woman or not. As Estelle, a phungu, explained,

…about increasing a woman’s chances of marriage, I would say yes because a family may prefer a girl who has undergone chinamwali as they are assured that she will keep her home. But as you know, nowadays our sons just pick any girl without knowing her background but as a family, yes we would prefer a woman who has gone through chinamwali.

Phenia, aged 56, told me,” who will marry a chipuba, (a fool)? Men want to marry a woman who is taught otherwise they will say, look at that woman, she does not know anything – and you will be a laughing stock in the village.” From the interviews with the men however, there were two perspectives: first although they indicated that they would marry a woman who had not undergone chinamwali out of love, there would be problems. Second, they in turn would not encourage any man to marry a woman who has not been initiated because in their view, such women do not have respect. Protazio, aged 52, said, “yes I would have married my wife even if she had not undergone chinamwali because I love her – but I know that there would have been no harmony – there is no way you can live with a woman in harmony if she has not been taught how to live with people – it is not possible.” Another man, Censio, aged 42, said, “I can marry her if I love her but there will definitely be problems in the home and as a family you cannot progress – you go backwards because that woman will have no respect.” Clement, aged 45, said, “there would be no peace in the home because they do not know how to respect a man – you know that a woman who has been initiated has been well brought up.”

These examples demonstrate how Chikunda women have established their space within the culturally defined boundaries of what becoming a woman, and by extension, a wife should entail. What is problematic then is the implication of one being perceived as “not a full woman when one is not taught”. Furthermore, there are penalties for non-adherence to these requirements, as not being a “full woman” will be met with disapproval from the home, as well as within the community. As Manabe (2010; 146 – 148) says, culture determines how members of the community think or feel, as negative attitudes towards tradition may cause tension or rejection by others or one may not be taken seriously. This lack of acceptance, as could happen in one not undergoing chinamwali has the potential to impact on one’s space as it could lead to feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem. From the narratives it is evident that a woman’s space seems to be determined by one’s ability to become a “wife” – a status attained through marriage. This space is protected by adherence to certain requirements such as respect for a man, and other requirements such as labia elongating and other techniques that will be discussed in the following section.

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6.3.2 Eroticism and Sexual Pleasure

It is said that women’s and girl’s sexuality is a preoccupation of patriarchy as male interests inform the shape that sexuality takes (Kamlongera 2007: 85), and as Drews (1995: 104) observes in her account of female initiation rites, the young girl is taught how to give pleasure to a man sexually. In a study on fisi (hyena) culture, as practiced in some female initiation practices in Malawi, Kamlongera (2007: 85), says that the practice shows that the ceremony serves male appetites or that of the future groom. In chinamwali, as we have seen in the previous Chapter, the young girl is “inspected” to confirm that she has correctly elongated her labia minora, and that by the time she leaves the seclusion, she should have perfected the art of dancing in bed. It thus becomes evident that these aspects form a critical part of chinamwali education. The experiences on this journey to becoming a woman happen as the namwali is separated from her family and is under the guidance of the aphungu who enhance the continued performance of these rituals. In that way, they serve as a means by which a young woman constructs her “sexual identity”. To demonstrate this, I will elaborate on the leanings on labia elongation, the art of dancing in bed, and wearing beads.

Labia elongation as has been demonstrated in the previous Section, is a practice that is encouraged among young girls from around the ages of 9 and 10. The reasons advanced for engaging in this ritual are many, and include for example, that it is a sign of maturity, that it gives sexual pleasure to men, and that a woman will be perceived as a complete woman whose upbringing complies with tradition. However, what is common from the interviews is that they play a key role in the process of a young woman’s initiation to female sexuality. The importance attached to this ritual is very significant and symbolic to the extent that it dictates a woman’s “acceptability” and recognition in the society at large, and in particular to one’s husband, or male partner. As Maria, a phungu put it,

If a girl does not have them – we will help her to start pulling them using herbs until the required length is achieved – that is the essence of being a woman – otherwise it will be a problem when she is married because the husband will think that she has not been taught – this is a shame.

Faustina, aged 35, added, “your husband will laugh at you – and you will embarrass your family.” Monagan (2010: 171) in discussing the issue of shame states that men and women both experience shame, but that for women, it is a state of inferiority and “otherness” which involves the perception of oneself as a lesser creature. On the other hand, the practice enhances a woman’s self-esteem. In the initiation rite for girls among the Venda of South Africa, Manabe (2010: 26-27), reports that the rite also involves labia elongation which is believed to be a “sexual appetiser”, and a pleasurable and useful exercise, especially for men. Women who have elongated labia minora are perceived, and also perceive themselves as being more desirable than those who do have not. They also perceive themselves as having the advantage of being married and sexually satisfying to men better than those who have not. While these sentiments

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were also expressed among the participants, it becomes evident that the female body then becomes a site on which a number of societal ideals are placed, because, as one woman put it,

This is a woman’s home – without them you are not a woman. Your husband will definitely send you back home to be taught’. Another woman put it this way, “every woman should have them – they are for the men to play with to enjoy – they hold his manhood so that he does not slip in and out- so without them you are not a real woman.

As Bordo (1997: 90) argues, “the body is a medium of culture – it is a powerful symbolic form on which hierarchies are inscribed and reinforced and thus, a locus of societal control. This notion is explored in the texts above, where the female body is seen as the site of patriarchal hierarchies. It expresses the objectification and power over women that patriarchy exerts, and which is continually negotiated throughout her life. The practice also shows how women’s bodies are seen as objects of men’s desires and has an obvious impact on a woman’s status, as they become dependent on their bodies for recognition and acceptance because without them she is “a fool”, “not a woman”, and by implication, not a “full human being.”

A recurring theme in the narratives which is intimately linked to the discussion on elongation of labia above, is that of the art of dancing in bed. I will explain this briefly. I was told by some women during the interviews that during seclusion, the initiate is taught how to dance in bed in preparation for her future role as a wife. Maria, a phungu told me that, “we also teach a namwali to dance, mwambo wa mu ng’anda (bedroom rituals), which a woman must perform for her husband in the confines of the marital room.” Faustina, aged 35, explained, “you are taught to dance (in bed) – not to just lie there like a log.” At the end of the seclusion, it is expected that the namwali will have perfected this art, because not to do so will mean that she is not a “woman”. This aspect is also linked to the issue on the control over female sexuality which I have discussed.

Other than the symbolic meaning of beads described in the previous Chapter, the beads that are worn around the waist are believed to “excite” men. In the narratives I was told that aside from the role that they play in controlling a woman’s sexuality, through the “power” that they give to a woman to monitor sexual relations, when they are worn around the waist they are “pleasurable” to men. Patricia, aged 43, told me, “they also told me to wear beads (around the waist) – they are very important for a woman to wear because they excite them.” In my discussion on sacred emblems in the previous Chapter, I mentioned the role that that beads play in enhancing a woman’s femininity, for example they, define her waist in order to differentiate her from a man. As Grace, aged 35 said, “they also taught me about the beads – they are important for every woman because that is what differentiates a woman from a man – and the man can play with them to feel nice.” Once again, we see here how a woman’s body is seen as a social construct marked by societal and cultural ideals of femininity. There are several ideas that are encapsulated in these narratives; they equate “femaleness’, “womanness” with objectification, and are also subtler ways in which the female body is seen primarily as a gendered object which

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should be maintained, controlled and monitored solely for a man’s pleasure. Having discussed the narratives on desirability and homo-attraction, I now move on to discuss how chinamwali cultivates femininities and masculinities.

6.4 Presentation of data It has been said that femininity and masculinity, just like and sexuality are largely products of cultural and social processes (Kimmel 2001; 267). This means that they are not constant factors, but change depending on historical and social factors. This study looks at the epistemology of chinamwali as a process where identities are constructed. The main analytical tool is drawn from the feminist perspective where the social factors that influence the constructions of gender roles are central, and also calls for objectivity in the examination of the role of chinamwali in the construction of gender roles and identities among the Chikunda. From the narratives, I gather that chinamwali teaches young girls to internalise their gender and sexual identities through a process of enculturation. Thus, as much as this study is about women, it also shows how their sexuality is regulated, and how their bodies are seen as objects of men’s desires and power. Hence, the discussion in this Section will focus on the following themes: constructing gender identities; positions of power and social relations; and, construction and consolidation of Chikunda masculinities.

6.4.1 Gender Identities

Initiation rites involve the construction and definition of gender roles and identities (Kangwa 2011: 21; Siachitema 2013; 22; Jules-Rosette 1980: 390), and they can be either “life-giving” of “life- denying” to women (Kangwa 2011; 21). First of all, it is clear from previous chapters that chinamwali like other female initiation rites is a rite of social maturation where a girl is transformed into an adult through a process that legitimises her “new” gender and sexual roles. What is also clear is that, chinamwali teaches a young girl how to internalise her gender and sexual identities through a process of enculturation, because it is through this process that a young woman learns what is culturally acceptable behaviour of what it means to be a woman. Thus, while authors such as Rasing (2001); Kangwa (2011); and Siachitema (2013), describe the female initiation rite as a process through which a girl’s gender roles and identity as a woman are constructed, they do not show whether, or how this impacts on her status. What is required then, is an interrogation of what impact this “new identity” has on a woman’s status.

My interpretation of chinamwali is that it reinforces women’s collective identity as women because for a young girl to be initiated means to be allowed membership in the group of knowledgeable women. Generally, what the narratives expose is that chinamwali plays a role in shaping a woman’s identity, firstly as a Chikunda, and secondly, as a Zambian. This is perceived from two

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points of view: first, that one becomes a woman because she is different from those that have not undergone this initiation rite and second, that she becomes a woman because of the knowledge that she acquires or gains from the process. On the question of the role of chinamwali in shaping a woman’s identity, most participants agreed that it is going through chinamwali that differentiates them from other women because, as Patricia, aged 45 said, “…. every Chikunda woman should undergo chinamwali to show that she is different from other women.” Another response that was common is that from Anna, aged 24, who said, “that is our sign [as Chikunda] – it shows that you are now a [real] woman.” Maybin, a young man aged 25, supported this view but went further to explain that it did not matter that one did not go through the chinamwali rite in particular, to become a woman; what mattered is that for one to qualify as a woman, one should have gone through an initiation rite. He explained that, “my wife is not a Chikunda – she is Soli by tribe – she went through the Soli initiation rite - because to be a full woman, one has to undergo initiation.” Another man, Censio, aged 43, was of the opinion that, “yes, any woman who passes through this tradition is a real woman – every tribe has their own traditions – we have our own and they should respect it.”

Another view expressed was that, one’s identity as a woman is dependent on the knowledge that one has acquired as a result of having gone through the rite. Faustina, aged 35, said, “a real Chikunda woman is taught – she goes through these things – for her to be a real woman she must know the mwambo wa achikunda (Chikunda tradition).” She further told me that the reason one becomes a woman is that, “because you know the miyambo (traditions) of a real Chikunda woman.” Other common views were such as the one raised by Juana, aged 47, who said, “I feel that I am a true Chikunda woman – chinamwali made me into a real woman - I feel proud that because of chinamwali, I am a real woman”. Today, Jane, aged 37, laments the fact that she is no different from the women that have undergone chinamwali, though she is not knowledgeable of some chinamwali teachings and traditions. She says, “I belong here, so even if I have not undergone chinamwali I am still a Chikunda woman – maybe there are just some things that I do not know – I don’t know.”

What I find problematic is the emphasis that for one to become a ‘woman’, a “full woman”, a “full human”, one must undergo the rite. Most of the participants intimated that a Chikunda woman needs to go through chinamwali to become a woman. Thus, aside from attaining an identity, chinamwali also serves to fulfil a social obligation to belong to the “women’s membership”. As Jane, further said, “to tell you the truth, I feel that I am not a full woman because of the things that I do not know.” Delphina aged 23, told me, ‘it is my identity – if you do not go through it you are not complete – you are not a complete Chikunda woman – that is how I feel.” It may also be true that chinamwali like other female initiation practices offers a woman respect and acceptance in the community (Matobo et al 2009: 105-113). Though these examples show that the initiation

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rite plays a role in shaping a woman’s identity, they have an impact on a woman’s status, and as will be seen, will have a bearing on the constructions of power and social relations.

6.4.2 Construction of Subservient Femininities

Another theme in the narratives constructed around the issue of power and social relations within the chinamwali process. It is therefore, apparent that the different forms of power need to be examined in relation to their social and gendered implications. Here, this power is looked at from two levels: power in relation to the social relations between women, and with men. Firstly, most of the literature on female initiation depicts the ritual leadership as a female prerogative (See: Drews 1995; Rasing 2001; Richards 1982; Kangwa 2011; Munthali & Zulu 2007; Jules-Rosette 1980; Chikunda et al 2001). These authors describe the women as the ones that direct and control the ceremony, and as Drews (1995: 105) indicates, they are the ones that know the secrets of the ritual.

When I described the roles of the different actors in the chinamwali process in the previous Chapter, I mentioned the leadership role of the aphungu, the ritual instructors, who wield power because of the knowledge that they have on the chinamwali tradition – which knowledge they pass on to the initiate. As in the case of the anamalaka, older, professional women in charge of initiates in Northern Mozambique, described by Arnfred (2011: 145), the aphungu have the “power” to turn a young girl into a woman and through ritual and song, passing on their secret knowledge. With regards to the power relations in the making of a woman, the role of aphungu is that of seniors, leaders who command a degree of respect in the community. As men have no place in the rite, except in the open ceremony that I described in the previous Chapter, the seniority of the aphungu plays an important role here.

The selection of these ritual leaders is based on their “power” of knowledge of the chinamwali tradition, and their position in the community as a result of this knowledge. This leadership role is however, merely situational and contextual in the sense that once the aphungu are outside the context of ritual leadership, they must return to the home where they are forced to take a back seat and “submit” to their husbands. This corresponds to the observation that relations of authority more often follow seniority than gender which are context bound (Arnfred 2011: 150), Similar to the aphungu in chinamwali, the Bolokoli-Kalaw and the magnonmakanw are designated gate keepers of traditional practices and rites of initiation in Mali, entrusted with carrying out female circumcision. These “practitioners” enjoy social approval for their activities and are sought after for the services that they provide (Diallo 2004: 176).

The other issue of power which I observe, is in relation to the perceived power assumed by the young woman which will be discussed in detail in the next Section. My interest here therefore, is the gendered implications of the messages in the chinamwali ceremony that “confer” power to

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the male gender and has the potential to create hierarchies. On the question, “what role does chinamwali play in perpetuating or undermining the power relations between men and women?” the common response was that, a woman who is taught knows her place in the home,” that, “a woman who has been taught knows how to respect a man. I do not in any way wish to belittle the importance of the teachings on respect in chinamwali, but to draw attention to the impact that this may have on women’s social life and status. Catherine, a ritual instructor answered, “what power? She is a woman – she must listen to her husband, she must show respect, not just talking to him anyhow or sharing secrets in the home to outsiders.” Phenia, aged 56 said to me, “a woman who has been taught knows how to respect a man – not just treating him as if he is a child – with no respect.” While the young woman is taught to respect the elderly, as well as other people in the community, the emphasis seems to be on respect for men, or future husbands.

This view was also shared by the male participants. Clement, aged 45 said, “for me and my wife, we plan together, we work together, but she was taught that I am the head of the home – that is what she knows”. This narrative emphasis on respect for men is indeed curious as it is also believed to foster harmony and peaceful relations with others, particularly in the home. Clement added that, ‘the head of the home is the man as he is the head of the home – otherwise there will be no peace.” In addition, Censio, aged 42, said,

You can only have one “boss” in the home, otherwise things will not be okay in the home. If you follow the teachings (of chinamwali), there will be harmony in the house – otherwise there will be problems – there will be no peace in the home.

Interestingly, when asked about his views on circumcision as an initiation rite for both men and women, Protazio, aged 52, said that for men, it was a symbol of power as it, “teaches you how to be a man – without it you are a nobody – you are just like a woman – no one will respect you.” From this view point, one can conclude that respect is not expected to be mutual, as it is women who must respect men, and not the other way round. From the foregone, one can conclude that positions of power have gendered implications which have the potential to create hierarchies – in particular hegemonic masculinities which are discussed in the following Section.

6.5 Construction of Chikunda Masculinities Feminist research has analysed the concepts of femininity and masculinity in the context of gender power. That said, according to Ampofo and Boateng (2007: 51), the focus of feminist theorising has been to examine and address the ways in which being a social male impacts on the lives of female. Therefore, parallel to this assertion, I realise that through socialisation, the girl learns to accept or internalise male superiority to the point where, as has been shown in chapter 5, these power relations are used as a framework to reinforce patriarchal hegemony – the hegemonic masculinity – in this case, the Chikunda masculinity. Agnes, aged 56, emphasised that chinamwali teaches a woman to be submissive to her husband, “it should be like this - that

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is how things are supposed to be.” Censio, aged 43, added that there is a difference in the submissive behaviour between initiated and non-initiated women to me because, “those who are initiated are taught that the husband is the head – that is how they are taught.”

The discussion on masculinities is not in any way intended to divert us from the discussion of chinamwali, a process that concerns women, but to show us how women can through the chinamwali process, influence male identity and their masculinity, and in the process impact on their own status. While masculinity is power, it does not exist as a biological reality, but as an ideology that exists as scripted behaviour within gendered relationships (Kaufmann 1993: 13). Male honour is seen to be dependent on women’s appropriate behaviour. From this, one can understand that women influence male identity and their masculinity. Moreover, as Silberschmidt (2004: 243) notes, in relation to sexuality in particular, what gives social value to a man does not give the same value to a woman. Contrary to the author’s assertion that women and female sexuality represent an active and threatening power to male identity and masculinity, one can understand from the findings in this study that women and their sexuality can influence male identity and masculinity. These findings show that it is in the women’s relationship with men that they are exposed to male dominance and power. My own assumption is that while chinamwali is empowering women with knowledge of their gender and sexual roles, it also offers possibilities to reinforce male power at the same time disfavouring women. As Connell (2010: 40) notes, masculinities do not first exist and then come into contact with femininities, they are produced together in a process that makes gender order.

Ideas about femininity are associated with the private sphere and with traits that suggest positivity and subordination, while those about masculinity are associated with the public sphere, and with authority and dominance. The notion of masculinity is understood as a socially constructed collective gender identity that defines how boys and men should behave, be treated, dress, appear, what they should succeed at, and what attitudes and qualities they should have (Ampofo & Boateng 2007: 54). It has been said that there are diverse masculinities that make it difficult to separate men into distinct categories (Ampofo & Boateng 2007: 53; Whitehead & Barrett 2001: 8; Connell 2000: 10), but that these themes provide an important opportunity to understand the social legitimisation in society for the treatment of women as unequal to men. As such, there has been difficulty in giving a general definition of the term.

However, in trying to find an appropriate definition, of hegemonic masculinity, Whitehead and Barrett (2001: 15) say, “it is those behaviours, languages and practices existing in specific cultural and organisational locations, which are commonly associated with males and thus culturally defined as not feminine. In short, hegemonic masculinities are social and cultural expectations of male behaviour. The authors, further describe this form of masculinity in a given society as a form of dominant masculinity that in addition to being oppressive to women devalues other masculinities that fail to live up to the cultural ideal of what it means to be a man (Connell 2000:

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10); it is clear that the social construction of masculinity has to do with a gender order that privileges hegemonic masculinity, as it legitimises patriarchy, guaranteeing the dominant position of men and the subordination of women (Connell 2001: 38). In this Section, I examine narratives that point to some ways in which messages on hegemonic masculinities in chinamwali affect women’s space and gender relations.

6.5.1 Unquestioned Authority of Men

On being asked whether there is a difference in the subservient behaviour between initiated and uninitiated women to men, stereotyped notions were shared by both man and women, that a man is the head of the home, and since he is the head, the general logic goes that he has more social value and respect. Maria, a phungu aged 70, said, “yes, you can definitely tell a woman who has not been taught… there is a big difference – a woman who has not been taught has no respect – she talks to her husband anyhow – she has no respect.” Such female compliance is also illustrated in the case of a Patricia, aged 43 who said, “a woman who has gone through chinamwali learns how to respect a man and other people – those who don’t, shout at their husbands in public – they have no respect – when she quarrels with her husband the whole compound will know.” Protazio, aged 52, said, “there is definitely a difference – those who have undergone chinamwali have more respect for men than those who have not – they are taught to respect men.” To be respectful to men confirms the male-constructed gender notions that females should be inferior to men.

Others referred to the man as the “tambala”, a male chicken which symbolises power and leadership. This was repeated in the many sentiments expressed. Men were the “head”, the” tambala, the cock”, the “boss”, and women were the “helpers”. Thus, Jane, aged 19, who was married at 18 said,

The man is the tambala, he is the head and not the tail - we are taught that the man is the head of the home – he is not the tail, you are the tail - you are supposed to work together but he is the head – you are below him.

Patricia, aged 43, added, “they must respect their husbands – because without the tambala, there is no home, you must know that he is the tambala – you cannot question him – you cook for him – you give him sex when he wants – you listen to him – that is what a good woman should do. However, Chiwoni, aged 21, who has not undergone chinamwali said, “the only problem is that they tell women to respect men too much – so that they can do anything to women and women cannot question these men.” Censio, aged 42, said, “we men are taught how to be men – how to provide for our families – how to be leaders – but yes we know also what we should expect from a woman – otherwise there will be problems.”

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When asked about their status in the home, it was obvious to all the men interviewed believed that they were ordained to be heads of the home because they used biblical references to justify this belief. Clement, aged 45, said, “a man is a man – with or without chinamwali a woman must know this. A woman came from a man’s rib – you cannot dispute what the bible says – that is how it is.” Maybin, aged 35, said, “we all know that the man is the head of the house – how else can it be - that is how it has been from time immemorial – even the bible says so – the woman is supposed to be the helper.” Censio, aged 42 however said, “that depends on the family – but even the bible says that the man is the head of the house – so the women should not forget that.”

Although they did not say it directly, the women seemed to accept that a man could stray if the wife did not satisfy him. From this point of view, the man is given power over the woman as she is expected to be sexually submissive to him. According to Clement, who worked at the local court, most of the cases dealt with related to men wanting to leave their wives because they did not meet their expectation of what it means to be a woman because “they were not taught.” A woman’s power is under threat here, and by implication, so is her identity and sense of self. She must give into a man’s sexual demands even when she is not ready – except of course during her menstrual period when this is allowed because during this time, she may “contaminate” him.

During the interviews, I did not hear anywhere that men are also prepared or should give pleasure to women. What I learned was that, girls are expected to be virgins or prepare their bodies for men’s pleasure. As Patricia, aged 43, who was married 16 said, “it is your job as a woman to make sure that you prepare your body for your husband – so that your husband enjoys you – so that he is happy.” In my view, the chinamwali uses the body as a framework for reinforce gender power imbalances where the body is used to implant notions of submissiveness in the young women. The “bedroom” dances which I described in the previous chapter can also be understood in this way, as they are a form of social and physical control of women, in particular where they learn to internalise their status as being to “give pleasure to men”. This confirms the sexual supremacy or power of men over women and has the potential to undermine women’s self- esteem.

However, most participants defended chinamwali as a tool that is essential for the continuity of Chikunda tradition. These women emphasised that chinamwali should continue as it is Chikunda culture. Hunt (1993: 4) shows this hegemony when he describes how power relations result in a subordinate group accepting the control of the dominant group through a process where consent is imposed on the subordinate group by the dominant one. He further says that, “distinctive mechanisms are involved in the process whereby incorporative hegemony installs interests within the dominant hegemony incorporated as values and norms that contribute to securing minimum standards. This is true in the case of chinamwali where “culture” provides an avenue to transfer knowledge on acceptable male hegemony, and in the process, has the potential to reinforce the women’s inferior status in relation to men. In the next Section we will examine this theme in detail.

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While I have focused on the dynamics of how chinamwali has seemingly cultivated male hegemony, in the next Section I would like to shift to examining ways in which it empowers women. I will argue that chinamwali is important in empowering women to claim their space in the community.

6.5.2 Gender-Based Violence

The narratives show that women are taught to accept violence from their husbands where the notion of masculinity is seemingly challenged. In this case, gender-based violence is justified, where a woman accepts to be punished because she has not lived up to the ideals of “womanhood” as perceived by men. Catherine, a ritual instructor, said, “that is why you hear that so and so was beaten by her husband – because they think that you don’t know what you are doing – that you are not ready to be a wife – or they will ridicule you.” During chinamwali, messages of appropriate masculinity are transmitted – a man is the tambala, (the head) of the home. The potential for men to control women is suggested here. This is because how men behave in their families is strongly influenced by what it means to be a man (Ampofo & Boateng 2007: 55). Delphina, aged 23, who has not gone through chinamwali said, “because they emphasise that women should respect men – that is why men think that they can beat women anyhow - control women anyhow so that women end up not having a voice in the home.” Chiwoni, aged 21, who has also not gone through chinamwali said, “they stress too much on respecting men – they make men to feel powerful – the women don’t even have any say in the home all because of culture – what is this? Jane, aged 37,said, “they teach women to respect men too much – I don’t think it should be like this – as a result they think they own women – the world has changed – men should treat women with respect.” What then emerges is a picture of socialisation towards gender-based violence against women as an acceptable, approved and appropriate punishment for not being woman enough.

Patricia, aged 43, said that in chinamwali, they are taught that the man is the head of the home, and that as such, he must not be denied conjugal rights, and thus, “you must not deny him sex even when you quarrel.” The fact that chinamwali is used as a framework for reinforcing this patriarchal hegemony lends credence to McNay’s (1992: 49) assertion that, “the body, is rather to be thought of as the point of intersection……. where sex is a cultural construct that is produced with the aim of social regulation, and the control of (women’s) sexuality.” From this brief perspective, I argue that men who are violent towards women are not “deviants” but are conformists to a particular aspect of female socialisation of what it is to be a woman. A woman’s socialisation includes accepting male superiority, unquestioned authority, and violence when she does not meet her husband’s expectations, which has the potential to keep her subordinated as we shall see in the following subsection.

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6.6 Chinamwali: A Tool for Women’s Empowerment? It has been said that achieving equality between men and women requires a transformation in women’s access to both property and power (Deere & Leon 2001: 23). For feminists, empowerment means the alteration of the processes and structures which prejudice women’s subordinate position as a gender. What this means is that the term directs attention to the concept of “power” as a social relation that conditions the experience of women in two ways: it can be a source of women’s oppression when it is abused; and it can also be a source of her emancipation (Deon & Leon 2001: 24), as we will see in the following narratives.

6.6.1 “I Am Because of What I Know I Have”

Most of the women that I interviewed felt that they were accomplished women because of the knowledge that they had gained through chinamwali. As Faustina, aged 35, said, “it is so – so, I feel empowered because of what I know and what I can do.” Veronica, aged 38, also said, “I feel that I am a woman because of what I know.” Thus, to be a woman, one must be knowledgeable of, and comply with what is taught in chinamwali. As Diallo (2004: 11) notes that participating in life events such as initiation offers opportunities for one to gain knowledge on sexual norms and practices of a particular community. From the narratives, chinamwali is important as it empowers the young woman with appropriate knowledge to navigate her space in this community.

As noted, one interesting point raised was that chinamwali knowledge was helpful for one to be married. As Patricia, who is also an elder in the BIGOCA Church said, “I learned a lot otherwise maybe my husband would have left me by now.” Faustina, aged 35, looks back on it as a very positive experience as she feels that men prefer a woman who has gone through chinamwali because, ‘”when you do not know how to treat your husband, he may leave you for another woman who is more knowledgeable.” Embedded in the narratives is the sense of achievement that one gains because of what they have learned through chinamwali. Most of the women interviewed said that, “I would not be who I am today if it were not for it”. Mary, aged 29, said, ‘I am thankful because I am much better off than those who did not go through chinamwali.” Statements such as these would be interpreted to mean that those women who have not undergone the initiation rite are not “full women”. As Faustina referring to her colleague who did not undergo chinamwali said, “outsiders look at me as an accomplished woman – you see my friend here, she was complaining that she did missed out on a lot because she did not go through chinamwali – you see.” Anna, aged 24, also added, ‘it has helped me a lot – to be where I am today and in the success of my marriage.”

Chinamwali was also viewed as the pride of a woman especially that it was seen as playing a role into the making of a “real woman”. Most of the female participants alluded to the fact that they were proud to have undergone the rite because of the sense of accomplishment that was

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associated with it. Agnes, a ritual instructor, said, “I am proud of myself.” Regina, aged 30, said, “everyone that I have met is proud of the woman that I am because of how I carry myself – because of the woman that I am – outsiders are able to see the way one conducts herself – that this one was put in the house.” Catherine, a widow, aged 49, felt that she was a true Chikunda woman” as chinamwali, “made me into a real woman”. Jauna, aged 47, also said that, “I feel proud because of chinamwali, ndine mukazi wo kwana, (I am an accomplished woman).” These narratives show how some women view chinamwali as a sense of achievement even though it may not necessarily imply a change of one’s status.

6.6.2 Compensation for Pleasure

The narratives reveal other interesting notions of how chinamwali is seen to empower women through a process of compensation; where a woman is compensated by her partner in exchange for what she offers or what she knows as a result of having gone through chinamwali. It can be understood that as women are usually dependent on men for safety and economic support, compliance with this rite becomes necessary. Thus, one is rewarded for being a “good woman”, a “good wife”. This status seems to revolve around the praise and payment that it attracts. As Faustina, aged 35, told me, “my husband appreciates me because of it – I show him – he says I was taught well – he even built me a house – two rooms.” Grace, aged 35, echoed similar sentiments when she said, “my husband tells me that even if I am the third wife that he has had, he has not known anyone who is taught like me – who looks after him the way I do – and he rewards me from time to time to show his appreciation – I am grateful for what I know. She added that because of what she knows, “he in turn does good things for me.”

What I registered in listening to these narratives is that female sexuality is seen as a source of power and pride as it gives one status as a woman. As noted (Diallo 2004: 11), feminists have looked at initiation practices such as FGM as oppressing women’s sexuality and violating their rights to sexual pleasure. Seen in this context, it is women using their sexuality to give others pleasure. Furthermore, by accepting praise and payment from her partner for “pleasing him”, and for having acquired “knowledge to please him”, the young woman learns to acknowledge the role of men as providers. Though she gains this “status” through her sexuality, Drews (1995: 105) notes that she learns later in life that she will earn a man’s support through her sexuality. My point is that this can be construed as a system of commodifying a woman’s sexuality and has obvious ramifications on her space. Sexuality seems to be a cornerstone of a woman’s role as a wife. Therefore, a healthy sexual life is believed to guarantee a good marriage (Diallo 2004: 11), as a wife receiving praises of a “good woman”, a “good wife” should be able to give pleasure to her partner. This view was expressed by most of the women interviewed. For example, it seemed acceptable for a man to stray if the wife did not satisfy him sexually because, as Francesca, 48, said, “if you do not treat him nicely, he can find someone outside who will give him pleasure.”

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This also expresses gendered notions of sexuality where women’s sexuality is about giving, and men’s sexuality is about receiving. What this means is that women expect to be compensated for satisfying their husbands physically.

6.6.3 Taking Control of One’s Sexuality

I noted in the previous Chapter that during chinamwali there are lessons which are taught which are considered to have “secret” meanings in the married life of a woman. The importance of ulungu, beads was echoed repeatedly in the narratives. Patricia, 43 said,

They also taught me how to wear beads – they are very important for a woman to wear because they excite a man – they are important for every woman because that is what differentiates between a woman and a man – and the man can play with them – everything.

When you relate them to power – in this case power of a woman to control her sexuality, one can see how the two are inextricably connected. The woman through the use of beads has the power to “decide” when or “when not to” have sexual relations with her partner. As Patricia continued,

Yes, beads – the white ones and the red ones. The white ones you put on the pillow to show that you are ready to meet him, and the red ones you put to show that you are menstruating.

The other assumption is that to become a woman is to have the ability to become a mother and this is inscribed in the mind of the young woman. However, where the beads are used when a woman is menstruating, it is because as I have alluded to, in this “state”, the woman is “unclean”, she may not be touched, because she may ‘contaminate” the man. I was told, by Veronica, aged 37, that,

I was also instructed to signal to my husband when it was safe for us to sleep together – you use the beads to convey the message that now I am okay or not – I am on my periods – because when you are menstruating you have to make sure that you do not meet – it is dangerous.

Therefore, the implication is that this measure, though it can be used as a tool to empower women to control their sexuality, can also be understood to keep a woman at a distance, and in that way enable the man to retain some form of control over her, because to be in close contact with a woman in this state is to “weaken oneself”, it is to come to her level, that of an inferior human being. Related to this is the recurring theme on fertility. In the text that I describe in the previous chapter on the rituals at the next menstruation, I mention that the young woman is cautioned that she must dispose of the “pot” properly in order to ensure that she is fertile – that she is able to give birth in future. Thus, the power to procreate is in her hands. She will determine through her action or inaction whether or not she will be able to give birth in the future. There is a contradiction here – on the one hand the very natural act – menstruation that makes her “unfit” to engage into a sexual union with her partner is the very act that she must use to empower herself. At the same

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time, some women suggested that it was acceptable for their husbands to punish them when they deny them sex because, as Patricia said, “you are taught to obey your husband at all times:” Moreover, a woman should not deny a man his conjugal rights because, “we are taught to respect your husband and not to deny him sex even if he has wronged you.”

Research reveals that having greater control over child bearing empowers women as it among others, increases female – labour force participation and earnings, improves women’s health, and especially empowers the most disadvantaged women (Gupta 2013). However, the same research shows that one of the constraints to women’s control over child bearing is due to the low decision-making power in the household as husbands and partners are the primary decision – makers. In the case of the chinamwali, the aphungu who act as gate keepers in ensuring that the young woman is prepared for child birth through imposing rituals to “guard” or “open’ her womb seem to reinforce the message that a woman’s sexuality is valued through her ability to procreate, to the extent that her “womb” must be protected at all costs. The assumption here is that a woman has a social obligation to child-bearing – a role that is essentially associated with the home and domesticity.

6.7 Views on the Utility and Importance of Chinamwali Studies on puberty rites in Zambia (see for example: Kangwa 2011; Siachitema 2013; Rasing 2001; Kapungwe 2003), report that a considerable number of young women have undergone the female initiation rite. In a study referred to in Chapter 3 undertaken in 6 urban districts in Zambia in the last decade, Kapungwe (2003: 31) reports that the percentage of women who have reported having undergone initiation reveals that a considerable number of young women expressed desire to be initiated. Rasing in her studies (2001: 1 & 2004: 280), also found that initiation rites for women were still being conducted even in the face of Christianity and modernity many years after Richards’ (1982) study on initiation in Zambia. The major implication of this is that female initiation is generally accepted in Zambia.

Similarly, from the interviews conducted in this study, one can conclude that chinamwali is generally accepted among the Chikunda. The reasons given vary. However, the general view was that chinamwali is useful particularly as an avenue to teach the young girls about how to conduct themselves as grown up women. Generally, I found that the women were interested in the discussion on chinamwali and expressed desire for the practice to continue because in their view, as Estelle, a ritual instructor said, wana wa tsopano an’gopa azimuna – tsono zili na phindu (girls of nowadays are not afraid of men, therefore, chinamwali is useful). From the open-ended question asked - What are your views on chinamwali in genera?, Regina, aged 30 said, I think it is useful because one is able to learn a lot of things about how to conduct oneself as a grown-up woman.” Chilomo, aged 40, had this to say, “I think chinamwali is useful and it should be encouraged – it teaches you how to behave properly as a grown up and how to live with other.”

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Yet Juana, aged 48, said, “it is good because it means a girl is now a woman – she has left her childish behaviours in the past and has now grown up.”

Over and above this, a further connection is made where chinamwali is viewed as a cultural grounding that connects one with the wisdom of the ancestral world. Advocates of female genital mutilation which is sometimes performed as a rite of passage for females in some societies believe that the practice is deeply rooted in culture (Monagan 2010: 179). This belief was common in the narratives and was clearly demonstrated when some women expressed their view that chinamwali is useful as it is part of the Chikunda culture, and was also practiced by makolo, ancestors. As Agnes, a ritual instructor said, “It is useful – even our ancestors used to do the same.” Another ritual instructor, Estelle, explained to me that, “It is important for keeping marriages – no wonder marriages do not last these days because people have forgotten their culture. They (chinamwali rituals) are useful because they teach us about tradition”. This has the potential to impact on the women’s sense of self as to not comply with this “cultural” expectation would be to defy ancestral wisdom.

At other times, the coming of age narrative expressed feminist views where chinamwali is viewed as an empowerment tool. For example, Concillata, aged 40, argued that, ‘It is a good idea and should be encouraged especially nowadays – the world has changed – there are so many problems, disease and so forth. Young girls need to be taught how to protect and look after themselves.’ Paula, a ritual instructor, told me that, ‘Chinamwali is very important – because of it I am a respectable and knowledgeable woman - and I am able to teach other women how to be real women.’ Overall, from the narratives above, we can deduce that chinamwali is widely accepted among the Chikunda, particularly as a ceremony that plays a key role in equipping the young woman with appropriate knowledge according to cultural dictates. Chinamwali is also seen as a “compulsory” cultural coming of age institution, symbolising the entry of a young person into adulthood (Dlamini 2015: 1; Kuwema 2009: 1); inscribing in the young woman society’s expectations of what is it to “become a woman”.

Similar to the views raised above, the importance attached to chinamwali as a channel of knowledge on social, religious and sexual roles, as documented in several literatures (see for example: Munthali & Zulu 2001; Chikunda et al 2006; Siachitema 2013), is highlighted in the narratives. Regina, aged 30, said, ‘Chinamwali has taught me a lot – it is very important. For example, how to look after my home, my husband, my in-laws, and everything that a woman should know.’ Veronica, aged 38, said that chinamwali was important because it helped in her marriage, ‘I have stayed in my marriage for this long because I listened to what I was taught.’ Patricia added that ‘Chinamwali rituals have been very important in my life – I can’t lie – they have made me into the woman I am today – see – I have been in my marriage for many years – I have had no problems – and my husband appreciates me.’ Jane, aged 19, reported that, ‘they are important these rituals, otherwise your husband will leave you for other women who will know

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how to satisfy him (sexually).’ Such attitudes can explain why female initiation is now said to be a source of traditional education on marriage (Kangwa 2011: 12). One can also understand that girls learn to enact certain behaviours not so much for their benefit, but for that of others. Linked to this, one is also able to conclude that female initiation plays a powerful role in shaping the initiates gender relations (Siachitema 2013: 1; Jules-Rosette 1980: 390; Rasing 2003: 6; Moore et al 1999: 26). Thus, a woman’s sexuality, which is one aspect of initiation, lies alongside issues of control of female sexuality in patriarchal society, which will be discussed in Chapter 4.

6.8 Who Defends Chinamwali? From the narratives, I found that there was a general acceptance of chinamwali in the community. However, while most participants accept the important role that chinamwali plays as a channel of traditional education, I found that there were different views on its usefulness and importance across the various age and education levels of the participants. I observed that older participants were quick to defend the practice because they felt that the initiation rite was an important part of Chikunda culture and played a role in preserving the moral fabric of the community. Francesca, aged 48, said, ‘Today unfortunately, these young people do not take it (chinamwali) seriously. But it is very important and very useful. It is also important for future generations, so it must be encouraged.’ To emphasise the notion of age in determining one’s view of chinamwali, Protazio, who is a court clerk, said that he was not sure if he would marry a girl who had not gone through chinamwali now. Though he did not think about whether or not his wife had gone through chinamwali at the time he married her, it was because he was young at the time. Thus, he said, ‘Chinamwali is very useful. Children nowadays have no respect for elders. I see a big difference between marriages done in the olden days and now – there are so many divorces nowadays because people do not want to follow the teachings. So it is useful in my view.’ Agnes, aged 67, said:

We have let our children down – we don’t tell them the truth – but it is useful – we don’t take them through our culture. I would want this tradition to continue so that we keep our husbands to stay at home instead of going out to look for other women who know how to look after them.

The aphungu are the gate keepers and they are usually elderly women who, as has been mentioned, have influence in the chinamwali process. The elderly women relatives, aunts, mothers and grandmother work with the aphungu to decide on whether, how long or what form the initiation rite should take. These shared the view that chinamwali is a useful part of Chikunda culture and should continue. Paula, a phungu, said to me, ‘yes, I strongly believe that chinamwali should continue to be practiced – our children today are being spoilt by what they see on television – their dressing has changed, they have no manners – we need to preserve our culture – maybe we will not have all these teenage pregnancies.’ Grace, aged 55, who was married at 15 said,

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Children these days do not listen – they are busy getting pregnant – we need this tradition because it is very useful especially in keeping marriages together – when a man messes the beddings we wash in secret but these children nowadays they shout at the roof top for all to hear – they have no manners – no secrets – so it is useful to teach them.

It was also interesting to note that most of the younger men interviewed also stated that though chinamwali was important, it was not a prerequisite for marriage, and that they would marry a woman out of love and not necessarily because she had gone through the rite. Jude, aged 20, who has gone up to grade 12, echoed these sentiments when he said, ‘Chinamwali should continue because modern life is bringing a lot of problems among the youth – it is causing damage – so it is important to continue in order to maintain our cultural values.’ At the same time, he stated that he would marry a woman who had not gone through chinamwali out of love and not necessarily because of chinamwali: ‘Sometimes, it is just about love – it depends on the heart of the person, discipline and so on – her upbringing and not necessarily because of chinamwali.’ What the men seemed to agree on was that if they were to marry for love only, there would be problems in the marriage: as Protazio said, ‘I can marry her if I love her, but there would be no peace in the home because women who have not gone through chinamwali do not know how to respect a man. You know that a woman who has been initiated has been well brought up.’ The explanation for this could be that it would be difficult for one to know whether or not a woman had undergone chinamwali before proposing marriage to her, unless one was told. As Clement, aged 45 put it: ‘We know who has undergone chinamwali and who has not because sometimes when a girl is in the house you hear drums and singing – then you know.’ However, in the absence of such “noise”, especially nowadays when the ceremony is not very elaborate, it would be difficult to know and the question would not arise.

At the same time, narratives from the younger participants point to a different view. Delphina, aged 23, said:

Yes, it is useful – but these days some people say it is not important because they teach you many things at school. I feel that they just encourage girls to start becoming interested in men – because young girls are taught what happens in the bedroom and so forth, so they try to experiment and then they get pregnant.

On her opinion on the usefulness of chinamwali in modern day Zambia, she said:

Some things are useful – some things they should wait until one is about to get married – some things like hygiene and how to look after yourself are important.

Chiwoni, aged 21, said:

It is useful when you are older – like when you are getting married – but when you are too young no – what they teach is too much for young a girl, that is why they become excited – they become excited as if they know everything – it is dangerous.

Jude, a young man aged 20, felt that:

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Since it teaches a girl about respect – am sure it is useful – because these girls nowadays are not serious – but I don’t know if they can change a person’s heart – we are all made differently so it is who you are, and nothing can change you.

Mary, a young woman who has also gone up to grade 12, said that she did not go through chinamwali because she did not grow up in Luangwa. However, though she agrees that chinamwali is important because

One is taught to look after herself - it is only useful in so far as it teaches girls not to engage in premarital sexual relations but sometimes they can teach girls what to do in marriage, and they can want to experiment and then this is not good – because they can contract diseases or they can become pregnant.

Malita, aged 20, and who had also attained tertiary education said, ‘It can work – but life in the olden days was different from the way it is now. Even when you teach a girl, she still goes out and does the opposite – so it is really no use – it depends on the person.’ She further feels that there is an imbalance between men and women because, ‘girls go into marriage well prepared, but men are not taught how to please their wives – that is the sad part and things must change.’ Implicit in these narratives is that level of education and age can influence views on chinamwali.

On the other hand, the men had a different view, though they seemed to equate the usefulness of chinamwali to its ability to inculcate in young women values, such as respect for men. Generally, almost all the men alluded to the fact that chinamwali was useful because it taught young girls to respect their husbands or to look after their husbands well. Protazio, aged 52, said: ‘Chinamwali is good – it teaches woman how to look after a man because when a woman goes through it, she will respect her husband – the husband will be looked after very well.’ Censio, another male participant added that, ‘It is mwambo (tradition) – every woman should go through it when she comes of age’, because in his view, ‘women who go through chinamwali know how to look after their husbands. They know how to respect men.’ It is evident from the men’s responses that not only is chinamwali accepted, but that it also centres on women’s ability to be “good wives”, “respectful women”. The woman should in their view, not only be proficient in traditional female duties, but should also maintain what is deemed to be appropriate female behaviour. Similarly, in a study of the perceptions of urban Zimbabwean men to labia minora elongation, all the participants were in agreement that women engage in the practice to please their male partners sexually (Perez et al 2014: 135).

It is also clear that the ability to respect a man is viewed as an important yardstick for maturity and general growth for women. On the importance of chinamwali, the men concurred with the sentiments raised by the women. Maybin, aged 25, had this to say: ‘Chinamwali is important because it teaches a woman how to respect her husband and how to be a good wife.’ Clement, aged 45 said, ‘It is important because a girl is taught about respect – how to respect and look after her husband.’ However, their emphasis as noted, seems to be on the importance of

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chinamwali in teaching young women “respect for husband” (men). Such attitudes demonstrate men’s possession over women and could reinforce the belief that women are men’s “property”, and that they should obey them at all times. Obviously, they also have the potential to disadvantage women because, as Hearn (1987: 40) argues, when society imposes such patriarchal expectations, it gives men privileges over women designed to maintain social control over them.

6.9 Conclusion In this chapter, I examine what it means to become a woman in the Chikunda community. The narratives on the usefulness and importance of chinamwali suggest that this initiation rite is generally accepted, especially as an avenue through which young women learn values on how to conduct themselves as adults. However, participants relate this usefulness to cultural obligation, a practice that is useful for women to negotiate their space in a heterosexual relationship, and one that is useful for the young woman to be a “good wife”, “good woman”, and a woman who is able to “respect men”. When viewed from this perspective, one would be correct to say that chinamwali is done for male satisfaction only. With regards to motivation for one to be presented for chinamwali, what is significant is that there is an element of coercion for an initiate to participate in the rite as the namwali is not in control of the choice. Even though a girl may not be excluded from the community for not undergoing the rite, this coercion seems to create some tension, and could lead to feelings of rejection and low self-esteem. One sees that the rite is the prerogative of the elderly female members of the community. The emphasis of the source of authority also needs closer examination. Although one can argue that because the rite concerns females, it should be practiced within a woman’s domain, one can also argue that since this domain is associated with the home and domesticity, these are the values that the namwali will internalise. As these values are associated with the private sphere, the young woman is conditioned to internalise this script which she may carry into adulthood.

Another significant finding is that concerning women’s status, power relations and the role of initiation and coming of age within these power relations. The focus of chinamwali is the initiate, but one also needs to look at the power of the aphungu who are knowledgeable of chinamwali tradition, and who direct the whole process. I note how the source, the feminine source impacts on a woman’s space and the danger that this implies. Of significance however, is the creation of male hegemony through seemingly accepted norms of compensation and submissiveness. Such attitudes demonstrate possession of men over women and denote a gendered order that reinforces what I call Chikunda masculinity. Taken from another viewpoint, the namwali is socialised to accept male superiority as the norm, to the extent that this creates a framework where notions of patriarchy are embraced. A recurring theme is the idea, as postulated by Drews (1995: 111), that female sexuality is shrouded in secrecy. For example, men are not allowed in

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the private sessions of the chinamwali, neither are the uninitiated. This has the potential for sexuality to be feared and repressed by girls, as the message that seems to come across is that female bodies and female sexuality are taboo. This concept legitimises patriarchy, which as I have noted, guarantees for men a dominant position in relation to women.

As I noted, the youngest participant in the study was 19, whilst the oldest was over 75. Most of the young participants have attained at least grade 12 level of education. From the narratives, I gather that one’s level of education and age has a bearing on one’s attitude towards chinamwali. The difference in attitudes may in part be due to recent developments in the district that have seen an influx of people from other areas in search of employment and other economic opportunities. This has resulted in intermarriages, introducing different cultures, and also, a dilution of indigenous traditions. This is what Makula and Lumbwe (2014: 166, 177) found among the Bhaca in the Eastern Province of South Africa, where it is believed that the influence from other cultures from outside and within South Africa eroded the traditions and customs of the mamtiseni and nkciyo female initiation rituals. Furthermore, as society modernises, there is a tendency to adopt modern ways of life, often at the expense of traditional values and culture. Even though Lumbwe’s (2009: 230) study focuses on ubwinga, the marriage ceremony of the Bemba, it shows how the indigenous social structure has been influenced by many factors, including Christianity, education and globalisation which have taken a prominent role and a higher status than indigenous culture. Hammond-Tooke (1958: 19, 20) has also mentioned how Christianity and modernisation have influenced the Bhaca initiation rite to the extent that the ceremony was modified. It is true that as culture is dynamic, opinions about sexuality may also change. The lesson learned is that although the initiation rite has potential for sexuality and health education, the process could have the opposite effect if not handled properly. This calls for a critical examination of the potential role of chinamwali in sexuality education; this and other insights that emerge from the narratives can be compared to the dominant discourse on initiation, which will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

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Chapter Seven: Summary Discussion and Conclusion

7.1 Introduction The question that this study sought to answer is: How do female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women? In order to answer this question, the study examined chinamwali, the female initiation rite of the Chikunda found in the Luangwa district of Zambia. In this community, the rite is performed either before marriage or at the onset of menarche. In this study, the focus is on chinamwali performed at puberty, signaling the change from childhood to adulthood of female members of the community. The central question above was approached from a feminist perspective, which foregrounds the subjective experiences and meanings of the participants (Maynard & Purvis 1994: 11; Atieno 2009: 11; Harding 1993: 56; Jayaratne 1983: 4; Westmarland 2001: 1) to the phenomenon under study, and focuses on those factors that cause discrimination against women (Letherby 2003: 4). This perspective also guided the methodology used to conduct the research as it was found to be the most ideal, because as noted above, it allowed for the study to be undertaken within the framework of the lived experiences of the participants, thus allowing them to be part of the knowledge creation process (Harding 1978: 456; Tamale 2011: 29: Nnaemeka 1999: 25; Letherby 2003: 2). After reviewing the historical eras of feminism, and western originating feminisms, namely Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminisms, this study adopted an African feminist ideological framework to examine chinamwali. Specifically, African feminism challenges the public/private dichotomy of the first wave of feminism by scrutinising all areas of human social life previously thought of as private, such as the institution of marriage, motherhood, heterosexual relationships, and sexuality, which are critical elements of chinamwali. Secondly, this theoretical framework, unlike the second wave of feminism, but like the third wave of feminism, argues that women’s experiences are not universal but contextual, as it pays attention to the social obstacles that women face, and focuses on women’s empowerment as a goal of feminist research. Furthermore, while Liberal feminism focuses on the structural imbalances that prevent women from participating in the public arena, and Marxist feminism on women’s oppression in relation to their means of production respectively, these feminist theories fail to address the daily experiences of the African woman at the grassroots who are the custodians of African tradition. Though Radical feminism like African feminism focuses on patriarchy and sexuality, it fails to appreciate how other factors, such as women’s domestic roles are fundamental to women’s oppression. Hence, I found that this feminist ideological framework has the capacity to engender certain African traditions, a goal to which the chinamwali is well suited, as it is an institution through which African experiences can be examined. A review of the literature provided some direction for the exploratory research questions and gave guidance in the development of the interview guide. A sample of 30 participants was

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selected to participate in the study using purposive and snowball sampling methods, respectively. The sample included 15 women that had undergone chinamwali, who constituted the main research participants. To fully address the knowledge gap regarding the role of initiation, 5 ritual instructors were engaged. In addition, as no literature could be found that compares initiated and non-initiated women, and it was also not known whether there is a difference in their subservience behaviour as experienced by men, 5 non-initiated and 5 men were included. The feminist perspective also guided the methods used to transcribe and analyse the data that was collected in the field, as well as the thematic presentations of the findings, as reflected in chapters 5 and 6. Face-to-face interviews were recorded and then analysed using the thematic analysis method in order to gain the participant’s understanding of chinamwali, rather than through testing this understanding against a preconceived theoretical framework (Braun & Clarke 2006: 79; Robson 2011: 146-147; Benzton et al 1998: 25).In this final chapter, I conclude the study by providing a thematic analysis of the narratives presented by comparing them to the dominant academic discourse on initiation. I also provide a summary and synthesis of the key findings of the study, and highlight the general strengths and limitations of my positionality in the study. Finally, recommendations and future directions for research are offered that could be used to address some of the challenges identified in the study.

7.2 Discussion Based on the literature that was reviewed and the information gathered in the field, it can be concluded that female initiation rites are embedded in culture, and that they reflect the values and beliefs held by members of the community. What I find is that chinamwali is widely accepted as an avenue through which knowledge of what it means to become a woman within the Chikunda tradition is transmitted. The lessons in chinamwali, as in many African cultures, use traditional song and dance (Kangwa 2011; Matobo et al 2009; Ntombana 2011; Lumbwe 2009) as a medium to teach traditional knowledge, norms and values. The rites and ceremonies that constitute this initiation rite have been known to be passed on from generation to generation, and it is clear that even today, they are seen as useful tools through which traditional messages of what it means to become a woman are passed on.

The findings on chinamwali gathered in the field show how women construct their gender and sexual identities through this process and can be compared with scholarly debates on initiation. As the women shared their stories over the course of the research period, significant insights emerged. These insights, which are compared to the dominant academic discourse on initiation are summarised in the sections that follow. They include: tensions between Western and African epistemologies on initiation; female initiation from a feminist theoretical perspective; female initiation and its implications for sexuality education; female initiation in African culture; and,

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female initiation and its impact on women’s access to, and control over resources and responsibilities.

7.2.1 Tensions between Western and African Epistemological Assumptions on Female Initiation

In this section, I illustrate how female initiation has been a source of tension between western and African epistemological assumptions in the context of empirical studies on colonial/western perspectives on African sexualities. In my interviews, one of the reasons consistently given in support of chinamwali was that Chikunda culture should be respected. Another recurring theme was that western culture was responsible for the moral decay in society, as Maria, a phungu said: ‘Children of nowadays shun our culture in preference to the modern way of life – it is destroying them.’ Another phungu, Paula, said that, ‘White people have their own culture. They look at our culture as if it is abusive to women. For example, if you insist on the dress code for women, they say we are denying women of the rights to dress the way they like – but it is our culture – they also have theirs, but they want to impose their culture on us.’ When it came to chinamwali, most of the participants said that outsiders, particularly those from the West, thought that it was a waste of time and out of touch with Christianity and modern times. Patricia, aged 43, a senior member in the BIGOCA Church said: ‘Even at church they say it is a satanic thing – they say don’t go too deep when you are teaching these women – things like dancing, they are pagan.’

As documented evidence shows, with the coming of colonialism and Christianity in Africa, initiation rites, and in particular aspects related to sexuality, were targets of violent repression (Bagnol 2008: 1; Thomas 2003: 22; Kanogo 2005: 77; Tamale 2005: 10; Wangila 2007: 79). Africans and their sexuality were seen as “depraved” or “savage” and different from Western sexuality, which was seen as modern or civilised (Arnfred 2004; Phillips 2011; Tamale 2005). Female initiation in particular was viewed as primitive, brutal and a mutilation of the female body (Bagnol 2008: 1; Kanogo 2005: 77; Thomas 2003: 22). In Southern Africa, Becker (2004: 35-54) shows how tensions with colonisers revolved around women’s initiation, which was considered “unchristian” and “indecent”. For example, literature on the Batswana initiation schools shows that these schools provided positive training on moral issues, but that with the coming of colonialism they were abolished, leaving a gap in the development of young people as there was no support structure for them: this also left the youth unprepared in matters of sexuality and identity as they became victims of problems such as teenage pregnancy which are less socially acceptable and dropping out of school (Katide 2017: 32). This is in contrast to the fact that in pre- independence Zambia, the seclusion period of chinamwali was longer as school attendance was not considered so critical for girls. As Maria, a phungu, recalls: ‘I was in standard 2 or 3 (when

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she attained puberty), but you see in those days we started school late and school especially for girls was not taken seriously – so I absconded school for a month until my next menstrual period.’

In Zambia, as in other parts of Southern Africa, there were concerted efforts by missionaries to eradicate initiation rites as they were considered immoral and an interference with school attendance, especially for girls (see: Cladwell et al 1998: 140; Matobo et al 2009: 105; Siachitema 2013: 2; Kangwa 2011: 2). Siachitema (2013: 1), writing on female initiation rites in Zambia, says that initiation rites which prepared boys and girls for married life and adult roles changed with the coming of colonialism. Gan (2012: 1) writes that female sexuality was central to the ideologies of colonial supremacy in that female bodies symbolised Africa as the conquered land, a wild space where sexual pleasures needed regulation. Gan (2012: 1) further says that colonial divisions of class and race also produced different masculinities, some of which were dominant and hegemonic, and others subordinate and subversive. However, what was evident was that the subordinate males still held patriarchal power over women of their own class and race.

Thus, Thiam (1978: 118) aptly explains that as a result of this multiple effect of colonialism on African women, ‘the black woman of Africa suffers a threefold oppression: by virtue of her sex, she is dominated by men in a patriarchal society; by virtue of her class, she is at the mercy of capitalist exploitation; by virtue of her race, she suffers from the appropriation of her country by colonial or neo-colonial powers: sexism, racism, class division – three plagues.’ This supports intersectionality theory that helps us to understand the way in which socially constructed categories such as gender, race and sexuality work together to create social hierarchies (Crenshaw 1989: 166). However, though intersectionality theory is useful to this study in helping us understand how cultural patterns of oppression work together to suppress women (Nash 2008: 11; Collins 2000: 42; Crenshaw 1989: 166), I find that it privileges the race, sex and gender dimensions of women’s oppression far above other intersectional experiences, such as patriarchy and reproduction, as found in the context of chinamwali. This seems to suggest a universalist notion of women’s experiences that paint black women as victims. As Mohanty (1991: 56 - 68), in her critique of cultural essentialism argues, such homogenisation of women’s experiences in the Third World could create a sense of universality of oppressions and struggles between and among women globally. Thus, there is the need for a theory that engages other analyses of women’s particularities as opposed to a universal notion of women’s experiences, in order to address the interlocking structures of oppression in Africa. Thus, to consider western or colonial views as the exclusive source of oppression of the female body would be to turn a blind eye to female initiation practices like chinamwali, performed with African women’s collaboration that impact on women. Therefore, I find that in studying cultural practices such as chinamwali, it is important to distinguish western assumptions from justifiable criticisms of socio-cultural practices that impact on women’s status.

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7.2.2 Female Initiation in Africa from a Feminist Perspective

Essentially, feminist theory argues against biological determination to claim that gender is socially constructed (Chapter 2 gives a comprehensive argument on this claim). To apply this to chinamwali is to confirm that a girl becomes a woman through a process where she acquires feminine traits and behaviour. From the findings in the study of chinamwali, a girl becomes a woman through this socially constructed process. Thus, I find the discourse on feminist theory relevant to the study as it considers the relationship between culture and the constructions of sexuality and gender identity. The feminist discourse has expanded in scope by looking at practices that occur in the “private sphere”, such as female initiation. Topics on the female body have generated exciting research by feminist scholars such as Mackinnon (1989), Tamale (2005, 2007, 2011), and Arnfred (2004), who have focused on the female body as the site where representations of difference and identity are inscribed. In this context, some research has examined female initiation as a practice linked to patriarchy and the need to control women and their sexuality (see for example: Kamlongera 2007; Tamale 2007; Diallo 2004; Machera 2004). Mackinnon (1989: 113), in her theory of gender as a theory of sexuality, says that the social meaning of sex (gender) is created by the social objectification of women where they are targeted as objects to satisfy men’s desires. As a result, gender hierarchy is tied to sexualised power relations where men occupy the sexually dominant positions and receive sexual favours from women who occupy sexually submissive positions, and who should in turn give sexual favours to men. They have also explored tensions between women’s lived bodily experiences and the actual meanings inscribed on the female body.

Since chinamwali is a traditional African practice, I have turned to insights by feminist scholars who identify themselves with African feminism, arguing that African women’s problems are unique to Africans as their cultural heritage defines every facet of their lives including their position in society. African feminist thought can be said to be influenced by third wave of feminist thinking as it places emphasis on context with regard to how women experience patriarchy, and as has been noted by Ukpong (1995: 4), is specifically a response to the African context. In general, the premise of African feminist theory is that African social and cultural experiences are not reflected in those of the West and that those from the West fail to take into account African cultural realities (see for example: Ebunoluwa 2009; Mangena 2003; Ampofo 2004; Dangarembga 1989; Ogunyemi 1997). In chapter 2, I describe this in detail in what I call the ideological debate between western and African feminism. In sum, African feminists concern themselves with African cultural or customary practices that inflict harm on women such as female circumcision, widow inheritance, child marriages, honour killing, scarification, discriminatory dietary practices, and ritual killings (Miruka 2013:19). Therefore, this African feminist perspective is useful to the study of chinamwali as it acknowledges the influence of culture in shaping women’s gender and sexuality identity, as well as serving to oppress them.

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The study on chinamwali is taken from the understanding that it takes place within these unequal power relations, and as in the findings of the studies mentioned above, the lessons and techniques taught in chinamwali, such as kukhuna labia elongation, is aimed at pleasing men sexually in a way that also consolidates male power and hegemony.

The African feminist theory offers a broad perspective on the construction of women’s identity. Female initiation rites which, as indicated in previous chapters, are seen as a powerful institution that shape a person’s sexual and gender identity, and have received attention from various scholars, including feminist scholars (see: Arnfred 2004; Diallo 2004; Tamale 2005, 2011). Indeed, these scholars have sought to undertake exploratory studies on the practice, contributing to the body of knowledge on female initiation from a feminist standpoint, enabling us to understand the significant role of female initiation practices in the construction of sexual and gender identities. For example, African feminists acknowledge the centrality of motherhood and scholarly work has been done to emphasise this aspect. From the findings in the study (chapters 5 and 6), child bearing or the ability to be a mother is seen as an important aspect of being a woman – a key aspect to the construction of a woman’s identity. Therefore, one is able to confirm that a woman’s ability to bear children is held in high regard among the Chikunda. Mungwini (2006: 206) also notes that, among the Shona of Zimbabwe, a woman’s ability to bear children is considered an important aspect of womanhood. Applying the perspective to the study allowed a critical feminist framework to the study of chinamwali as it meant I could explore how socially constructed expectations of women contribute to shaping their identity and to influence their social life and status.

Empirical studies on cultural rituals in Africa that concern women have been mostly looked at from the African feminist cultural hermeneutics viewpoint (Ukpong 1995: 3, 4). The emergence of this perspective which focuses on gender emerged as a result of the need to close the gap between African social and cultural concerns and western Christianity, thus contributing to the global feminist discourse. A number of studies on female initiation as a cultural rite have been undertaken in Zambia. Studies from the African feminist cultural hermeneutics perspective include those undertaken by Siwila (2011), Mushibwe (2009) and Kangwa (2011). Siwila (2011) undertook a study on Culture, Gender and HIV and AIDS: United Church of Zambia’s Response to Traditional Marriage Practices, which focused on cultural practices for women from a reproductive health perspective. She argues that the teachings in chisungu contribute to women’s internalisation of submission and subservience to men, putting them at risk of contracting HIV. Mushibwe (2009) also observes that the teachings in initiation rites instil these notions, thus reinforcing male superiority over women. The study by Kangwa (2011), which has been mentioned in this study, concludes that there are values in this rite that can be retrieved to empower women in the face of HIV/AIDS. These studies have been useful in examining the

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potential role of chinamwali in sexuality education that will be looked at in detail in the following section.

7.2.3 The Potential Role of Female Initiation in Sexuality Education

Several studies indicate that initiation rites in general provide a channel through which sexuality education is passed on to the young initiates (Siachitema 2013; Jules-Rosette 1980; Chikunda et al 2006; Munthali & Zulu 2007; Rasing 2003). As Groce et al (2006: 3003-315) also note, the incorporation of HIV and AIDS related messages into traditional coming of age ceremonies are important avenues to teach young people in communities. One of the questions that participants were asked is – what role do you feel chinamwali plays in relation to the HIV epidemic? Herein I believe lays the answer for chinamwali and female initiation rites in general, to play a role in sexuality education. This is why Kotanyi and Krins-Ney 2009: 481) advocate that this institution interrogates issues such as patriarchy and sexuality through the messages and values passed on to young women, as these are the most vulnerable group with regard to HIV exposure. The patriarchal culture in Africa has been said to exacerbate women’s inferior position in relation to men, impacting on all areas of their lives including their sexuality (Monagan 2010; Tamale 2005: 11). For example, Monagan (2010: 181), in her study on female genital mutilation, indicates that although the practice is often carried out by female practitioners, the aim is to control women’s sexuality for the benefit of men. In this regard, studies on African culture have critically looked at patriarchy and how it impacts on women.

At the same time, the HIV pandemic in Africa has led to questions about how and whether to take advantage of the positive aspects of cultural traditions to enhance a cultural understanding of HIV and AIDS and gender. As Francesca, aged 48, explained, ‘The malango (teachings) in chinamwali are very useful. They teach girls to be afraid of men so as a result, these girls are able to delay sexual relations with men – so because girls learn to fear men, they can avoid contracting HIV.’ Paulo, a ritual instructor added, ‘It is very important – the teachings help young girls to fear men – and the men are afraid to approach a girl that has gone through chinamwali because they know that she has been taught to respect herself and to fear men – it helps a lot.’ She further added:

The teachings in chinamwali are good because they put fear in the girls. For example, girls are taught that if they engage in premarital sex, they can get pregnant and bring shame to their families or they can grow long nails and everyone will know what they have been up to – so yes it teaches them to behave themselves – in this way, the teachings help in preventing HIV/AIDS because of fear of shame etc etc.

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Studies have shown that there is a link between gender inequality and the subordination of women and HIV/AIDS (Bjork 2006: 312; Baylies & Bujira 2003: 50). As Maria, a phungu explained:

I personally feel that most of the teachings are not useful because they have contributed to teenage pregnancy and early marriage because boys pressurise them to taste them – they are excited to taste what the girls have learned.

On the other hand, one woman said that because of the teachings in chinamwali, their husbands will not look elsewhere to seek sexual gratification from experienced women, suggesting that it is permissible for men because they see themselves as superior, to seek gratification elsewhere if the woman is not taught. In his study on the Sikenge female initiation rite practiced by the Lozi speaking people of Western Province in Zambia, Matale (2015: 97-112) shows how the rite can be used to disseminate HIV/AIDS information, but that it may also put the girls at risk of contracting the disease. Similar concerns were raised by a number of participants in the study who felt that some of the lessons taught in chinamwali were not age-appropriate and that they encouraged experimental pre-marital sex. Chiwoni, a young woman aged 20, who has not undergone chinamwali said,

Because they teach young girls to avoid premarital sex, it can be useful – but again when they go deep into teaching them on bedroom stuff it can be bad because they want to experiment what they have been taught and the men become interested in them – so they can easily catch diseases – but it is good for teaching other things – like I said hygiene and how to look after a home.

Malita, aged 20, who also did not undergo chinamwali, explained that, ‘It just makes girls excited – they want to experiment what they are taught and they end up getting sick – even the boys get excited – they want to taste what they (girls) are taught.’ Matale (2015) also cites the example of how after the initiate is introduced to sex education during the rite, she can out of curiosity put into practice what she has been taught, thus putting herself at risk of contracting the disease. Thus, these studies are useful in understanding the potential role of chinamwali in sexuality education. From the findings, the teachings in chinamwali include norms such as abstinence of sexual relations before marriage (chapters 5 and 6). These have the potential to prevent risky behaviour and present an avenue for teaching sexuality education. Though lessons taught in chinamwali, such as fear of men and enhancing sexual performance for men’s pleasure can be interpreted as male control over women’s bodies, they can also serve to encourage fidelity and faithfulness in a way that can reduce women’s susceptibility to HIV. This is in contrast to to Mkandawire’s (2012: 14-16) study in Malawi, where initiation ceremonies are said to have a negative impact on adolescent sexual and reproductive health because they are believed to contribute to the spread of HIV. Mkandawire (2012) mentions practices such as fisi and kusasa fumbi, where boys are encouraged to sleep with recently initiated girls without using protection

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in order to cleanse themselves. In this sense, these practices have a negative impact on efforts to provide reproductive health education and also serve to disempower women.

7.2.4 Politics of the Body: Female Initiation in African Culture

As noted, female initiation is a process through which gender and sexual identities are scripted. The history of the dialogue on black women’s sexualities is said to have begun with Europeans first contact with the African continent (Hammonds 1999: 94; see also: Bagnol 2008: 1; Thomas 2003: 22; Kanogo 2005: 77; Tamale 2005: 10). This dialogue has therefore occupied a long standing and hotly debated subject in feminist theory (Salvaggio 1999: 63), influencing how we engage with the female body in different contexts. In general, the feminist view is that the female body is an important site of political struggle. This means that the issues that they deal with such as reproduction, violence against women, rape and sexuality highlight the importance of the body to practical, political feminist struggles. Some feminists offer insightful analyses of the body, indicating that it is the place of cultural inscription and social control contributing to women’s experiences in general (McLaren 2002: 91).

When we talk about African women’s bodies and sexualities, the story of the Khoisan woman, so called the hottentot venus referred to in various literature, gives us a glimpse of the attitudes towards African women’s bodies and sexualities in general. It not only symbolises colonial representations of African women’s sexualities, which I have discussed earlier, but also according to Hammonds (1999: 95), shows how their bodies and sexuality are relegated to ‘the lowest position on the scale of human development.’ The racial difference prescribed to the female body as described above is said to be linked to sexual difference in order to maintain male supremacy during the period of slavery. Phillips (2011: 109) writes that women’s worth in the then Southern Rhodesia lay in reproducing for the workforce and was seen as merely fulfilling the role of service to their male counterparts. This explains how female bodies are a conduit through which power structures are maintained in Africa, as shown in the examples provided in the findings on chinamwali. It is apparent that in chinamwali, women’s bodies are a site of male power and that it emphasises what is expected of women as sexual beings, denoting an entry from an asexual to a sexual world with emphasis on marriage and child-bearing. These notions highlight issues of domesticity and have the potential to reinforce notions of women’s inferiority in relation to men, thus excluding them from positions of authority. As the literature on female circumcision, which is performed as a rite of passage for girls in some societies (Diallo 2004; El- Saadawi 2007) shows, the practice reinforces notions of male control over women. For example, El-Saadawi (2007: 50-60) writes that circumcision for girls in a number of African countries such as Egypt and the Sudan is widespread, presumably to preserve the chastity of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse, and at the same time performed for men’s pleasure. This reinforces the notion of male control over women’s sexuality. This discourse on female

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sexuality is helpful in contributing to our understanding of how women’s bodies and sexuality contribute to the gendered roles and position of women in society.

7.2.5 Female Initiation and Women’s Immediate Sphere of Experience

Feminist theory has attempted to explain women’s position in society in relation to their links to the domestic sphere. Marxist feminists in particular have explained the origins of women’s oppression in relation to their linkage to the means of production. Studies done in Africa on initiation practices show that the lessons passed on to initiates have a different focus in respect to men and women, contributing to the class hierarchies explained above. These studies (see for example: Venter 2011: 560; Twala 2007: 22) show that initiation practices have a differential impact on men and women as the curriculum content is designed along gender lines (Chikunda et al 2001; 145), restricting women’s space to the domestic sphere, while men are conditioned to assume prominent leadership roles. It is also apparent that women’s position – social and economic standing, in relation to men continues to be low and secondary to men within structurally unequal social relations.

In response to the question: ’What is the impact of chinamwali on women’s access to, and control over material resources and responsibilities within the community?’, most of the participants said that chinamwali teaches a woman to be responsible for the home, and that it is her duty is to look after the home and her husband. Patricia, aged 43, said, ‘Mwamuna ndiye muthu wa nyumba, (the man is the head of the home) – the woman is supposed to be his helper.’ From the findings, particularly taking the example of where women expect compensation for sexually pleasing men, I find the creation of socialised norms of compensation and submissiveness which accept the norm for men to occupy a privileged position in relation to women. As a result, Gallop (2001: 32- 33) is right to conclude that women’s limitations in participating in decision-making structures means that they become (financially) dependent on their bodies and sexual relations with men, through for example, marriage, leading to a patriarchal heterosexual structure where women are under men’s control.

7.3 Summary of Key Findings The findings of this study contribute to a body of literature and scholarly work that examines the role of female initiation in shaping identities and sexuality. These findings, which are reflected in chapters 5 and 6, show that chinamwali plays a key role in shaping the identity and sexuality of the namwali, as it is a process that prepares the young woman for her gender and sexual roles, and is an avenue through which lessons on her expected role as a woman are conveyed. I find that the teachings are similar to those of other female initiation rites described in various bodies of literature, though with minor variations. For example, studies done in Zambia such as those of

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Richards (1982), Rasing (1995, 2001), Kangwa (2011), and Lumbwe (2009) have described the female initiation rite of the Bemba. However, their work has been mainly descriptive and does not show how this rite influences the social life and status of the women concerned. The findings of the study which are tied to the research questions are summarised below.

7.3.1 The Chinamwali Curriculum

The findings reveal that the lessons and rituals in the chinamwali curriculum are mediums through which a girl is prepared for the role that she is expected to play as a woman. These include how to look after her home and her husband, and how to perform sexually. The lessons also include information on taboos and their meanings. These lessons are passed on to the initiate by the aphungu, who have authority and knowledge to transfer traditional knowledge during the rite. However, a valuable contribution of the findings is that through these lessons, the rite has the potential to influence the social life and status of the women concerned, in such a way that they accept notions of inferiority to men throughout their lives, and to assign them to accept a lower position in the community.

In as much as the aphungu have authority to transfer traditional knowledge to the namwali during the rite, I find that it is the gendered implications of the messages that have the potential to perpetuate notions of male superiority over women. From the examples that I was given, I find that patriarchal values are instilled and strengthened in the initiate, mainly through the lessons taught and messages conveyed. These examples demonstrate an acceptance of vices, such as gender-based violence which is seen to be justified in some instances. A few women also indicated that they were also subjected to virginity testing as it was believed that this would fetch a higher bride price at marriage. I find that this reflects expectations in women’s sexual roles, particularly in emphasising that women’s sexuality is for men’s pleasure (Siachitema 2013: 4; Kapungwe 2003: 35; Kuwema 2009: 4), creating the potential to socialise women to accept notions of inferiority to men, and that they should equally be materially compensated for their sexuality. The gendered notion that women should depend on men for (economic) survival has the potential to teach them to be supported economically for their sexuality, encouraging dependency which may in turn disempower them. This may explain why there is a high school drop-out rate and an increase in early marriages for girls in the community because they choose to leave school in preference for marriage in order to be looked after economically.

7.3.2 Importance and Utility of Chinamwali

The findings reveal that chinamwali is a cultural practice that guides a girl from “girlhood” to “womanhood”, marking the end of childhood for one to begin life as an adult. Most of the participants indicated that chinamwali was important not only as a tradition, but because it also

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fulfilled a social obligation that one must undertake to gain acceptance in the community. Menstruation was said to be the first sign that a girl had become a woman, and menstrual blood was considered dangerous and to possess mystical powers that could cause harm. In this respect, I concur with Oduyoye (2004: 37), who argues that such taboos have the effect of associating women with evil and can impact negatively on their self-image and status.

The findings also suggest that chinamwali is generally accepted, especially as a useful avenue through which young women learn values on how to conduct themselves as adults. However, participants relate this usefulness to a cultural obligation, a practice that women need to negotiate their space in a heterosexual relationship, and one that is useful in order to be a good wife, a good woman, and a woman who is able to respect men, and in turn attract respect from men. When viewed from this perspective, one would be correct to say that chinamwali is useful for male satisfaction only. These findings are in line with research on women’s sexuality, which as has been noted in chapter 4, is one aspect of female initiation that is understood alongside issues of control in a patriarchal society.

7.3.3 Motivation for a Girl to be presented for Chinamwali

With regards to motivation for one to be presented for chinamwali, one sees that the rite is the prerogative of the elderly female members of the community. The emphasis of the source of authority needs closer examination. Although one can argue that as the rite concerns females, it should be practiced within a women’s domain, one can also argue that since this domain is associated with the home and domesticity, these are the values that the namwali will ascribe her subsequent adulthood to. As these values are associated with the private sphere, the young woman is conditioned to accept this script which she may take on into adulthood.

A significant contribution of the thesis is that the element of coercion for a girl to undergo chinamwali suggests some degree of tension and partial distancing on the part of the initiate, as most girls mentioned fear and not being in control of the choice to be presented for the rite. A mother may not present her daughter for chinamwali in certain circumstances, and even though such girls are not excluded from the community for not undergoing the rite, some reported experiencing some form of ridicule from either their husbands or their peers. I concur with Manabe (2010: 144) that this ridicule or seemingly lack of acceptance could lead to feelings of rejection and low self-esteem.

7.3.4 The Impact of Chinamwali on Women’s Status

A recurring theme in the findings is the idea postulated by Drews (1995: 111), that female sexuality is shrouded in secrecy. In the case of chinamwali, men are not allowed in the private

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sessions, neither are the uninitiated. I find that this has the potential for sexuality to be feared and repressed by girls as the message that seems to come across is that female bodies and female sexuality are taboo. These findings call for a deeper engagement with the ramifications of sexuality, secrecy, and taboo, and its relation to women’s status. From the women’s stories, the lessons in chinamwali prepare a girl for her future role as a mother. The rituals performed to ensure that she is able to bear children in the future, as described in chapter 5, emphasise this aspect. These findings confirm Richards’ (1982) study of the female initiation rite of the Bemba in Zambia, where the focus is placed on fertility and motherhood. I agree with Oduyoye (1999: 116) that the emphasis on motherhood contributes to relegating women’s role to childbearing and has the potential to impact on women’s status, because not to be able to bear children would mean that one is not a full woman, and by implication, nor a full human being. Furthermore, from the findings, chinamwali seems to reinforce the idea that initiates are ripe for marriage through the lessons taught, as explained above. This data suggests that even though some of the girls are very young at this stage, the promise of marriage seems to be the primary objective of this transition to adulthood. In this sense, I agree with Richards (1956: 130), that chinamwali does not necessarily imply a change of status but rather a change from unmarriageable to marriageable. I find that this has the potential to limit the girl’s chances of attaining an education, further limiting their prospects of becoming independent adults, and also confirms the notion that one needs a man in order to be a full human being. As Lutkehaus and Roscoe (2011: 6) explain, although early feminists sought to explain women’s subordinate status in relation to the domestic sphere, later works amended this argument by demonstrating the complexity of women’s activities and status in relation to men and in their multiple roles as wives, sisters and mothers.

7.3.5 Gender Power Relations

The findings on gender power relations are significant for the dominant discourse concerning the role of initiation. From the stories collected in the field, the power play in chinamwali occurs at two levels: power in relation to the social relations between women, and power between men and women. However, what is significant in the dominant discourse on initiation is how the chinamwali rite has the potential to empower women through practices such as labia elongation. According to the findings, labia minora elongation, which has been classified as Type 4 FGM in various literature, is perceived as a beneficial sexual practice for men, and more importantly, as a source of identity and empowering tool for women, as without elongated labia, one is not perceived as a complete woman whose upbringing complies with tradition.

Another valuable contribution to feminist scholarship is that with regards to the power relations between men and women, patriarchy is legitimised and guarantees men a dominant position over women through chinamwali. As Lutkehaus and Roscoe (2011: 5) observe, feminist scholarship

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has given impetus to a new anthropological focus on women’s bodies and reproductive experiences as sources of power as well as subordination. From the narratives, I find that stereotypical notions of male superiority were shared by both male and female participants. For example, there were repeated references by women to men as the tambala (the head) and the boss. What this implies is a new focus on women’s sexuality as a source of legitimising men’s power and dominance over women.

7.3.6 Potential Role of Chinamwali in Sexuality Education

From the findings in the study, it is clear that in addition to teaching gender roles, chinamwali is an avenue through which messages on sexuality education are passed onto the young woman. Most of the participants mentioned that the lessons taught touched on issues such as abstinence and general education on sexual health and behaviour. However, what I find is that most of these lessons and messages which are communicated to the namwali promote socialised characteristics of female submissiveness (chapters 5 and 6), which have the potential to disempower women as they are in direct conflict with strategies to reduce HIV risk behaviours. For example, as Mkandawire (2012: 107) notes, while girls are encouraged to abstain from sex until they are married, there is no corresponding information on what they should do if they cannot abstain.

What is also significant regarding which part in Africa is focused on, female initiation can be retrieved for education and empowerment purposes, and in this respect chinamwali could play a potential positive role in sexuality education as most of the lessons and messages taught communicate positive norms and values on sexuality. As in the study on chisungu, the Bemba female initiation rite, undertaken by Kangwa (2011: 7), he has emphasised that there are values in the initiation rite which can be reclaimed to empower women in the fight against HIV/AIDS. However, while he and others like Richards (1982) and Rasing (2001, 1995) have described this initiation rite in detail, he has not comprehensively analysed how it influences the social life and status of the women concerned. This is why I argue that approaches to sexuality education need to be designed in such a way that they address women’s social status as a key aspect in enhancing their assertiveness and to take control of their sexuality.

7.3.7 African Gender Identity in Relation to Colonial Constructions

What I find from the data collected is that chinamwali is generally accepted as part of Chikunda culture and that it plays a significant role in the construction of a woman’s identity in the community. Most of the women participants alluded to the fact that this is what differentiated them from others and confirmed their identity as Chikunda women. However, what I find is that the rite prepares the initiate for a subservient heterosexual role, as some of the lessons and

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taboos taught and embraced as part of Chikunda culture have the ability to impact negatively on women’s space.

I also find that though the duration and form of chinamwali has changed in post–independence Zambia, the importance of the beliefs and taboos taught appear to have withstood recent changes in development in the district. For example, the belief in the power of menstrual blood and the medium of salt was mentioned repeatedly. Furthermore, prevention of illness and death relies on the faithful observance of these ancestral customs, and though these mudulo (beliefs) can be said to instil one’s sense of African identity and responsibility towards other people and the community in general, I find that they restrict women’s space and participation in the community.

7.4 Issues of Positionality Here I discuss how my positionality and my chosen methodology helped to build knowledge. Firstly, one of the key strengths of the study is that Chief Mphuka’s area is my home village. Though the disadvantage of coming from this area may highlight the fear of selling information to outsiders, as Tamale (2005: 13) has noted, it was helpful in enabling me to access the research participants. In a sense, being “one of them” helped in alleviating anxiety and encouraged openness during the interviews. Through this open interaction, participants were encouraged to add on to or clarify any information contained in the transcripts. Secondly, I have not undergone the initiation rite, and in view of the secrecy attached to the ritual as explained earlier, it was important for me to build a relationship of trust and to avoid bias with regards to my knowledge about the rite. Therefore, I allowed participants to tell their stories in order to make them ‘subjects of their experiences, rather than objects of research’ (Chase & Bell 1994: 64). This was important because it gave the women an opportunity to tell their stories in their own way, and in the way they experienced it, on a subject that could be embarrassing to tell to outsiders, and in this way affirmed what is important in their lives. This also helped me to set aside my personal beliefs and prejudice of chinamwali and to consider other people’s interpretations of the initiation rite as important.

The participants also understood that they were at liberty on whether or not to participate in the study. This shared responsibility meant that in as much as I guided the research, the participants also played a key role in the creation of knowledge on chinamwali. The fact that the narrative approach was used to collect data lends credibility to the general study as it allowed the voices and experiences of participants with regards to chinamwali to be heard directly. What makes this even more important is that I was confident I had reached a point of saturation with regards to collecting data in the field, and felt that prolonging the duration of the fieldwork or repeating it would not have yielded any new information, as this method allowed me to probe the participants for further information to the extent that towards the end, the information collected was repetitive.

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Also, being a woman researching on a subject that relates to women allowed the women to express themselves freely. Although some participants were surprised that I was researching a subject they felt I should be conversant with as a Chikunda woman, they were willing to share their experiences of what they felt was important information that every woman should know.

Another strength of the study was that using the thematic analysis approach to analyse the data collected meant that the findings that emerged guided my theory construction, and not the other way round (Braun & Clarke 2006: 79; Wuest 1995: 132; Benzton et al 1998: 25; Glasser & Strauss 1967: 4-7). In other words, the construction of the theories did not rely on any hypothesis, but rather on the information that I gathered. Thus, the theoretical standpoints adopted in this study were informed by my positionality. The findings on the women’s narratives of chinamwali can also be leveraged in other parts of Zambia, and Africa in general, for use by women activists, human rights groups and others to confront cultural practices that impact on women’s space, and can also be used as an advocacy tool to improve women’s social life and status.

7.5 Contribution to Academic Knowledge Media attention on traditional initiation practices looks at the practice from a western-centric perspective (Arnfred 2004: 13; Fynn 2014: 58), evaluating the practice without regard to the social context or cultural justification, and also tends to be very critical. In recent times, traditional initiation practices have been depicted as rooted in deep and conservative traditions with no relevance to modern times. Other reports have highlighted the negative consequences of initiation practices, including mental and health implications and sometimes, initiation deaths especially resulting from circumcision for both boys and girls. For example, media coverage of initiation in South Africa has been described as a sensitive annual media exposition, focusing on reports of deaths in initiation schools, forced and botched circumcisions (Fynn 2014: 58). In contrast, academic work on initiation traditional practices is more subtle as it tries to understand and use this experience for the greater good. This study builds on the body of academic analyses of traditional initiation practices in changing attitudes and beliefs for the greater good: to better empower women to claim their space. The research compiles women’s narratives for use by women activists, human rights groups and others to confront traditional initiation or cultural practices that impact on women’s social status in general, and in Zambia as a whole. Through a set of strategies which include data collection and analysis, information dissemination, networking and awareness raising, this project can be leveraged and replicated in other parts of Africa where women are confronting similar challenges, as an advocacy tool to improve women’s social life and status.

Existing research on female initiation in Southern Africa is mainly conducted from anthropological and developmental perspectives (Siachitema 2013: 2). While many studies, as in Kapungwe (2003), Kangwa (2011), Siachitema (2013), Munthali & Zulu (2007), and Richards (1982), have

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examined these practices in relation to sexual and reproductive health, there is scanty evidence to demonstrate how the practice impacts on the social life and status of individuals that have undergone it, especially women. The study therefore makes an original contribution to the body of knowledge that examines the relationship between culture in shaping identity and sexuality, by examining the intersection between culture and women’s empowerment not only from an anthropological or historical perspective, but from an African centered feminist perspective – looking at the practice from an insiders perspective and fully appreciating the cultural context within which the process occurs and taking the lived realities of the women concerned as a starting point in the creation of knowledge on female initiation. In so doing, the study assists women to understand the extent to which such institutional socialisation systems impact on them in order to address the challenges associated with puberty later in life. The study also places me in a position to engage universalist discourses about gender and sexuality that often ignore experiences from the global South, including Africa.

To my knowledge, there is limited scholarly work which has systematically analysed the Chikunda institution of chinamwali. Although most of the examples used are similar to the Bemba female initiation rite of chisungu, described in various literature (see: Richards 1982; Rasing 1995, 2001 & 2003), the material presented in this study is based on oral accounts of chinamwali that were told to me. Thus, the Chikunda community provides a particularly interesting context within which to examine female initiation practices. This is so because I find that there is limited scholarly literature on the Chikunda in general, and on Chikunda culture and traditions in particular. Authors such as Isaacman and Isaacman (2004), Isaacman (2000), Udelhoven (2006), and Drews (1995), write on the Chikunda from an anthropological viewpoint. In light of the limited scope of publications and literary works pertaining to the Chikunda in general, I present this study to fill this knowledge gap.

Drews (1995), who has written on the Chikunda in her Covering and Uncovering: Secrets and the Construction of Gender Identity among the Kunda of Zambia, gives an interesting account of female initiation among this tribe, although her account is from an “outsider” perspective. As I note in chapter 4, her work is “about” rather than “by” Chikunda women, as she seems to analyse chisungu from her perspective as an anthropologist, speaking for the women as she perceives it, rather than collecting their own voices as this study has done. It is also important to acknowledge the work of Richards (1982) on the chisungu initiation practice, although her focus is on the Bemba tribe found in the Northern part of Zambia. Similarly, Rasing (1995) has also done some work on female initiation practices, although her focus as in the case of Richards (1982) has been undertaken on the Copperbelt region of Zambia in the context of the Roman Catholic community. Moreover, these studies have given systematic details of the rite – this study has gone further to focus on how the rite influences the lives of the women concerned. For this reason, I have employed a novel approach to the study on female initiation by undertaking the

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study from an “insider” perspective. In addition, through the narrative approach that I have employed, I take the women themselves as a starting point by directly collecting their voices, with a view to compile and document the results on how women construct their sexual and gender identities. As noted above, Morgan and Wieringa (2015) through directly collecting narratives, explore the lived realities of African lesbians and through these voices, one has an insight into their lives and experiences of same-sex relationships.

Furthemore, I have not undergone chinamwali, therefore I had very little information or knowledge on what was taught during the rite. This demonstrates the challenge of a methodological approach taken from an “outsider” perspective, as shown by Morgan and Wieringa (2005) in their collection of narratives on same–sex practices, which obviously brings attention to the notion of power play between researchers and those being researched. As Tamale (2008: 135) observes, when authors make reference to participants as ‘the respondents in our project’, it is very clear that the project was not owned by the participants and that this top-down approach places them on a different power plane. This is in contrast to Manabe (2010), who participated in the Vha- venda initiation rite to gain first-hand experience of the rite. However, as the aim was to collect data grounded in the participants experience of chinamwali, and in order not to allow what notions I had of chinamwali and to avoid prejudicing the data collected, the strength of the study is that I made a conscious decision to distance myself from the participants in order to allow them to narrate their experiences in their own words, thus allowing them to inform my analysis of chinamwali. This, as Mushibwe (2009: 154) notes, is an advantage as each individual has a unique way of constructing their experience. Thus, the personal narratives became strengths through which future generations will appreciate Chikunda tradition, because as Paula, a Phungu said, ‘It is good that you are writing these things so that our tradition is not lost to our children and their children.’

7.6 Recommendations and Future Directions for Research This study finds that the chinamwali is an important and useful avenue through which social, cultural, and religious roles of women are passed on to successive generations among the Chikunda. The attendant rituals and ceremonies in chinamwali also affirm one’s identity in the wider community. I draw from the concerns highlighted in the findings to offer some recommendations that could be used to address these issues; suggestions for further research are also given. The population of Luangwa district was estimated at 24,330 in 2009, and has continued to increase steadily. The most populous areas within the district include Township, Mphuka and Kavalamanja (Lusaka Province Planning Office 2011: 8), which fall within the area under study. In terms of population composition, the district has a high youthful population which can contribute to the development of the region. The youth are the group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to the social and economic context that exposes them to risk and vulnerability

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(Breidlid et al 2015: 9). This youthful population provides a window of hope for positive change and can be used as an entry point for knowledge on reproductive health education, inculcating values that will empower young women to assert themselves in the community.

Recent developments in the area, as mentioned earlier, have attracted people from other districts and provinces in the country. Lumbwe (2009: 83), in a comparative study of pre-colonial and post-independence Bemba wedding ceremonies in Lusaka and Kitwe areas of Zambia, noted there was a noticeable change in the organisation of initiation ceremonies due to socio-cultural and economic factors. This is vital in understanding the diversity of values, beliefs and customs in the area. As noted, chinamwali is a cultural practice that has been practiced for generations in this community. The attendant rituals and ceremonies affirm one’s identity and acceptance in the wider community. It is therefore important to embrace the positive aspects of chinamwali that can contribute to personal growth and development. Although I recommend the need to incorporate perspectives that can empower women, I also emphasise the need to change attitudes and behaviour towards chinamwali in a way that will improve the social life and status of women in the community in particular, and in the wider Zambian community in general.

Furthermore, most of the participants, particularly the older ones were concerned that chinamwali was dying out due to the influence of western culture and Christianity. The fact that the narratives collected during the fieldwork were recorded means that information on this important life event is not lost and can be used for future generations. Future studies on chinamwali and other cultural practices that concern women should add more value to this knowledge by adding updated information on these practices and improving on its archiving. It is also important that when we study African practices that affect women, we must embrace an examination of those cultural practices that shape gender relations, and also adopt appropriate methodological frameworks that will assist us in collecting information in a way that reflects their lived realities.

To my knowledge, there has been very limited work towards understanding female initiation conducted from an African feminist perspective. Furthermore, research conducted on female initiation is written from the “othering” point of view (see: Richards 1982; Drews 1995; Udelhoven 2009). It is important to talk to women directly and allow them to tell their story, thus enabling them be part of knowledge production with respect to their womanhood. Lastly, I found that most of the female members of the community relied on small-scale farming for their livelihood. However, I find that this is not a reliable and sustainable means of livelihood due to unreliable rainfall patterns, floods, and also the threat posed by wild animals. As such, there is need to empower women with alternative sources of income-generating activities to enable them to become independent members of the community. Such empowerment strategies should follow a bottom-up approach where an analysis of the needs of the community is undertaken, as opposed to a top-down approach where strategies are imposed on or dictated to the community from outside.

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7.7 Conclusion The study began as an exercise to explore how female initiation influences the social life and status of women. Throughout the study, I have demonstrated that initiation in general plays a key role in the construction of sexual and gender identities (chapters 2, 3, 5, 6). This study on chinamwali provides an insight into how this institution shapes the gender and sexual identities of women in the Chikunda community. Writing about this Chikunda cultural practice has been a very rewarding experience on several levels: it has allowed me to learn more about my culture and community, particularly on aspects that I hitherto took for granted. It has also been a journey of self-discovery, which has given me an opportunity to explore meanings assigned to women’s sexuality and bodies that I had no knowledge of prior to the study. Initiation schools have been the subject of attention in recent years. However, most of the attention has been directed towards male initiation, where circumcision in most societies is practiced as a rite of passage for boys. Reports on this practice focus on the negative aspects, mainly deaths resulting from severe bleeding or trauma and botched operations. Feminist concerns on the other hand have been on cultural practices that impact on women. As such, female genital mutilation which is also sometimes practiced as a rite of passage in some societies has received a major share of attention from feminists and other scholars alike.

To turn to the question – How do female initiation practices influence the social life and status of women in the Chikunda community? - this study reveals that in as much as chinamwali has the potential to empower women, particularly with regards to reproductive health, it has the potential to impact on their space beyond their immediate sphere to other areas in later life. This is largely due to the lessons and messages conveyed and internalised by the namwali, the initiate, through the rituals and ceremonies that constitute the rite of passage. I argue that chinamwali has an influence on the social life and status of women in a way that has the potential to make them internalise notions of inferiority in relation to men in the community. This may account for the high school drop-out rate and the increase in early marriages for girls. Taking this into consideration, the study makes recommendations that can be used to address the challenges identified and also be used for further research by relevant stakeholders. I argue that rather than abandoning chinamwali altogether, other strategies can be adopted in the initiation rite which could empower women to assert themselves positively in the community. Furthermore, considering that this study has only looked at the Chikunda female initiation rite, its findings could not be replicated to other female initiation rites both in Zambia and elsewhere. In addition, as it only looks at how female initiation influence the social life and status of the women concerned, future research could explore the subservient behaviour of initiated and non-initiated women to men.

Discussions with female participants conveyed the view that chinamwali is a source of empowerment, especially that it is believed to hold the key to a successful married life. However, it remains to be seen how the rite translates to equipping the women to meet the demands of

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today’s modern world, because the strategy to empower them may trigger unrealistic expectations, as after the ceremony, they revert to their submissive status. Furthermore, as noted, chinamwali is a secret puberty ritual where men and uninitiated women are not allowed to participate in the more private sessions. Moreover, some girls who have not undergone the rite reported feelings of shame and inadequacy for not securing their territory in what is considered proper womanhood. Future research could also engage with the ramifications of sexuality, secrecy and taboo, and its relation to women’s status.

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8. List of Cited Sources

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Annexure A: Letter of Informed Consent

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Annexure B: Question Guides

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Annexure C: Profile of Participants

No Name Age Village Description

1. Mary 70 Ritual Kavalamanja Is a widow - stopped School in Grade 5 in Instructor order to get married. Has a stand at the market – sells charcoal and chickens. Also practices as a ritual instructor at a fee. 2. Francesca 48 Undergone Thimanimoto She is a divorcee who got married at 15. She Chinamwali left School in Grade 6 and is a subsistence farmer. 3. Paula 72 Ritual Nyauyakwindi She is a widow who went up to Standard 4 Instructor and is a subsistence farmer. 4. Estelle Over Ritual Thimanimoto She is a widow – left School in Sub A – has 75 Instructor no proper source of income and depends on her children for her livelihood. 5. Phenia 56 Undergone Kakaro Is a widow who went up to Grade 11 – Chinamwali engaged in small- scale farming. 6. Agnes 56 Ritual Kakaro Is married – married at 16 and went up to Instructor Grade 7. Engaged in charcoal burning and selling. 7. Clement 45 Male Njalaikadza Is married – went up to Grade 12 and is a court Clerk- his wife went up to Grade 9.He does not know whether or not his wife went through chinamwali. 8. Censio 42 Male Njalaikadza Is married – went up to Grade 12 and is a trained Police Officer – wife underwent chinamwali and is also in gainful employment. 9. Concillata 40 Undergone Hotella Married at 16 and went up to Grade 12. Is Chinamwali now divorced and has a stand at the market. 10. Delphina 23 Not Phwazi Single and went up to Grade 12 – is now a Undergone student nurse. 11. Protazio 52 Male Hotella Is a grade 12 school leaver and is sell- employed. Married at age 26. His wife underwent chinamwali. 12. Jane 37 Not Chiendende Has been married for 18 years and went up Undergone to Grade 12. She owns a grocery store. 13. Faustina 35 Undergone Chiendende She is married – she was married at age 18 – left School at Grade 6 and is a subsistence farmer. 14. Mary 29 Undergone Chiendende She is married – was married at 18 and went up to Grade 6. She is a subsistence farmer and sometimes sells her extra produce. 15. Anna 24 Undergone Mwantigola Married at 18 and left School in Grade 6. She is a housewife – her husband works at the clinic. 16. Catherine 49 Ritual Mwantigola A widow – she went up to Grade 9 and was Instructor married at 19. She is a small-scale farmer and is also engaged in the fish trade. 17. Mary 26 Not Mwantigola She is married with 4 children – went up to Undergone Grade 12 and is a housewife 18. Patricia 43 Undergone Yapite She was married at 16 and went up to Grade 4. She does peace jobs. 19. Matilda 27 Undergone Yapite She left school in Grade 7 when she fell pregnant. She later was married at 20 to another man. She moulds bricks for sale and also sells charcoal.

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No Name Age Village Description

20. Chilomo 40 Undergone Janeiro She is a divorcee. She went up to Grade 9 and married soon after that. She works at a lodge. 21. Chiwoni 21 Not Soweto She is single – went up to Grade 12 and is Undergone currently at Nursing school. 22. Malita 20 Not Soweto She is single and went up to Grade 12. She Undergone is looking for finances to enable her further her education. 23. Jude 20 Male Mkalipilana He is single and a Grade 12 School leaver. He is currently enrolled at a Trade School in Lusaka. 24. Maybin 25 Male Mbilisau He is married and went up to Grade 9. He sells reed mats and baskets for a living. His wife is from another district but underwent the female initiation rite. 25. Veronica 38 Undergone Kavalamanja She stopped school in Grade 6 due to illness and married at 17. She is a small-scale farmer. 26. Juana 47 Undergone Kavalamanja She went up to Grade 4 and was married at 18 when she fell pregnant. 27. Grace 35 Undergone Kakaro She left School in Grade 2 and was married at 15 – she was already betrothed to her first husband when she attained puberty. She is now married to a second husband and is a small-scale farmer. 28. Regina 30 Undergone Mandombe She went up to Grade 12 and was married at 20. She is a Primary School Teacher. 29. Maria 24 Undergone Amoro She went up to Grade 7 and was married at 16. She sells charcoal. 30. Jane 19 Undergone Amoro She was married at 18 and stopped school in Grade 11 because she got pregnant. She now works at the Clinic as a cleaner.

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Annexure D: A Namwali

Picture of a Namwali courtesy INSP News Service

Annexure E: Maps

Map of Zambia. Source: Maps of the World 2017.

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Map of Lusaka. Source: Lusaka Planning Office 2011

Map of Luangwa District. Source: Lusaka Planning Office 2011

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Annexure F: Villages in Chief Mphuka’s Chiefdom

1. Mulunda 2. Nyauyakwindi 3. Lufasi 4. Thimanimoto 5. Mwatigola 6. Mpakata 7. Zavedo 8. Chabooka 9. Chapitambiri 10. Yapite 11. Njalaikadza 12. Janeiro 13. Chimasu 14. Chavulula 15. Mbilisau 16. M’siafumbi 17. Fungulani 18. Mkalipilana 19. Chiendende 20. Phwazi 21. Kapyanika 22. Hotela 23. Kamowa 24. Kanyenze 25. Kavalamanja 26. Kakaro 27. Mandombe

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Annexure G: Traditional Dances of the Chikunda

GOTEKA – the dance is performed during a funeral ceremony or later at a funeral beer ritual. Beer (Bona) is brewed for people to drink. The dance symbolizes the fallen spirit. Men, women, girls and boys dance along with the chosen one following the rhythm of the music and drums. The girls may put a hat on the head of the boy and vice-versa – they take to the floor and wriggle to the amusement of spectators.

NGOLOLOMBE – this is performed using the Chikunda “pan-pipe”. It is a sort of flute tied together. During the performance, songs of welcome and praise to visiting dignitaries are sung in between blowing the flutes and singing. This was used to express gratitude to visiting dignitaries or officials. They form a circle, men and women then dance in turn. Men wrap themselves with a piece of cloth around the groin and buttocks – the upper body naked. Women are dressed in dresses with a piece of extra cloth rolled around their waist.

MAFUWE – this dance is similar to Ngololombe, the difference being the beating of drums in rhythm with the music instead of the “pan-pipes”. The other notable difference is the wearing of “nsense” that is tied around one leg, giving an added beautiful sound when the leg is shaken like those used in the “Nyau” dance. The dressing is the same in both sexes. Mafuwe are blissful occasions as already indicated. It is a rich dance tradition as performers express love, admiration or even jealousy as they dance to the music, gyrate and wriggle.

Source: Department of Chiefs Affairs, Luangwa District.

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