The fragmented new kingdoms of kongo people disputed each others boundaries and rights, as well as of other nonkongo ethnic groups bordering them, leading to steady wars and mutual raids. Spiritual foundations of dagbamba religion and culture john m. The area which is now known as angola was first inhabited at about 25 000 years bce. Macgaffey did not only examine the minkisi figures, he also uses the k. Routledge is proud to be reissuing this landmark series in association with the international african institute. Central africans and cultural transformations in the american diaspora central africans and cultural transformations in the american diaspora. The implantation of kimbanguism in kisangani, zaire the. The study of slavery in africa the journal of african. The prophet movements of lower zaire are well known to students of religious. Wyatt macgaffey provided an example, taken from a prophets text.
Follow wyatt macgaffey and explore their bibliography from s wyatt macgaffey author page. The name nkondi derives from the verb konda, meaning to hunt and thus nkondi means hunter because they can hunt down and attack wrongdoers, witches, or enemies. Thompson and wyatt macgaffey, drawing from the pioneering work. I ended up with a dissertation and book that explored the utter lack of convergence between the oral traditions of the kingdom of kasanje, inland from. Using the factors of family structure examined by audrey richards in a wellknown essay, this article suggests that a more productive concept for the historical study of central africa than either the unique tribe or a group of societies identified by their rule of descent may be the lineage mode of production, in the restricted sense developed by p. The story of its origin and introduction into west africa is so well known that i need not here repeat it. Moderation and mediation of an effective hiv riskreduction intervention for south african adolescents, ann oleary, john b.
Giovanni antonio, descripcao do congo, matamba et angola, ed. Em angola este fenomeno e observado principalmente entre o grupo etnico bakongo. Kingdom of kongo 90 1914 south african history online. Ethnographic studies of the quality of the classic studies by wyatt macgaffey, john janzen and some others have been very rare. Aug 03, 2011 wyatt macgaffey jan vansina, being colonized. Simon kavuna, cahier 58, quoted in wyatt macgaffey, the eyes of understanding. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between words and images in the three categories art, african art, and minkisi. Death and the invisible powers download ebook pdf, epub. In this remarkable study, at once nuanced and intense, the author sets aside the usual modes of response to religious syncretism, embarking instead on a wideranging theoretical inquiry which is as illuminating as it is, in the end, inconclusive. Angola on the move angola em movimento angola on the. Historical criticism of likota lya bankoya dates another feature which shimunika borrowed from the arsenal of professional academic historiography is the use of clearcut dates, which of course especially when reference is made to the precolonial past is a major departure from the forms and logic of the oralhistorical. A portbyport estimate of slaves embarked, 17011867, pp.
Religion was another crucial factor in the social history of huambos angola s most christianized district by 1960, so the articulation of christianity, urbanization and social change is analysed, with a focus on the catholic missionaries of the holy ghost. It will not do, he says, to explain the mixture of christian and indigenous traits in the religious complex known as bwiti by the ignorance of its. Wyatt macgaffey simon bockie haswritten an engaging, often personal account of the views and behaviors surroundingdeath in his own society, the kongo of lower zaire, northern angola, and thecongo. I dont know ofanything of its kind that is both as good, ethnographically, and asreadable. Of all published articles, the following were the most read within the past 12 months. The mystical, powerful minkisi the washington post. The conceptual challenge of the particular macgaffey, wyatt on. Nkondi plural varies minkondi, zinkondi, or ninkondi are mystical idols made by the kongo people of the congo region.
This context ig not just a standardized space but a set of institutional expectations of that which. Macgafley is also interested in indigenous sociolobty, but situates his analysis at a deeper structural level. Astonishment and power, wyatt macgaffey, michael d. The deconsecration of mangaaka figures in africa the. Anthony, argued that jesus was a kongolese, criticized italian capuchin missionaries for not supporting black saints, and attempted to stop the devastating cycle of civil wars between contenders for the kongolese throne. The task of african traditional religion in the churchs dilemma in south africa g. Death and the invisible powers indiana university press.
Afrocubans afrocubanos are cubans who are mostly of subsaharan african ancestry. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. African traditional religion african studies oxford. This region is an excellent example of how such connections. African traditional religion is a thriving scholarly business, but a serious disconnect exists between contributions that celebrate a generalized african traditional religion and those that describe particular religions and aspects of religion on the basis of ethnographic and archival research. Angola on the move angola em movimento this book aims to provide a better understanding of the signi. The problem of the fetish, i william pietz but there is one term the indiscriminate use of which, i believe, has done infinite harm, the word fetish. Tese joao figueiredo politica escravatura e feiticaria em.
Angola has a long and rich history, and is home to some of the largest historical kingdoms in africa such as the kingdom of kongo or the kingdom of ndongo. Wyatt macgaffey has peered past the aesthetic of the minkisi figures and examined the purposes of the minkisi in the kongolese societies. A century of decentralisation and the decline of the kingdom 1718 1914 the kingdom of kongo was, from the 1700s, a decentralised kingdom largely dependant on slave labour and armies to maintain control. In astonishment and power, wyatt macgaffey and michael d. Invisible powers of the metaphysical world download ebook. In his new book, the eminent anthropologist wyatt macgaffey provides an ethnographically enriched history of dagbon from the fifteenth century to the present, setting that. Nkondi are a subclass of minkisi that are considered aggressive.
Ebook invisible powers of the metaphysical world as pdf. Wyatt macgaffey in this remarkable study, at once nuanced and intense, the author sets aside the usual modes of response to religious syncretism, embarking instead on a wideranging theoretical inquiry which is as illuminating as it is, in the end, inconclusive. Child slaves and freemen at the spiritan mission in soyo. A wyatt macgaffey simon bockie has written an engaging, often personal account of the views and behaviors surrounding death in his own society, the kongo of lower zaire, northern angola, and the congo. Procurase aqui apontar alguns fatores envolvidos na. See wyatt macgaffey, the economic and social dimensions of kongo slavery zaire in miers and kopytoff, slavery in africa. In kongo across the waters, susan cooksey, robin poynor, and hein vanhee highlight the contribution west central africans made to the development of african american culture in the united states. Documentary sources and methods for precolonial african. Europeans on the atlantic coast of africa, wyatt macgaffey.
The kongolese writers of orally transmitted history and eth nography have been joined by western writers, primarily mis sionaries like cuvelier and by anthropologists like john janzen and wyatt macgaffey, who have mined kikongo sources and conducted fieldwork. Lineage structure, marriage and the family amongst the. Download yendi ebook for free in pdf and epub format. Among most west african cultures, water symbolizes purification, transformation, and healing. Mirror mausoleums, mortuary arts, and haitian religious. Wyatt macgaffey in this remarkable study, at once nuanced and intense, the author sets aside the usual modes of response to religious syncretism, embarking instead on a wideranging. Simon bockie has written an engaging, often personal account of the views and behaviors surrounding death in his own society, the kongo of lower zaire, northern angola, and the congo. Cultural transit and transition richard cullen rath before 1688, african slaves on southern jamaican plantations had never seen anyone from the british royal society. Comparably, religion scholar simon bockie and anthropologist wyatt macgaffey reveal that bakongo peoples understood the spirit realm of kalunga to be a reversed reality of the physical world.
In fact, the most satisfying way for a viewer to approach astonishment and power is to treat the kongo objects, carefully mounted and documented by wyatt macgaffey. This century saw the emergence of clans as important political actors, especially because the clans. Family and kinship among the kongo south of the zaire river from. The term and its concept have passed with the atlantic slave trade to the americas. Click download or read online button to get death and the invisible powers book now. By the 21st century, scholars developed sophisticated methods to use documentary sources to produce a nuanced understanding of the african past.
Just as a mirror reveals what appears to be the inverse of the action taken you raise your right arm, the reflection raises its left, the realm of. Part of the impetus to do so came from the recognition that founding notions of african history were rooted in what wyatt macgaffey termed the ideological jetsam of imperialism. The old capital of kongo people called sao salvador was burnt down, in ruins and abandoned in 1678. Lineage structure, marriage and the family amongst the central. Under the sign of the cross in the kingdom of kongo religious conversion and visual correlation in early modern central africa. Submissions from 1993 anthropology of history, wyatt macgaffey.
Classics and anthropology share a long history of interaction. Monograph series 16 art and healing of the bakongo. Central africans and cultural transformations in the american. Wyatt macgaffey e antonio goncalves dao claras indicacoes da proeminencia. Wyatt macgaffey, a researcherof kongo civilization and religion, has summarized the form and meaning of the essential kongo cosmogram as follows. Renamed nova lisboa in 1928, the city supposedly stood as an. The story of dona beatriz kimpa vita, a young kongolese woman who in 1704 claimed to be possessed by st. Although bakongo make up 14 percent of the angolan population, they hold only 2. Under the sign of the cross in the kingdom of kongo. Neto, maria da conceicao 2012 town and out of town.
Mukongo are a bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of kikongo kongo languages they have lived along the atlantic coast of central africa, in a region that by the 15th century was a centralized and wellorganized kingdom of kongo, but is now a part of three countries. Virginia commonwealth university vcu scholars compass. Bakongo introduction, location, language, folklore. It is frequently applied to a variety of objects used throughout the congo basin in central africa especially in the territory of cabinda that are believed to contain spiritual powers or spirits. The transformation of kongo minkisi in african american art by mary margaret mccurnin, bfa a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts at virginia commonwealth university. I dont know of anything of its kind that is both as good, ethnographically, and as readable. Virginia commonwealth university, 2010 major director. The conceptual challenge of the particular bloomington. Luanda, and the contemporaneous written records of the. Dona beatriz kimpa vita was a young kongolese woman who in 1704 claimed to be possessed by st. Read the southern lunda and related peoples northern rhodesia, belgian congo, angola west central africa part i by merran mcculloch available from rakuten kobo. Angola bakongo parentesco religiao igrejas africanas. This system is characteristic of the congo basin, zimbabwe and angola.
In 1966, i fell into a coma, and people brought blankets for my funeral. Child slaves and freemen at the spiritan mission in soyo, 18801885 article in journal of family history 351. Wyatt macgaffey avuna simon was an evangelist and leading member of the swedish protestant mission in lower congo at the turn of the century. Koloss, hansjoachim, with contributions by david binkley, arthur bourgeois, kathy curnow, kate ezra, dunja hersak, hansjoachim koloss, wyatt macgaffey, polly nooter, and enid schildkrout. In recent years increasing prominence has been given to economic, cultural and social history and several articles have explored themes which are also of growing interest to historians of other regions such as. Luckily, some promising scholars have recently been conducting fieldwork in the democratic republic of congo, the republic of congo brazzaville and angola. Faculty publications anthropology haverford college. A social history of huambo angola 19021961 maria neto thesis submitted for the degree of phd in history 2012 department of history school of oriental and african studies university of london. Bakongo in angola are also endangered because the regime links them with the national union for the total independence of angola unita rebels.