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- Title
Through the Bamboo Thicket.
- Authors
Roberts, Allen F.
- Abstract
This article discusses a study of Tabwa divination séances and the sequences of action they imply which reveal the dynamics of a society. The work of ritual is serious business, as individual actors attempt to understand, cope with, and take action to redress crises of health and social welfare. People reflect upon the way life is and how it works in moments of performance. They do so in the heightened contexts of crises when failure to take action, or rather failure to take the proper action, may lead to intense suffering, death, or destruction. Tabwa consider that unfortunate events of minor importance such as fleeting illness may be the path of God, and can be treated in a matter-of-fact manner. A Tabwa individual considers her or his own good fortune as the product of being in harmony with natural forces, ancestral spirits, kin, and neighbors. However, one person's good fortune may be suspected by others to be at their expense. For instance, if one person rises above normal expectations with larger than average harvests from a field otherwise similar to neighboring fields, then that person is suspected of having stolen strength from another to add to her or his own.
- Subjects
TANZANIA; TABWA (African people); ETHNOLOGY; RITES &; ceremonies; PUBLIC welfare; RITUALISM
- Publication
TDR: The Drama Review (MIT Press), 1988, Vol 32, Issue 2, p123
- ISSN
1054-2043
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/1145855