Chisungu : a girl's initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Zambia / Audrey I. Richards; with an introduction by Jean la Fontaine

By:

Richards, Audrey I [la Fontaine, Jean]

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Publication details: London : Tavistock Publications, 1956Description: xl, 224 pages, illustrations, 21 cmISBN:

0-422-78070-7

Subject(s):

Social sciences | Bemba tribes; Puberty rites; Marriages; Ritual activities | Zambia

DDC classification:

GEN 305.8963 RIC

Summary: The chisungu (cisungu) of the Bemba is usually described either as a puberty rite for girls or as a female initiation ceremony. It consists of a long and rather elaborate succession of ritual acts which include miming, singing, dancing and the handling of sacred emblems. In the old days the chisungu invariably preceded the marriage of a young girl, and was an integral part of the series of ceremonies by which a bridegroom was united to the family group of his bride, in a tribe in which descent is reckoned through the woman and not through the man, and in which a man comes to live with his wife's relatives at marriage rather than a woman with her husband's.

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Holdings
Cover image	Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
	Books	Namibia Scientific Society Library General Collection	Reference	GEN 305.8963 RIC (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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Previous	GEN 301.4510968 VEN Coloured : a profile of the two million South Africans /	GEN 305.839368 The white tribe of Africa : South Africa in perspective /	GEN 305.8963 COU Ndebele : the art of an African tribe /	GEN 305.8963 RIC Chisungu : a girl's initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Zambia /	GEN 305.8963 TUR The Lozi peoples of North-Western Rhodesia /	GEN 306 KRA Verkehrte Welten : zur imaginären Ethnographie des 19. Jahrhunderts /	GEN 306.089 KRI The social system of the Zulus /	Next

Includes footnotes, appendixes, bibliography and index

The chisungu (cisungu) of the Bemba is usually described either as a puberty rite for girls or as a female initiation ceremony. It consists of a long and rather elaborate succession of ritual acts which include miming, singing, dancing and the handling of sacred emblems. In the old days the chisungu invariably preceded the marriage of a young girl, and was an integral part of the series of ceremonies by which a bridegroom was united to the family group of his bride, in a tribe in which descent is reckoned through the woman and not through the man, and in which a man comes to live with his wife's relatives at marriage rather than a woman with her husband's.

Dr. Maria Fisch W018284 Donation

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