ngoni tribe culture pdf

In villages called Ngoni villages, that is, where the 'owner' of the village was of a recognized Ngoni clan and where there was a nucleus of Ngoni clans- men, the individuals in Ngoni clans numbered from 25-75 per cent. The history of those years, as related to-day, is largely concerned with proving in each area that their Paramount is the only rightful one, the only one to whom the royal salute Bayete should be given. Koyi as believing that the Ngoni were 'related to the Abambo - a tribe of Fingoes (Mfengu) far south'.9 This theory is not altogether impossible, for, as the Oxford History of South Africa points out One outstanding fact is the enormous area over which Nguni people dispersed within thirty-five years. Last Updated 24 March 2014. Sometimes it is evident that men and boys whose fathers had been slaves are anxious to show their knowledge of Ngoni history in order to prove their unity with the true Ngoni. It is true though, I think, that at least in Mpezeni's country and possibly in the others, too, the Ngoni have not yet willingly made the mental adjustments necessary to white contact. I realized how clear to the people is the historical significance of these village names, when I asked a question and they exclaimed, 'What? Using chieftainship in the sense of the Ngoni inkosi whose office and powers were very different from those of the surrounding petty chiefs. Those who refused to cry for his mother’s death were killed,so they decided to seek refuge by migrating to other areas. Based on these two principles the Ngoni set up, in an alien milieu, the institutions of chieftainship,2 of military training, of systematized law courts, of recognized ranks in society, of patrilineal succession and inheritance, speaking among themselves a language foreign to the country. We have seen, however, that there is a much wider sense in which the term Ngoni is used-that is, by all who live under the rule of the Paramount Chief. 0000003654 00000 n 2. The demand now is for strong tribal organization which can carry on its own administration with the minimum of European interference and direction. He is very passionate about all things Nguni. The historical events attached to these places are widely known and constantly before people's eyes in the diversified landscape of hills and valleys. As part of Zwidi's people, the Ngoni did not want to stay under Chaka, and the same impetus and military skill which set up Chaka as the Zulu Napoleon drove the Ngoni northward as far as Lake Tanganyika, a conquering military horde amassing followers on the way. I have asked this question of many men of rank and standing and they give one invariable reply, 'We call it chamtendere because the Azungu (Europeans) were not there to trouble us '. Some- where on the march north the Ngoni changed the u to an o, and arrived in their present areas saying 'We are Ngoni'. And having subdued them, how did they preserve their own culture, so that they were not submerged in the very different cultures round them? Their historical origin and military achievements form also the charter for their former position as rulers of the country which they held before the advent of the Europeans. Note on the Tribes in the Neighbourhood of Fort Ma... Explorations In The Country West of Lake Nyasa. He was only giving presents to Weise, and Weise gave presents to him, and Mpezeni was saying, "You may travel in my country and dig for gold. For matters relating to history are no antiquarian interest to the Ngoni. 'All those in the country of Mpezeni are Ngoni. With an estimated 10-11 million people living mainly in the KwaZulu-Natal province – and additional small numbers in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique-, the Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group. As one way of revamping the tribe’s culture, the Ngoni of Mzimba host a three-day annual festival known as Umthetho that takes place at Hora Mountain every August. The immediate cause of their departure was the defeat of Zwidi, chief of the Ndwandwe people, by Chaka, the history of whose military career in Zululand is well known and needs no repetition here. How was it then that they were able to subdue them? For they set the main problems for the detailed study of the Ngoni, and also of the Ngoni as a field for observing culture contact. There is therefore a hierarchy of rank expressed in the clan names, and this rank is evident in the position of houses on a village site, and the degree of authority exercised by the clans and the respect' accorded to them. At both times the focus of their organization was warfare-they were a nation under arms. It was the only occasion on which I have heard them commend the action of the missionaries in putting down a custom, for they really despised the ceremonial and associations of the chinamwali, and rather than have it among them, they preferred outside help in putting it down. 0000001362 00000 n Having once been used, however, it appeared frequently in conversa- tions with me, and proved a useful starting-point for accounts of the organization of their own state and the effects on it of the European advent. ' It is in fact one of the distinguishing marks between the true Ngoni and the rest. In Mpezeni's and Gomani's countries, where they were conquered by force of arms, they knew they had to yield as they had made others yield in their day. The plan of work which I adopted at the beginning had as its aim the establishing of certain essential data-namely, to determine the principles of local or territorial settlement in relation to the political organization and the ethnic constitution of the area. It is evident that the field worker who tries to describe and analyse the society which is found in the Ngoni areas to-day has some difficulty in establishing appropriate and correct terms. And in each area the versions as recited convince the people that their inkosi is supreme. Their attitude towards Europeans is also partly based on the European failure to accord them a unique position among the tribes, or at least to acknowledge their former unique position. They point first to their language and their traditions of Dingiswayo, Zwidi, and Chaka as proving their southern origin. Art and Culture; Biographies; Africa; Classroom; Places; Timelines; Archives; Publications; go. The largest groups are in Nyasaland in the districts of Mzimba, Dowa, Fort Manning, Dedza, and Ncheu. I think, however, that the conclusions in this paper can be stated with some certainty, and as dogmatic statements they form a basis for further field work. If I said to any older man of good standing, that is of a true Ngoni clan, 'Tell me about the Ngoni', he invariably began with the traditions of the south and their trek north. The war songs and regimental songs recall the great days of conquest, and are sung and danced in war dress at big gatherings at the Paramount's village or at other chief's villages. The two Paramounts at present holding these titles are grandsons of the first holders, to whom I refer as old Mpezeni. To pay taxes, that is our war to-day ', and some- thing of the old martial spirit is evident in the young men who success- fully evade the tax collectors, where the tax is collected directly by the Government, as in Mpezeni's country. During the trek north, the names of the villages of certain chiefs in the south were preserved.' The Tribal Culture of India (Vidyarthi & Rai, 1977) This study would be highlighting the important issues, linked to their cultural life, which the tribals are facing today. 1.According to the census returns there are about 80,000 Ngoni in Northern Rhodesia and nearly 250,000 in Nyasaland, with other groups in Tanganyika Territory and Portuguese East Africa. It is not possible in this article to do justice to all these aspects of an intricate problem. He must at the outset ask the questions,' Who are these Ngoni ? 24. The Paramounts have told me that occasionally at their biannual ' meeting of chiefs ' and indunas, some recital of history is made, especially if they want to quote a precedent or examine an old custom with a view to change. When the British punitive force camped outside Mpezeni's kraal, the Ngoni war induna sent to ask if they were ready to fight. Their language is almost identical with old Zulu. It really means, 'to give a person his due ', that is, to behave towards him (or her) in the manner which his rank requires.One striking modification was the replacing of the village as a small kinship group by villages of hundreds of huts, with an elaborate organization into hamlets. The description of this Inqwala given by men and women who took part in it in their youth shows much similarity to the Inqwala of to-day among the Swazi. Yet the degree of modification in Ngoni society needs very close investigation because it shows much variety in different localities. 'Only in war the Azungu knew better ', and that to the Ngoni was the acid test. Stated very briefly, the problem is this: an Ngoni aristocratic minority created an Ngoni 'state' of mixed ethnic units, imposed a national identity on all who formed part of it, and inspired a real 'national feeling' among those who were assimilated. The Ngoni themselves give the answer to this first question, saying, 'We fought with spears and shields; those others had only bows and arrows and sometimes guns.' At other times it is probably part fact, part fiction. 4. As other distinguishing institutions the Ngoni point out their dances' and songs; their former military organization with its related system of age grades; their political organization under the Paramount Chief with his hierarchy of amakosana, abalumuzana, izinduna, amanxusa, etc; the system of courts, again a hierarchy, with the laws administered in them; their village organization which still preserves the division into izigawa or hamlets, characteristic of the very big Ngoni villages of old days; the Ngoni code of ethics, differing radically from the code of the neighbouring tribes, with its insistence on truth, chastity, and personal discipline; and their patrilineal descent in clans and inheritance of property. The other is the willingness of Europeans, officials, missionaries, and settlers, to show some recognition of Ngoni pride in their past. When asked, 'What is the meaning of a clan ?' They refuse to make them for sale as curiosities, and several Europeans have told me that they have tried in vain to get one. Produced 31 March 2011. A fundamental element of culture is the issue of religious belief and its symbolic expression. These texts not only show a measure of agreement with each other, but they also are verifiable by established history as recorded by Europeans. 8. The clan names, as the Ngoni say, denote a person's 'tribe ' and the respect due to him. Nor was the defeat in war their final humiliation. Here I use the English word ' clan' to express the unilateral group according to kinship descent. ' They are all hopelessly mixed with other tribes. The praise songs are sung, or rather shouted, on special occasions, as when thanking the chief for beer, by members of important clans who alone know the words. Since each absorbed tribe had brought to the Ngoni society its own language, the whole society had become multilingual and the numerically dominant language became the lingua franca. It is to their past they also turn for the charter for those institutions which are recognized as distinctively Ngoni, such as the Paramount Chieftainship, the hierarchy of rank, and patrilineal succession. H��W�r��+��S"��]�ܒ�$�v$�,f;�!9q�寿�gR��ӧ�O?��j��\5�_.O{�.>��MV��{n*X��H�g~껱$)K��Ms��e��V�٧�E�g��+vv��]�\yL�y��q��b��g�͙�z��Ŋ��Glq`c��q��ۢb�w��}�A+L��؎,�]Ӯ3��3��*n"�$?v8u��<>�^�c4�g�7>ώ�u��~�� 3�� \| ��\��Y�fcCB��I��p��#H> �3� I�br��C(3 Y?r��@��d�J��Uy��O�^� �AA��٧ ��0 !J�]_x~J>9��b�c�h�x39�N.$t��f�,ގS��A7OA#Q͇@��4��~. In a number of the villages where no Ngoni clans were represented, the villagers nevertheless asserted, 'We are Ngoni, because we are the people of Mpezeni '. Also in Mozambique. 543 15 9. The new situation forced the Ngoni to make drastic readjustments. To-day when they discuss the advent of the Europeans and the consequent' spoiling ' of their country, they recall the days when extensive tribute was paid to their Paramount Chief, chiefs were free to choose good sites for their very big villages, the outlying areas were ruled by indunas and lesser chiefs. When his hour comes he can be dealt with by the present Protectorate forces.' 0000003894 00000 n It gives us meaning, a way of leading our lives. Old warriors in war dress came and danced by the cattle kraal and sang praise songs. They speak a Bantu language closely related to those of their immediate neighbours, the … I have seen Chewa men and women huddle together during these war dances, and mutter, ' Too many Ngoni are here ', as if they were still in the days of fighting and raids, while the Ngoni warriors swagger about, swishing their kilts of skins and brandishing their shields and spears with every appearance of reality. To their horror they found their invincible shields were no longer a protection. He suggests that myths are the charter and documentation for traditional tribal life, ' statements of reality which live in the institu- tions and pursuits of the people';' and that legend is re-interpreted history. 'At last', he said, 'someone will know about us.' And when you have heard the Ngoni Paramount discuss the position of minorities in his country, and his claim to territories no longer under his rule, you could almost imagine you were in the corridors of the League Secretariat at Geneva. The traditions of the last period, that of the arrival of the European, determine their attitude towards white contact. The displacement of the Ngoni people in the great scattering following the Zulu wars had repercussions in social reorganization as far north as Malawi and Zambia. The vexed question of the supremacy of the two Paramounts, Mpezeni and Mwambera2 is a case in point. It is their southern origin and their well remembered traditions of the past which confer distinctiveness on the true Ngoni, and on the state which they built. They are ashamed too because the land, except in the Reserves, is no longer theirs, and they have to submit to taxation. ' Then came the Azzungu war.'. Mpezeni's historians have arranged the details to prove that he is the rightful inkosi; Mwambera's historians do the same. Follow him on Twitter. It was the partial breaking up of this centralized political organization which they regarded as 'spoiling their country ', as well as the economic restrictions with regard to land and the prohibition of raiding for new supplies of cattle. The Ngoni, originally from South Africa, escaped from the Boers and Zulus and settled in Eastern Zambia around 1850–1870. When pressed to be more specific about this 'troubling' by the Azungu they spoke of taxes, of the ban upon raiding and warfare, of young men being called away to work, of their land being taken for European farms. The values inherent in certain Ngoni institu- tions have spread beyond their own areas, for one Chewa Paramount Chief told me he had for long admired the Ngoni system of filial succession and inheritance, and was now trying, in the teeth of much opposition, to introduce it into his country. 1.The praise songs of chiefs, war songs, regimental songs, names of famous regiments, and prayers for rain. An adequate examination of Ngoni history as it is expressed in their institutions and standardized behaviour would need an article to itself. It is, I think, clear that there is a connotation in which the term Ngoni can be used with some degree of scientific accuracy-that is, to cover all those clans which are not belonging to the local tribes, or, in an even stricter sense, the clans of indubitably southern origin. They point out how a youth had his appointed companions to whom he stood in a recognized relationship of mutual obligation and assistance, and with these companions he went through the grades of calf-herding and cattle-herding until he graduated into a regiment. The true Ngoni illustrate this by saying, 'In old days the only men who were made indunas were those of the Swazi, Zulu, Suto, and Tonga clans. However, when I promised the Paramount Chief that no one in the locality should see the village plans, he sent out word that I was to be given all the information I needed, and no one need fear the consequences. 9, No. Culture is made up of traditions, beliefs, way of life, from the most spiritual to the most material. In addition to recitals of tradition by 'historians ' there are many other reminders of the Ngoni past which are constantly before the people. Under other names there are Ngoni settlements in Tanganyika Territory. Tradition supports rank, by recognizing the historical im- portance of certain clans; and rank preserves tradition because intimate knowledge is the proud monopoly of certain families. All around them were small chieftains owning a few villages with no integration in any large political unit.2 The Ngoni state was focussed in the inkosi, the Paramount Chief, who was at once the 'owner '3 of the land, the 'head '3 of the state, and the 'father '3 of his people. I have heard accounts of Ngoni raids for cattle going as far as the Kafue River, into the Mashukulumbwe country, given with such details of the places on the march that I think they must be substantially correct. The spread of American corporations abroad has various consequences on local cultures, some very visible, and others more subtle. The present day interpretations serve the same purpose and exalt one of the two claimants at the expense of the other. Following the last memoranda on the situation in Mpezeni's country the Foreign Office wrote to the British South Africa Company in April I897, 'Lord Salisbury gathers that the North Charterland Company have maintained friendly relations with Mpezeni by with- holding from his knowledge their connexion with the British South Africa Company and their British nationality. I have given the foregoing events in detail because they are facts of history both to the Ngoni and the British, and necessary for understanding the present attitude of the Ngoni to white people. People in Western cultures hold a dominant independent self-construal, which “involves a conception of the self as an autonomous, independent person” (Markus & Kitayama, 1991, p. 226). The contrast between Ngoni society in those two districts to-day is startling, and is commented on frequently by the Ngoni themselves. 4. 19.I am not clear yet what was the precise sociological process by which the identity of these villages was preserved. But all Ngoni people can know that.'2. In Mwambera's country there are the names of villages belonging to nine generations of Jere chiefs, and in Gomani's country for seven generations of Maseko chiefs. Those texts which came from Gomani's country contain different material after the exodus from the south. After living among them for nearly a year I am convinced that it is correct to speak of the Ngoni as a distinctive group; that they themselves are very conscious of their separate iden- tity as a people, and that they can point to certain of their institutions, notably their language and political, territorial, and kinship groupings, which are definitely Ngoni, that is, of southern origin, and which distinguish them from the people among whom they settled. Several times in the villages, when describing their agricultural methods, or hygiene for young men, or moral training of children, they have said to me, 'Write that we knew this before the Azungu came'. Hence I ought to have it written down fully and correctly. 3.For the purposes of this article these are the only groups which will be considered. They tell to this day how a certain Carl Weise, a German, came up from Portuguese East Africa trading,29 made friends with old Mpezeni and finally made Luangeni, Mpezeni's head village, his head-quarters. With the possible exception of Chikuramayembe, Chief of the Henga. The Ngoni were Bantu-Nguni speaking people of … Having conquered by the shield and spear, the Ngoni maintained their prestige by their highly developed political organization. Other accounts do not disguise that he was an upstart, but lay stress on his success as leader of the Ngoni in their trek north. They still think they are due a unique position among the tribes, and for this reason they dwell continually on the glories of chamtendere. The Ngoni have given me their version again and again, always the same in substance, and always with the same emphasis, first on the refusal of Sir Harry Johnston and the British South Africa Company to recognize Mpezeni as the rightful chief in the land, and secondly on the treachery of Weise which delivered them into the hands of the North Charterland Company. It soon became apparent that here was the centre of a political state, whose head was invested with prestige and authority over a wide area, and where behaviour to the Paramount and to every one else was strictly regulated by custom, and as strictly observed. Their racial and cultural pride makes them cling to their own institutions and resent the assertion of white superiority in every sphere of life. We consequently declined to acknowledge him as ruling chief.'. pp. This, to them, is a cause for feeling ashamed. What meaning, therefore, can we give to the term ' Ngoni ', and how can this group which calls itself Ngoni be analysed into its component parts? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com prepared by: shamir suleman website : itessentials.blogspot.com +255-656-848274 (text) copy right 2016 tanzania education blog designed for tanzania secondary students file database: google FTP protocol for more files click here download THE NGONI MIGRATIONS Who were the Ngoni? branch of Bantu-speaking peoples that are scattered throughout eastern Africa. I use the word ' tribe ' here to express these distinctive groups, but it is impossible to avoid some ambi- guity without long linguistic digressions. In this article I propose to look at this problem as it exists to-day in the light of white contact, and more particularly as a prelude to Indirect Rule. It implies both 'honour' and 'fear ', and they sometimes use one word and sometimes the other. Here is a society which is a compound of ethnic units, subdivided into clans according to kinship, stratified into ranks, held together by a ruling aristocracy and a strong cen- tralized political organization. The references made hitherto show that the term 'Ngoni' is used in several different connotations. Under British South Africa Company till 1924. Tumbuka, a people who live on the lightly wooded plateau between the northwestern shore of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malaŵi) and the Luangwa River valley of eastern Zambia. In Gomani's country, on the other hand, where taxes are collected through the chiefs and headmen, though the men groan at having to find the money, they do not attempt to evade it, first because it would be useless, and secondly because they acknowledge the right of the chiefs to collect dues from them. After one such taking down of history in the Paramount's village, I went to stay in the village of one of these ' historians ', a very much respected mulumuzana and one of the ' best families '. Chamtendere, then, was the period of Ngoni supremacy, when they established by force of arms their right to rule over the country and its indigenous inhabitants. In collecting the clan names in a village, for example, the headman says 'Those are Ngoni, those are Makalanga, those are Nsenga', and so on. 4.This collecting of village plans was viewed with some suspicion at first as a new way of helping the Government to catch tax defaulters. When they entered their present areas the Ngoni were very inferior in numbers to the indigenous people. My thesis is that Ngoni ' national feeling ' is based on the traditions of their past-on the story of their southern origin, their trek from the south, and their settlement in their present areas. Their houses, both in the villages and on the copper mines, were noticeably bare of' store goods ', and their expen- diture on clothes and 'trash' is low in comparison with the wages earned. Within that ordered relationship the different groups have pursued a process of preserving some customs and adopting others, and they can give a coherent account of what they have retained and what they have borrowed. The word had evidently slipped out unawares, for later on they told me that it was a word they only used among themselves. The traditions of the middle period, of their con- quests and settlements, document their superiority over the surround- ing peoples. Towards a people's history. The way in which they speak of chamtendere is itself significant. Lane Poole, "The Date of the Crossing of the Zambezi by the Ngoni" Journal of the African Society, 29, 1929-30, pp.290-2; also Marwick, M.G., (1963). 15.He used the verb kudauka, which implies root or origin. At the same time the North Charterland Company recognized that Mpezeni still held the effective sovereignty over the area, and that the success and safety of any mining or trading expedition sent to the territory depended on good relations being established with Mpezeni. These restrictions and disabilities caused by white contact they regarded as warfare, that is, as troubled times, because the Europeans forcibly prevented them from doing as they liked, just as they had done in their day to the surrounding tribes. 0000004261 00000 n Samuel Kadyakale is a Maseko Ngoni from Malawi. Settlers were arriving to acquire land and demand labour. It was obviously a time of frequent wars. The latter is the cause of his quarrel with Colonel Warton on the matter of a British flag and taxation.' The Ngoni migrated from South Africa to Tanzania between 1820 and 1840.In twenty years they travelled over a thousand miles.The migration was called the Mfecane. Conditions all over Africa are changing and new forms of social and political organization are emerging due to the contact of the Africans with European civilization. 27.In the Report of Justice Maughan on the North Charterland Inquiry he says, 'It was a remarkably well-managed little war and the Ngoni accepted their defeat in good spirit like other Bantu races '. 0000001069 00000 n endstream endobj 557 0 obj<>/W[1 1 1]/Type/XRef/Index[62 481]>>stream About 115 years ago the ancestors of these Ngoni left their homes in the present Zululand and Swaziland for their long trek north. <<1a6f8a0c90c89448ac9b90ce5631a600>]>> We would have fought until there was only one inkosi.'. Important village names. Their standards of hospitality, of courtesy, and of mutual assistance they believe to be much superior to the Europeans.