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Evil and Women, a Fertile Alliance
The starting points of this chapter will be Pierre Bonnafé’s book Nzo Lipfu, le lignage de la mort32 , and “Une force, un objet, un champ: le buti des Kukuya au Congo33”, both ethnographic works, geographically situated in coeval Republic of Congo (as shown in the following map), and chronologically set in 1967.
Figure 2: Geographic location of Plateau Kukuya presented in B. Guillot, La Terre Enkou. Recherches sur les structures agraires du plateau Koukouya (Congo), Paris, Mouton & Co, 1973, p. 12.
The first text takes us for most of the prose, in detail, inside a mutere – a judicial ritual – to publicly reveal a sorcerer’s evil misdeed. The mutere is a social mirror, “une cérémonie de découverte d’un sorcier”34, which enfolds into three phases: multiple death occurred, a menace to society has been perceived, so elders and chiefs start consulting; a local expedition goes and confer with a foreign diviner; eventually, the troupe returns, and the assembly takes place until a verdict35.
While, the second article, part of the same investigation, mainly deals with magical objects – mati that are used by sorcerers to accumulate power, destroy life, prosperity and even kill. Everything that can be identified with destruction, death and infertility is plausibly a sorcerer’s evil doing. Conversely, fertility is rain, a mild sun, collective harmony, a good harvest, kids strolling around: it is more or less an idyllic scenario of prosperity, in which time freezes in order to give breath to the new.
Who can pose a threat to this state of things, if not a malicious sorcerer who feasts on other’s sufferings? Likely, this evil sorcerer could be a woman. A stereotype old as the wheel, that has concrete historical explanations, rooted in diversified, and institutionalized patriarchal systems36.The purpose of this chapter is rather to understand, if and how, magic and sorcery – in the shapes of a gendered evil – played any role at all in subordinating women in the hands of hegemonic powers, mainly supported by men and elders. My intention here, is of course not to enforcedly generalize any conclusive remark that can be applied in every context or any condition tout court. It is rather to evidence how Kukuya women – in this case – , given certain conditions and in very different shapes, might end up with very similar result: political subordination, oppression and asymmetrical relations of power. Where, by certain conditions, I mean gerontocratical, patriarchal and hierarchical societies, tied to particular sex specific or sex related socio-economic exploitations. To do so, we have to follow entangled trajectories of manipulation of magical objects, land issues, control over infertile bodies, and ritual knowledge exclusion.
Myth and Dualism
The subjects and objects of this chapter is Kukuya society, inhabitants of the homonym plateau, nowadays Republic of Congo. Bonnafé writes and lives within a society in which its people are and were embedded into a world of Animism and Christianity, an all-encompassing magical reality which can be difficult for us to grasp. It is a reality that does not oppose material to immaterial, nature and culture, nature in contrast to humanity, or the other way around. Besides, there are two temporal moments, distinguished by the Kukuya, where visible and invisible coexist and intermingle: « mandaka ma wiri, ‘les affaires du jour’ et mandaka mampiriba, ‘les affaires de la nuit’, normal et déterminé contre anormal et indéterminé”.37 Indeed, it is a universe where sentient and non sentient beings have a ‘soul’, and magic activities are not just child’s fantasies or parallel dimensions. So, in order to briefly introduce and imagine this distant cosmos, we have to interpellate the myth. Kukuya’s cosmogony tells us that:
Nzami (the supreme being) a créé en même temps les hommes, les femmes, les animaux et les plantes ainsi que les éléments. C’est ainsi qu’il a pourvu les humains d’un principe vital mumpuki, lié à celui de leur lignage nzo, le mumpuki a nzo […] Ces principes sont des forces assurant le succès à tous : mpolo. Mais Nzami a créé simultanément des pfuna, qui sont les «choses» agissantes de la sorcellerie38.
This dichotomy mpolo and pfune is of extreme importance: the first one, is associated with fertility, good health and life’s reproduction; whereas, the second is the innate sorcery and substance that potentially is inherited by matrilineal, agnatic and bilateral line. However, there is a further kind of sorcery that interests us, the ‘technical’ one, called mati (sg. buti). Mati are not singular and easily identifiable objects, their nature is manifold and elusive, they might even transform or hide, as a matter of fact “toutes ces puissances ont en commun d’appartenir à un monde différent du monde «simple». Par conséquent, se défendre contre elles ou les acquérir pour les manier, suppose qu’on fasse appel à une relation cachée avec ce monde invisible”39.
Hence, there is a kind of necessary knowledge to activate or deactivate these ‘hidden’ objects or powers, which in turn, would defend against threat and menaces. It is a knowledge, so to say, that allows for a capacity to interact and ‘see between the worlds’. Such a privileged discernment is monopoly of a specific social group: the ngàà – namely, ‘those who posses the gift’. Obviously, this knowledge has to “reste secrète”, because “une puissance révélée à tous perdrait son efficacité”40. Socially, these magic specialists are healers, diviners and witch-doctors; and notably, the only difference with a sorcerer’s power is their legitimate use. Despite the fact that the ngàà are the only connoisseurs of sorcery and magical arts, mati are also detained by the “plupart des aînés privilégiés41”; they can be inherited, and nowadays are also easily affordable, with money – of course. For the rest, “les femmes, dépourvues de richesse, ne peuvent que très rarement acheter de tels objets à leurs risques et périls”, while, “les jeunes n’en ont pratiquement pas d’importants, sauf objets hérités et magies d’amour”42. At a first glance, the unequal relation between magical objects and women stoutly appears. Still, before addressing the substance and reasons behind the relationship magic, sorcery and women, we must concretely understand what are these mati.
In primis, it is important to differentiate between an act of legitimate and illegitimate use of mati. A perilous and evil sorcery is operated only when it is overstepped a fixed boundary and ‘limit’ (ondili): namely, when “les motifs en soient jugés illicites (la vengeance défensive ne l’est pas), que les effets en soient nettement funestes (maladies ou morts)”.43Otherwise, mati, as stressed before, are potentially acquirable or inherited by anyone. It is rather knowledge and the ability to act as medium that is a unique privilege of the ngàà.
Having pointed out this premise, we can articulate one tangible example of mati.
Mati can be characterized as a composition of different substances, called mpiini. The latter is actually the metamorphosis and combination of natural forces – i.e a buffalo, a thunder or a caiman – into a definite product. Let’s take the example given by Bonnafé, who asks:
Un homme désire- t-il obtenir une puissance de vision (limuni)? Il devra réunir les signes de l’étoile (?), des plumes du petit oiseau lintoli, la peau de ntsi, un petit animal proche de la fouine avec des taches, ressemblant un peu à la panthère (l’animal repère les ennemis avant qu’ils n’attaquent par sa faculté de changer de taches: kikalika kele), un petit rat limpfina, le boa44.
The ngàà will then crush the assemblage, mix either nails or hairs taken by the requester – which assures a material and spiritual continuity – , and indicate those prohibition to adopt.
Once the melange is done, it will be placed on leaves that need to be thrown into a river or to be buried into the ground. Subsequently, these concocted leaves will either transform into ‘benevolent’ creatures or threatening genies. On the contrary: if it is suspected a sorcerer in possession of different mati, all the presumed substances of a composition have to be gather, brought to the ngàà, and destroyed. Indeed, “après blessure ou meurtre, tous ces mpiini deviennent visibles, car le principe vital du sorcier est faible. Un chasseur peut passer alors, par exemple, et lui tuer ses animaux”45. The continuity between the – in this case – powerful creatures and the sorcerer is hence shattered. What happens if it is a woman in possession of mati, though?
Mati and Women
The relation between mati and women, among the Kukuya, is emblematic. Bonnafé states, in fact, that: “dans le domaine des mati, les femmes sont vues comme mauvais génies femelles”46. Evil genies who acquire and draw their formidable power from the ‘invisible world’ and, embodiment of those women, considered “plus faibles dans la vie courante et la puissance diurne”47. This, does not mean that women have no access to mati, either in forms of money or inheritance. Rather, it shows how these ‘weak women’ have to resort to hidden strategies in order to damage, accumulate wealth, or obtain magical substances, since they are deprived of a visible strength during daylight. Women, given their latent secrets, are then easily rumored as sorceress. Bonnafé, on this issue, provides an interesting case, regarding a sorceress’s denunciation. Let’s see the example.
Une femme dans la Terre Lage (part of the plateau ) en 1965 avait un «boa de richesse», hérité de son lignage utérin (frère ou mère), autre nom de ce buti qui était fait pour enrichir. Ce boa volait la nuit les semences de ses «voisines» (terme pour désigner ses compagnes de travail). La femme en effet était «jalouse» d’elles (mpfuna) et aspergeait la nuit toujours leurs semences avec une eau maléfique48.
A female working partner, who complains for her lack of seeds, denounces this ‘jealous’ woman. The diviner is thus consulted, and it is found out that the latter woman possess a pfuna, an evil genie in the shapes of a young goat, and the ‘boa of prosperity’ – a buti. Three kinds of sorcery, then. Whereas, the mechanism in action, is the following: the boa steals the seeds, it fills the sorceress’s bag, and the little goat comes to eat them. The pfuna, instead, gives strength to the act itself. Consequently, the sorceress is not ‘caught’, so the last drastic measure is taken: “L’oncle utérin et les parents paternels décident de monter un véritable piège avec un breuvage kitsie, qu’on placera sur le champ de la femme lésée. La sorcière, si elle ne peut se contenir, viendra boire cette eau sous forme de boa ou de cabri et absorbera ainsi un poison”49. Once the poison has been drank, the woman will be thus easily recognized by her smell. Again, the contiguity sorcerer and mati is stressed. The damage inflicted to either the boa or the little goat is a damage against the sorcerer itself; which shows, how, “de l’homme à l’animal se révèle une identité d’organes et de fonctions”50.
The previous example describes a conflictual episode among women, an event that recalls two often quoted topoi of sorcery’s accusation: jealousy and greed. Jealousy, as we noted before, is result of machinations excogitated by a ‘weak woman’, and greed, due to uncontrollable behaviour of a sorcerer who is unable to share wealth. Yet, what catches the eye is the impressive mobilization by the lineage family and the accuser. Mati are potentially obtained by women, but the overwhelming majority of these objects, and its secrets, are in the hands of elders, powerful men and diviners. As a matter of fact, Bonnafé adds, that during his fieldwork: “A l’époque, comme par le passé, «les femmes n’ont pas plus de mati» […] Qu’elles aient recours à ceux de leurs frères, époux, parents, aînés, semble normal”51.
Hence, to what is linked the lack of buti’s possession and knowledge, to women’s condition in Kukuya society? The answer lies in the pivotal role of women as workers and life reproducers. Indeed, the paradigm recites that : “le succès agricole (mpolo) est d’abord placé dans l’énergie humaine de la femme”52. Agricultural wealth cannot be obtained, if not from massive and intensive toil, endured by women. Especially, when the amount of working hours, registered by Bonnafé are “35 heures de travail par semaine aux hommes actifs contre plus de 60 aux femmes”53.
In a sense, the mati reflect the relationship between men and women in a society, the role of who detains a spiritual hegemony over these objects, and to whom belongs the legitimacy of sanctioning and punishing the ‘wrong’ use of these magical items. Even if, “quelques brillantes exceptions ont toujours confirmé la règle”54, and possession is something that also women can secure, their technical knowledge remain monopoly of the ngàà caste. There is a reason why, a sorcerer’s accusation does never touch the stratified power of the ngàà and elders. Who establishes the ondili (the limit), is also the moral guardian of the status quo. Who controls the knowledge of these spiritual artifacts, controls the reins of a society well being. And, it is a well being that does not necessarily coincides with women’s prosperity and agency. Furthermore, a buti can be established as point of departure, in order to address three plausible ways in which women might be subordinated. Yet, to make sense of this exploitation, we have to articulate the position of Kukuya women in relation to an almost exclusive monopoly over magical substances.
The articulation can be configured as follows: firstly, by asserting the capacity of dominant group to exclude women from a specialized magical knowledge, pivotal to the preservation of a status quo, and legitimate political counter-actions; secondly, by deepening the analysis of a socio-economic exploitation; and thirdly, by controlling and demonizing women’s body, in relation to other African counter-parts.
Land of Wisdom
There are three important features of knowledge through which hierarchy is formed. First is the difficulty of acquiring the knowledge. Second is the ring-fencing of that knowledge, so that its acquisition remains controlled. Third is the social valuation of that knowledge. […] In indigenous societies too we can see that the monopolization of areas of knowledge through taboos and persecution as witches for breaking the boundaries is a way in which differences in knowledge are turned into hierarchy55.
In order to further elaborate on this point and pursue the regards given so far, we need to specify these three important remarks in regards to Kukuya population. But first, a clarification of this concept, knowledge.
Knowledge here, is understood as ritual knowledge in relation to mati. In particular, that kind of knowledge which allows divination, use of magical skills to expose sorcery, evil misdeeds, and ability to unveil the hidden magical secrets among worlds. Ritual knowledge is a key factor in establishing dominion if it is assured within a biological and economical niche. Men and elders possess an incontestable authority as long as they cannot be openly disputed by both women and youngster. Ritual knowledge, in this sense, does have a prominence in ensuring an hegemonic control, and it is pretty crystalline. What concerns me here is not the enormous body of ritual knowledge, which encloses numerous kinds of different rituals, categorized by Bonnafé under the voice Ngàà. Rather, its exclusivity: when knowledge becomes, in fact, evil. And, it is acted and possessed by a specific social group, in our case, women. In order to expurgate evil, you firstly need to justify your actions – that can be equally evil. Thus, evil is legitimated by a dominant hegemony, when wielded to counter-act evilness itself.
For instance, Maia Green acutely observes that “in order for evil to become actionable, it has to be institutionally supported”56. The equalization women and evil genies, or women and weakness is codified by the dominant institutions, and slowly internalized equally by women and men, who reiterate myths and tales of feminine weakness. For this reason, ritual knowledge has to be inserted into a big canvas of different and intertwined trajectories, institutional changes and stasis. Specifically, magic and sorcery, have to be grasped only by assessing this a priori articulated scenario. If we do not acknowledge a gender struggle that inexorably excluded women from ritual knowledge – together with other ‘rights’ -, we are not able to comprehend why the juxtaposition of evil to women have been so common and violent. When we look closely among the Kukuya, for instance, women are enforcedly excluded by divination proceedings regarding sorcery, and not only. Bonnafé writes about the mutere:
Le savoir sur lequel se fonde le procès politique (mutere) est tout aussi insaisissable dans un premier temps que les autres composantes du procès. […] Il existe un savoir proprement politique. Les histoires de sorcellerie se déroulent sur un laps de temps souvent considérable, au cours duquel s’enchaîne toute une série de procés variés. Ce n’est pas dans le mutere qu’on perçoit le plus la présence du savoir politique, mais dans l’intervalle entre les grands rituels: connaisance des intrigues, évaluation des forces, recherches des appuis, art d’orienter la rumeur diffuse et sortout décisions57.
It is exactly this political knowledge that legitimizes the uncontested power of the elders, diviners and chiefs among the Kukuya. A parallel can be traced, in terms of exclusion to political knowledge and hegemony, with the intertwined fate of Latin in opposition to vulgar Italian, and the fracture between intellectuals and illiterate masses. Antonio Gramsci, on this, writes: “Of religion, the people see and hear exhortative sermons, but cannot follow up with the discussions and ideological developments, which are monopoly of a caste”58. The monopoly of a caste, in our case, is the one of the Ngàà. Who, above all, thanks to a magical-political knwoledge over mati, are able to preclude women from institutional position with ruling powers over sorcery. And secondly, by engendering women as innately weak and easily prone to transform into evil genies. Hence, the exclusion from mati possession and knowledge becomes matter of great importance, since manipulation of spiritual reality is decisive in consolidating power. To continue the thread and follow the three remarks introduced at the beginning of the paragraph, we have to pin point some observations in the regards of Kukuya women.
Firstly, the difficulty of acquiring knowledge is coupled and reinforced by a total political exclusion. Primarily, due to a confinement inside the domestic sphere and harsh labour; as a matter of fact, “la tâche d’une femme étant avant tout de cultiver les champs »59. Furthemore, concern is confirmed by the fact that diviners and witch finders are merely men, called Ngàà. The latter corporation, chiefs, judges, and elders are clearly not interested in institutionally legitimizing women’s power, since, “Les alliances politiques sont au coeur de la place de la corporation dans le rapports sociaux »60. In addition, working exploitation is too important to be questioned, since the stratification of power lies in this unequal treatment.
Table of contents :
Introduction
Objective and Research Questions
Analytical and Theoretical Framework
Sorcery and Witchcraft
Magic
Source Materials
State of Research and Method
Chapter one: Evil and Women, a Fertile Alliance
Myth and Dualism
Mati and Women
Land of Wisdom
Land of Labour
Dry Land
Complementary Evil
Conclusive Remarks
Chapter two: A Sorcerer’s Tale of Hegemony
Eastern Wisdom
A Sister’s Sacrifice
The Sorceresses’ Pact
The Tree of Intrigue
Conclusive Remarks
Conclusions
Bibliography
