FOREST HUNTER-GATHERERS AND THEIR WORLD: A Study of the Mbendjele Yaka Pygmies of Congo-Brazzaville and Their Secular and Religious Activities and Representations 2002 JEROME LEWIS Department of Social Anthropology London School of Economics and Political Science A Thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1 Abstract This thesis is about a forest hunter-gatherer people, the Mbendjele Yaka Pygmies of northern Congo-Brazzaville. The thesis is based on field research carried out between 1994 and 2001. I begin by examining certain key terms used in the thesis and by situating my research within the existing literature. Research methodologies are presented and the fieldwork experience described. I provide an overview of the historical, political and economic context of the research including an outline assessment of the main historical reconstructions of regional history. Conservationist and loggers’ models of the forest are juxtaposed with Mbendjele ways of representing landscape and the forest environment. I discuss the significance of the forest in Mbendjele social experience and its role as the ideal environment for social life. I examine the way the Mbendjele classify animals and the cosmological significance of hunting and killing. This theme is continued with a presentation of ekila, a complex set of practices and beliefs that regulate the interactions of people with animals and express a complex relationship between human fertility and the correct handling of prey animals. I continue the analysis of Mbendjele collective representations with a presentation of the activity of massana. The link between children’s play and adult rituals implicit in the use of this term is analysed. I then build on this understanding to present an analysis of aspects of two ritual associations, Ejεngi and Ngoku, central to men’s and women’s power in society. The thesis is brought to a close by moving beyond the forest to examine Mbendjele relations with and conceptualisations of outsiders and property rights. New technological developments and financial incentives are increasingly transforming the Mbendjele forest into faunal and floral assets for distribution to international organizations. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 3 Table of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 6 Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................... 7 Declaration .................................................................................................................................... 10 Glossary of key terms used in the text ..........................................................................................11 CHAPTER ONE.................................................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 12 The research experience, techniques and practice ........................................................................ 12 Pygmy studies in the Mbendjele region........................................................................................ 23 Some general historical contextualisation..................................................................................... 31 Prehistory and the Bantu expansion..............................................................................................31 The late Atlantic Trade era and the Colonial Period..................................................................... 35 Contemporary political history and economic context ................................................................. 38 Northern Congo-Brazzaville ......................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................... 46 SOME KEY TERMS AND AN INTRODUCTION TO MBENDJELE SOCIAL ORGANISATION.................................................................................. 46 Pygmy ........................................................................................................................................... 46 Yaka .............................................................................................................................................. 49 Bilo – village people, bisi mboka.................................................................................................. 51 Yaka - forest people, bisi ndima ................................................................................................... 54 The Ngombe Yaka ........................................................................................................................ 57 The Luma Yaka............................................................................................................................. 58 The Mikaya Yaka.......................................................................................................................... 60 The Ngabo Yaka ........................................................................................................................... 61 The Tua Yaka................................................................................................................................ 63 An Mbendjele perspective on Yaka forest people ........................................................................ 64 Hunter-gatherers............................................................................................................................ 68 An introduction to Mbendjele social organisation........................................................................ 70 Mosambo – public speaking.......................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................... 81 THE FOREST ENVIRONMENT.......................................................................... 81 The Mbendjele and their environment .......................................................................................... 81 Some expatriate perceptions of the forest ..................................................................................... 82 The forest from an Mbendjele perspective.................................................................................... 89 The forest animals - banyama ua ndima....................................................................................... 91 Aspects of the Mbendjele’s supernatural landscape ..................................................................... 94 Forest animals as transformed persons ......................................................................................... 97 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 101 CHAPTER FOUR................................................................................................ 103 3 EKILA .................................................................................................................. 103 Ekila and the sexual division of labour....................................................................................... 110 Ekila and the developmental cycle.............................................................................................. 116 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 120 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................. 124 MASSANA............................................................................................................ 124 Children’s massana..................................................................................................................... 128 Bolu – the children’s mokondi..................................................................................................... 132 Adult Massana............................................................................................................................. 136 Mokondi Massana ...................................................................................................................... 138 Mokondi ...................................................................................................................................... 141 The njaηga – the sacred path ...................................................................................................... 147 The bangonja – initiates and mboni - neophytes ........................................................................ 148 Eboka – commemoration ceremonies ......................................................................................... 151 Fighting - itumba......................................................................................................................... 156 Songs and song