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Daughters
of Kasamba:
The Goba People of the Zambezi River
At the outset of their great expansion
across central and southern Africa, the Bantu nations were matrilineal.
Many conserved this orientation to the motherlines, notably in what
scholars have called the Bantu matrilineal belt of south-central Africa.
This culture area stretches from Namibia and southern Angola across
to Zambia, and parts of Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. In the eastern
reaches of this vast region, daughters inherit land. The Chewa of south
Malawi show “about 75% of land inherited from mother to daughter.”
[Holden et al, 102-110, quote 105] The women’s ritual activity
is also an important sphere of power.
Some of the most striking African instances of matrix cultures are found
in this southeastern part of the continent. They are not only matrilineal
but also matrilocal, with powerful female offices and a history of important
foundational women. The peoples of the Zambezi river retained matrilocal
custom and high female status. [Lancaster 152-3]
The Goba are a standout in this regard, especially since their Shona
relatives to the south are strongly patrilineal and patrilocal. Their
nhundu matrilineages are anchored around groups of sisters
and their children. The sisters “are thought of as the heart of
the village and as the living representatives of the original founding
core of village women.” [Lancaster, 164]
Most Goba men marry out, but one brother always stays with his maternal
kin as the dundumuntuli, a guardian figure who acts as family representative
to the outside world. There is some maneuvering among the men to attain
this coveted post, but in fact it is the sisters who choose the dundumuntuli.
They have the power to prevent any unsuitable aspirant from seizing
control. It is this “formal, institutionalized authority, rather
than mere influence, traditionally enjoyed by their senior women”
that distinguishes the Goba culture. The female elder is called samukadzi,
with important responsibilities to the ancestors. [Lancaster, 171-3,
150, 177]
One of the Goba bands, the Banamainga, say they are the first Tonga
group who crossed the Zambezi from the south. They had no king at that
time. Other groups arrived and wars broke out, provoked by ambitious
men who “tried to build ladders to the sky” to increase
their power and prestige. “Then Kasamba, a powerful woman shaman,
was called back from Soli Manyika to unite the Banamainga.” She
restored order and created a land sanctuary at Njami Hill, the oldest
in Zimbabwe. [Lancaster, 16]
Kasamba became the main tutelary spirit at this shrine after her death,
and no one could become ruler without her blessing. It was the business
of her female shamanic successors, the guardians of the Njami Hill sanctuary,
to determine who was sanctioned to rule. After some time an additional
male office was created, filled by a relative selected by the priestess,
to see that court decisions were carried out and to provide martial
backup if necessary. Trouble developed when the warlord Ntambo took
this office. He “became jealous of his ‘queen sister’
and finally killed her with medicine.” He took over the shrine
priesthood, while continuing his wars. His men filled the villages with
captives, and probably sold some to the Portuguese, in the midst of
a booming trade in ivory. [Lancaster, 17]
But the rains stopped, and Ntambo’s men were forced to make amends
to the Njami shrine guardians. So balance was restored, but in time
another king, Munenga, interfered again. Oral tradition says that this
king had many elephants killed for the ivory trade, whose wealth he
now claimed for the crown. Munenga was criticized for his collaboration
with the Portuguese. His riches helped him to create a new land-shrine
for the kingdom, and put one of his men in charge. [Lancaster, 19] Thus
the royal, military and trading interests undermined the authority of
the shrine priestesses, custodians of the foundational sanctuary of
the Goba.
Nevertheless, women elders retained “important and conspicuous
roles” in Goba society. They take leading roles in addressing
the land-shrine spirits and commune with them in dances in which they
clear harmful influences from the village while young men drum. It is
they who choose successors by pointing a spear during succession ceremonies.
The women’s councils meet separately from the men’s “to
hear and judge all important decisions and disputes” affecting
their lineage. A senior woman as well as an elder male must be in attendance
for communion with ancestors to go forward, and a group of female elders
always participates in divinations about deaths or other important concerns.
[Lancaster, 194-5]
Most of the information in this section is drawn from:
Lancaster, Chet S., The Goba of the Zambezi: Sex Roles, Economics,
and Change, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981
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