IMAGES FROM MY INITIATION AS SANGOMA (1989-1991)
photo essay
Wim van Binsbergen
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IMAGES FROM MY INITIATION AS SANGOMA (1989-1991) photo essay Wim van Binsbergen |
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In this photo essay I present further images from my initiation as sangoma in the major town of Francistown and in the neighbouring village of Mashelagabedi, 1989-1991
all photos are copyright © 2004 Wim van Binsbergen
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04. My spiritual leader MmaShakayile, with her two granddaughters, Molly (the elder one) and Kwani (the younger one) in sangoma dress, performing a divination with the sacred tablets, October 1989 |
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05. idem |
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06. idem |
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07. idem |
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08. MmaShakayile |
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09. idem |
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12. My main teacher of the use of the divining tablets was not MmaShakayile but a herbalist, Mr Smarts Gumede, whose 'surgery' (treatment room) is shown here, October 1989 |
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13. entrance Gumede surgery |
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14. Mr Gumede mainly depended for his livelihood on the sale of vegetables and fat cakes |
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15. Mr Gumede |
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16. Kwani |
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17. Kwani putting the drums in the sun in preparation of a sangoma session with song and dance |
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18. Not all inhabitants of MmaShakayile's yard in the Monarch township of Francistown were sangomas |
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19. Kwani |
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20. looking out towards the street, from MmaShakayile's yard; left of centre a shrine which was considered the grave of Johannes, a brother/cousin of MmaShakayile's whose reincarnation I was considered to be |
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21. drums |
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22. same as 20, other side of entrace, shows the yard's main shrine, on which my 1990 initiation as twaza (trainee-sangoma) centred |
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23. entrance of MmaShakayile's yard as seen from the street -- one of Monarch township's main throughroads, and tarred |
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58. the female ancestors' shrine in the eastern outskirts of MmaShakayile's homestead in the village of Mashelagabedi, 25 km northeast of Francistown, 1991 |
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59. the homestead, with my spiritual leader MmaShakayile, and other sangomas |
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60. the male ancestors' shrine at the homestead, west of the dwellings |
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61. idem |
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63. a goat is sacrificed as one of the highlights of my graduation ceremony as a sangoma at the homestead, 1991; one of the few photographs which I did nnot take myself -- I am squatting left |
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64. a junior sangoma with her baby, at the homestead |
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65. Molly, a senior sangoma, at the homestead |
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66. inspecting the food and other necessities bought for my graduation ceremony |
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67. MmaTeddy, a senior sangoma preparing her clothes for my graduation ceremony |
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68. Jeannette, a senior sangoma, feeds me the first complete meal, with 'inside meat', after my graduation has lifted the food prohibitions to which I was subjected as a twaza trainee sangoma, 1991 |
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69. out in the Botswana wilderness near the Zimbabwean border, learning to recognise and dig out medicinal plants, with Kwani and her little brother |
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70. the house of the Vice Chairman of the Kwame/Lengwame Traditional Association of Botswana, the official organisation representing the sangomas in that part of the country; after my graduation as sangoma in 1991 the owner conducted us to the High God shrine of Mwali at Nata, 200 km northwest of Francistown, but despite his high position in the professional organisation he was denied entrance there because he was known to kill little boys in order to prepare, for the benefit of his high-ranking clients, success medicine out of their genitals. This piece of information, coupled with the aggression with which I was met at the lodge when I returned from Nata with the leopard skin which Mwali had ordered me to wear (the other sangomas only wore goat skins as signs of their graduation), made me decide overnight to make a total break with the lodge, although I saw no raison to give up the sangoma status for which I had attained at such great costs, and which had been confirmed by the highest Authority, at Nata |
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71. MmaShakayile, in the main shrine at her Monarch plot, casts her divining tablets in order to seek approval from the ancestors at the beginning of my initiation as a twaza, 1990 |
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72. the special shrine erected on the occasion of my twaza initiation |
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73. Amandhlozi, a senior sangoma, at the homestead |
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74. Masala, a 34-old twaza, unmarried father of five, who had recently joined MmaShakayile's 'lodge' (group of sangomas), here threading beads in preparation for my graduation ceremony |
page last modified: 2004-10-08 18:48:41
| page last modified: 08-10-04 18:48:41 |  |
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