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Symbolic dimensions of the Southern Bantu homestead1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Adam Kuper
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Extract

Some years ago one of the very few structuralist anthropologists to contribute to Southern African studies complained that ‘Aucune étude n'a encore été consacrée à l'organisation spatiale et aux relations qu'elle implique chez les Bantu du Sud-Est’ (Roumeguère- Eberhardt 1963: 77). This was not strictly accurate. For example, Holleman (1940) had provided an important analysis of the Zulu homestead, borrowing something of the methods and concerns of the Leiden school's studies in Indonesia; and one cannot ignore Walton's (1956) wide-ranging if unsystematic treatment of the Southern African village. Yet the topic has been largely neglected despite the highly-ordered nature of the Southern Bantu homestead and the legal and symbolic significance of the traditional homestead plan.

Résumé

La ferme Bantou méridionale et la répartition symbolique de son espace

L'exploitation rurale Nguni se composait traditionnellement d'un cercle ou d'un demi-cercle de cases en forme de ruche ou coniques disposées autour d'une enceinte circulaire pour le bétail. Ces espaces circulaires étaient conçus de manière à étré répartis selon deux plans principaux: l'un diamétral (divisé en est/ouest et droite/gauche) et l'autre concentrique (opposant extérieur/intérieur ou centre/côtés). Le changement d'importance attribué à ces differentes dimensions de l'espace, de légères variations dans leur définition et l'éventail parfois difficulement prévisible des associations au système social ne sauraient cependant dissimuler l'identité profonde des structures Nguni. Il est peut-être plus surprenant de constater que la même structure fondamentale se retrouve dans toute la zone Bantou méridionale, en dêpit de l'opposition qui est généralement soulignée entre la dispersion des fermes Nguni et la concentration des emplacements Sotho-Tswana. Les exploitations Sotho-Tswana, les quartiers et même les villes révélent la présence du même plan d'ensemble.

Le code spatial qui régit la distribution des implantations est lié à d'autres codes symboliques, conformément à des structures conceptuelles de base sur lasquelles repose toute une série de codes symboliques propres à ces sociétés. Ceci est illustré ici par l'analyse de deux modèles Swazi de l'organisation spatiale du ferme, des symboles de lieux rattachés aux défunts et aux ancetres, ainsi que de l'emmagasinage, la préparation et la consommation des céréales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , January 1980 , pp. 8 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1980

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