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| Figure 1: Azande people |
Many students of cultural anthropology learn about various
different cultural groups that have and continue to exist in our modern
world. These cultures may remain the
same or have changed as a result of globalization and cultural contact. There are several diagnostic cultures that are
used to explain concepts related to culture, and today’s blog post will explore
one such culture: the Azande of north central Africa.
The Azande (Figure 1) is a cultural group that lives in
north central Africa (Figure 2), residing in the modern day countries of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. This culture has been widely studied,
particularly by anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard. As a result almost all aspects of their
culture and lifeways have been studied and realized.
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| Figure 2: Azande territory in Africa |
The Azande are sedentary horticulturalists
who cultivate maize, millet, gourds, pumpkins, manioc, and bananas, as well as
raise chickens. They supplement their
diets by hunting and gathering. The
Azande govern their independent groups through chiefdom
level groups that are divided by the noble class, known as the Avongara, and the
commoners. Both of these classes are led
by a chief who is the military, economic, and political leader. The chief is responsible for overseeing the
borders, which are guarded by sentinels.
While attacks among Azande groups are not common but do occur when a
group is in need of food resources.
The Azande practice polygamy,
with men taking on more than one wife.
Men who are interested in taking a woman on as his bride must first
court her because she has quite a bit of choice and autonomy in the marriage
arrangements. He must also pay her
family an appropriate bride price.
Typically, when the marriage arrangements are being negotiated he is not
just negotiating the marriage of his intended bride but also potentially her
sisters as his additional brides, although typically at a later date. A man typically will marrying women of
various different families, and it is not uncommon, although not culturally
acceptable, for these women to engage in lesbian relationships. Homosexuality is not uncommon among Azande
men either. Sentinels who are guarding
chiefdom boarders and separated from women are known in taking on “boy wives”
as their lovers (Figure 3). These are
typically their apprentices who the Sentinel is training. This relationship is not accepted but rather
overlooked and deemed an effect of the job.
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| Figure 3: Azande Boy Wife and Sentinel Husband |
The Azande are best known for their religious beliefs. The Azande believe that all people contain
elements and powers related to witchcraft, which is called mangu. Mangu is the basis of all misfortune, and
people unleash their mangu on individuals they know but unintentionally. Whenever something bad happens, such as
stubbing one’s toe or tripping over a log, witchcraft is blamed. Small infractions do not warrant
investigations and witch hunts, but illnesses and deaths, particularly
accidental ones, are blamed on witches who sought revenge on the deceased. In these cases an individual who was recently
in conflict with the ill or deceased person is accused of bewitching the
person, and the witch must prove that he or she did not bewitch anyone. They perform a ritual where they spit water
over a dead chicken’s wing to appease the spirits and remove the
witchcraft. If the public is not
satisfied, however, the witch will be put to death in retribution. In this way witchcraft and accusations of
witchcraft are an effective means of social
control among the Azande, keeping the peace among the Azande.
The Azande have a rich culture that they continue to practice
despite interventions by colonial powers and modern conflicts. This perseverance is a testament to the
strength and resolve of the Azande people.
There is no doubt that they will continue to live their traditional ways
of life for many generations to come.
References
Peters-Golden, H.
(2011). Culture Sketches:
Case Studies in Anthropology. 6th Edition. Mc-Graw Hill
Education.
17 comments:
I learned the following after reading about the Azande people.The Azande people practice polygamy; the men pay for their brides. They govern their own independent groups through chiefdom level groups that are divided by noble class, known as commoners or the Avongara. Azande people were best known for their religious beliefs about how people contain elements and powers called mangu.
I was actually surprised that homosexuality is not uncommon for the Azande people. Also, I found it mildly entertaining at how they called boys who find love in another man "boy wives" instead of husbands or anything like that. I do find this culture fascinating and would like to read up on them some more sometime.
It isn't uncommon, hut it is not accepted except in certain circumstances. This could account for the terminology of the name, although there are other explanations for that specific terminology, as well.
The social control aspect that the Azande hold over its people is very interesting. Seeing that one basically does not have to like or feel a certain way, and with that judgment witchcraft can become deadly. Also, they practiced polygamy and some even took men for boy wives. In our culture, it is no longer deviant to practice this same feature in same sex marriage.
Living the way we do and reading this, it is crazy to imagine being bought as a wife to a man who has multiple wives, and could also marry my sisters... That is so interesting.
This is a very interesting group of people. While they govern and interact very different than us, they still should be respected. Learning about these people will help us respect and understand people that are more similar to us.
What do you think keeps groups like this from modernizing for dying off? I love that they stay true to their own models and culture.
It is interesting how the "boy lover" relationship is not accepted but very common? What makes it "not accepted" when it is a common relationship among the men? I did my paper over this subject so I am very curious about it.
The fact that almost all aspects of the Azande culture and lifeways have been studied and realize is important because, I have read articles about some tribes that eventually are forgotten about because of the lack of interest and studies. It's almost like they never existed, this is sad for those people who have ties to these cultures but have nothing to look back on or study just to have the common knowledge about their past.
-Apreshana Page
Finding out that homosexuality was common is alarming to me because of how I was raised. This was a very interesting article and was good to find out facts I never knew about the Azande.
- Anthony Townsend
After reading this was a pretty interesting group and I noticed that they also do the practice of having multiple wives . But I find it horrible that they do not get married to a women based off of love they get married to the women basically off of what they paid for the wife which saddens me but maybe after purchasing them they do grow and bond with them at least I hope they do and I actually never new anything about the Azande people until after reading the blog never new there was a tribe named this . - Mykia Chaney
It was extremely taboo to read about how homosexuality wasn't really uncommon, and the way they establish roles is that one of them is called the "boy wife". I've also always wondered where cultures get their rituals from. For this tribe they spit water over a bird, which is interesting, but it'd be cool to learn where they got the idea from.
People today might turn their heads sideways at homosexuality but its surprising that it was very common back then. Maybe not accepted but yet common.
It is very interesting that a man would negotiate the price of a woman to be his bride, and that would potentially include her sisters. Poligamy is not personally a choice I would make for myself, so I find it interesting when I learn about cultures who use poligamy in their everyday life. It is not something that you hear of often in the United States so I am not very knowledgeable on the topic, so I do find it fascinating to read about.
Kahla Perry
My name is Tonii Saffore. This was a good read for me, I recently read on the Azande tribe and there are a lot of things in this post that the last one did not touch on. One of these were homosexual relations. This is the first time that I have read about homosexuality when it comes to tribes who practice polygamy. I was sort of fascinated by the boy wives and even more intrigued that it was commonly an relationship with the apprentice of who the Sentinel people trained. you usually don't hear about things like this in these tribes so I found this really informative.
I have heard about the Azande but didnt known much detail about them. They are a interesting group of people. I didn't know that homosexuality was common.
Its crazy knowing that homosexuality was common back then, especially because some people now-a-days turn their nose up at it. Also, instead of them calling men "boy wives" instead of just calling them Husbands .. I'm not sure how i feel about that.
-Kyla Thoams
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