THE CONSTRUCTION OF ‘RELIGION1 AND THE PERPETUATION OF ‘TRADITION* AMONG POGORO CATHOLICS, SOUTHERN TANZANIA Maia Green Submitted for the Degree of PhD London School of Economics and Political Science May 1993 UMI Number: U062664 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 U062664 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 ( hVcES £^S F 7 D /ai\o^778x 2 Abstract This thesis is an ethnographic account of contemporary religious practice among a Bantu agricultural people in Southern Tanzania, the majority of whom are affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church. It examines the dialectic between Christianity and what the Pogoro consider to be ‘traditional’ practice as resulting in a locally defined Catholicism and in the separation of formal, official Christianity from ‘traditional practice’. The thesis looks at how the existence of an institutional religion, in this case Catholicism, defines some aspects of local practice as traditional in opposition to it, while, at the same time, elements of Christian practice have been adopted by the community in a non institutional way. The thesis describes Pogoro Christianity, the role of the Church and Pogoro perceptions of it and gives an account of that which they consider to belong to the realm of ‘tradition’. Traditional practice is not in actuality unchanging, but any changes in traditional practice must be legitimated by the authority of the dead and the spirits. The first part of the thesis provides the historical and geographical background. This is followed by a chapter on the Catholic Church in the area and official Catholic practice. Local Catholic practice and perceptions of the church and Christianity are described and accounted for. The next section looks at what is constituted as belonging to the realm of ‘tradition’. The core chapters in this section describe girls puberty rites, funerals and the relationship with the dead. It is here that Catholic practice enters the realm of ‘tradition’. A chapter examines the place of witchcraft eradication movements among the Pogoro, and in East and central Africa, to demonstrate how ‘tradition’ can and does change, and to provide a contrast with the position of Christianity among the Pogoro. This is dealt with in the final chapter in which I argue that there are limits on the ‘traditionalisation’ of Christianity among the Pogoro, and in other similar societies, and that these limits are to some extent a function of the institutional nature of Christianity. 3 4 CONTENTS CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. 5 PREFACE ................................................................................................................................... 9 One: INTRODUCTION . 11 The Anthropology of Christianity .......................................................................... 11 The Anthropology of Christianity in A frica......................................................... 12 The Small Christian Community............................................................................ 16 The Majority Churches .............................................................................................. 17 The Catholic Church in A frica............................................................................... 18 Situating this Study ................................................................................................... 18 The T h esis.................................................................................................................... 20 Methodology............................................................................................................... 21 Language...................................................................................................................... 23 The Ethnography of Ulanga D istrict..................................................................... 23 Two: THE SETTING ............................................................................................................... 25 The District and its Peoples.................................................................................... 25 First Impressions....................................................................................................... 29 Economy and Agriculture......................................................................................... 30 Official Social Organisation and Settlement - Village, Household, P a ris h ............................................................................................................ 34 Party in Mahenge....................................................................................................... 35 Settlement Patterns and Government Policy....................................................... 36 The Village ................................................................................................................. 38 Residence, Household and Cooperation.............................................................. 40 Three: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: CHRISTIANITY AND ‘CONVERSION’ ... 45 The First Missionaries.............................................................................................. 45 Evangelisation in Ulanga......................................................................................... 47 The Swiss Capuchins ................................................................................................ 49 Mission Control Over Marriage............................................................................. 50 The Economics of M ission...................................................................................... 52 Education ................................................................................ 53 5 The Persistence of Mission....................................................................................... 55 The Priests: Businessmen and Ritual Specialists ............................................... 60 ‘African Europeans’: The Africanisation of the Clergy...................................... 63 Religion as a Category.............................................................................................. 66 Four: POGORO CHRISTIANITY ....................................................................................... 69 Being Christian .......................................................................................................... 69 B aptism ......................................................................................................................... 69 S ervices......................................................................................................................... 72 Lay Organisations ..................................................................................................... 74 The Catholic Divines ................................................................................................ 75 Mary, the Saints and the D ead............................................................................... 81 Five: KINSHIP AND THE CREATION OF RELATIONSHIP................................... 85 The Negotiability of Kinship.................................................................................... 85 Marriage Strategies and the Household................................................................ 86 The Marriage Process .............................................................................................. 89 Betrothal and Bridewealth ...................................................................................... 91 Church M arriage ........................................................................................................ 93 The Constitution of Practical M arriage................................................................ 94 Church Weddings........................................................................................................ 99 Moving the Bride........................................................................................................ 99 Separation and Divorce.............................................................................................. 100 Kinship and Descent............................................................................ 101 Creating Paternity ........................................................................................................104 Descent and the D ead.................................................................................................113 Six: GIRLS’ PUBERTY RITES .............................................................................................. 115 The Symbolic Basis of ‘Jadi’ .......................................................................................115 Fertility Rites and Initiation.......................................................................................116 Becoming a m w ali........................................................................................................118