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University Of London "Witchcraft and the Reproduction Of Wealth In Southern Zambia." By Leonie Kindness. A Thesis Submitted to the Anthropology Department of The London School Of Economics and Political Science For The Degree Of Ph.D. 1996. UMI Number: U615176 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615176 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 POLITICAL AND *v ABSTRACT. Well, there are some stories of what you must do to become wealthy. You will go to the witch, who will point out a tree to you. \Behind that tree is a special cow, you must milk that cow, and then you can become wealthy. ’ When you go behind that tree, what do you find there but a lioness. If you are brave enough to take the milk from the lioness, and then cook it and eat it with porridge then you will be very rich. This quote, an extract from my field notes, describes one of the many techniques to become wealthy through witchcraft which are explored in this thesis. This thesis examines witchcraft in a small town in Southern Zambia, in the last decade of the Twentieth Century. In particular it focuses on witchcraft for the creation of wealth. Although witchcraft for wealth seems to be an old tradition, it remains largely unexamined in academic work. In chapter one the town of Monze is introduced and some methodological issues are discussed. In chapter two there is a discussion of witches in the modem era, what witches do and who they are. The use of witchcraft for the creation of wealth is introduced at this point, in the three areas of crops, cows and businesses. The point is made that much wealth creation involves the linking of production and reproduction. In other words, for excess production to occur, the witches must tamper with the processes of reproduction. Thus much witchcraft for wealth involves stealing foetuses, making women barren and other similar attacks on fertility. Chapters three, four and five, therefore, deal with an exploration of the processes of reproduction. Chapter three examines the reproduction of spirits and names, while chapters four and five discuss reproduction of the body. We examine body substances, and the reproduction and exchange of substance through sex, conception, pregnancy and birth. In chapters six, seven, and eight these insights into the reproductive processes are used to explain witchcraft for wealth; in maize production, cattle production, and modem business enterprises. Chapter nine is the conclusion. In these chapters the contribution of my material to various theoretical debates on witchcraft, gender, the body and analysis of substance is discussed. 1 A famous Monze witchfinder (muchape) with items used for witchcraft. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. So, Leonie, you’re doing a Ph.D. ? Did you know all Zambians are already Ph.D. ’s? No... Oh yes! We ’re all Pot Hole Dodgers! This joke about the state of the roads in Zambia was told to me shortly after my arrival in Africa. I did not know at that time how apt the comparison between the slow process of driving down the heavily pot-holed roads of Zambia and my tortuous attempts to produce this thesis would prove to be. I would like to thank all the following who have helped me to avoid many different types of pot-holes. For support at all stages of the production of this thesis, I would first like to thank my brothers, Neil and Gavin and all the families I have ever been a member of. For Jasmine, my daughter whose birth almost coincided with completion of this thesis. For Financial assistance. Thanks to E.S.R.C., Malinowski Award of Dept, of Anthropology, L.S.E. Hardship and Access fund, Royal Anthropological Institute. LSE Anthropology Department. Thanks to Dr. Henrietta Moore, for supervision, encouragement, for always finding the most positive words. For moral support and reading drafts, thanks to James Woodbum, Peter Loizos, loan Lewis, Maurice Bloch. Also Margaret Bothwell, Anne Seal and Stella Stone, thanks for moral support and lots of practical assistance. Beloveds of the Writing-Un Seminar. Louise Perrotta, many thanks for storing my junk while I was in the field. Also thanks to Mark Jamieson, Fernanda Claudio, Margaret Taylor, Marios Sarris, Dimitris Theodossopoulos, Amarinth Shin, Bwire Kaare, Todd Sanders, Paul Oldham, S. Venkat, Franca Tamisari. Especial thanks to the other members of our "thesis support group" Yasushi Uchiyamada, and Mark Harris. Institute of African Studies at University of Zambia. Thanks for affiliation. Fieldwork Friends. Litrecy Himaambo, field assistant. I’ll never find words to say all the good things about you! Mebelo and Ajay. Desai family. (Urvesh, Ashok, Praful, Kishore (Hamudebwe), The Honourable Suresh Desai and all the Aunties). Harriet, Fortune M. Chibamba, Beatrice Chikwambo, Juunza Simon, Boniface, Anne, Jane, Belita, James Sakala, Raphael, Machipisa, Masamba, Fr. Xavier Musanje, Fr. Cosmos Moonga, Brother John, Litrecy’s long-suffering grannies and aunties, St. Kizito, Kirty, Bharat, Dr. Sitali, Ian, Julie, Victor Sinyinda, thanks for all the times you rescued my vehicle. Alasdair, Luigi, Edel, Shane, Mike, Francis, Maria, Brian, Natlie, Vincent, Guisseppe, Doctors and Nurses. Olaf the Bore-hole driller.Also thanks to those clergy who asked not to be personally acknowledged due to the explicit nature of some of my material. 2 CONTENTS. Chapter One: Introducing Monze. (p.8). Section 1: Introduction to thesis, (p.8). 1.1. Introduction. 1.2 Outline of thesis. Section 2: The Making of Monze. (p. 15). Section 3: Work Already done in Monze. (p. 19). Section 4: Working with Witchcraft: Issues and Methodology, (p.22). 4.1. An anthropologist in town. 4.2. The doctor called Kindness who moves with Litrecy. 4.3. Particular problems of studying witches. 4.3.1. They are invisible. 4.3.2. Nobody wants to talk about them. 4.3.3. Confidentiality. Chapter Two: Witches. Riches and Tragic Magic, (p.34). Section 1: Witches and the Modem era, (p.34). 1.1. Witchcraft in popular culture and the Media. 1.2. Witchcraft and Modernity. Section 2: What witches do. (p.45). 2.1. No such thing as a natural death? 2.2. The witch’s paraphernalia. 2.3. Witches Flying. Section 3: Who is suspected of witchcraft? (p.56). 3.1. African Doctor or nganga. 3.2. Is "Women’s medicine" witchcraft? 3.3. Witch-finders or muchape. Section 4: Witchcraft for wealth, (p.69). 4.1. Becoming a witch. 4.2. The process of going for wealth medicine. 4.3. Witchcraft for crops. 4.4. Witchcraft for cows. 4.5. Witchcraft for business. 3 Chapter Three; Reproduction of Spirits and Names: Some Competing Discourses,(p.79). Section 1: The different types of spirits found in Monze. (p.81). 1.1. Ancestor Spirits. 1.2. Nominal reincarnation, birth and the naming of children. 1.3. Where are your mizimul Fluidity of body and spirit. 1.4. Death and the return to the ancestors. 1.5. Ghosts: ancestral rejects? Section 2: Spirits that can possess people, (p.94). 2.1. Basangu. 2.2. Masabe. 2.2.1. Traditional masabe. 2.2.2. Less traditional masabe. 2.3. The Professionals: ancestor spirits with a job to do. 2.3.1. Healing spirits. 2.3.2. Rain-Making spirits. Section 3: Some competing discourses, (p. 1051. 3.1. Advent of indirect rule: The battle for legitimacy. 3.2. History of rain-making. 3.3. Brief history of mission activity. 3.4. Beads, the unification of God and the ancestors in the healing process. 3.5. Different ways of living with God and the ancestors. 3.5.1. Community attitudes to God and the ancestors. 3.5.2. Traditional healers: attitudes to God and the ancestors. 3.5.3. Church attitudes to God and the ancestors. Chapter Four: Body Substances and Reproduction, (p.118). Section 1: Introducing Body Substances, (p. 120). 1.1. Water. 1.2 Blood bulowa. 1.2.1. Red blood. 1.2.2. Menstrual blood. 1.2.3. Semen, "Man’s Blood”. 1.2.4. Woman’s Sexual Blood. 1.3. Breast Milk. 1.4. Nshima. Section 2: Reproducine Substance, (p. 131). 2.1. Women’s preparations for sex. 2.2. Men’s preparations for sex. 2.3. Sex: The hot dry woman is wet with the blood of a "man". 2.4. Conception. 2.5. Pregnancy. 4 2.6. Birth. 2.7. Breast-feeding. Section 3: Exploring Substance Exchange, (p. 143). 3.1. Links of sex and eating. 3.2. Substance exchange between men and women. Chapter Five: Mixing and exchange of body substances, (p.152). Section 1: Mixing body substances: Malnutrition and Aids, (p. 152). 1.1. Masoto. 1.2. Aids, T.B. kafungo, the "abortion diseases". Section 2: Symptoms of abortion diseases, (p. 161). 2.1. Symptoms of Aids. 2.2. Symptoms of kafungo. 2.3. Symptoms of T.B. 2.4. Symptoms in common. 2.4.1. Coughing. 2.4.2. Slimming of the body. Section 3: Causes of abortion diseases, (p. 1651. 3.1. Deepest causes: Loss of respect for taboo and tradition. 3.1.1. Cleansing following abortion. 3.1.2.
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