Table Of ContentAfrican Traditional
Religion in South Africa
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African Traditional
Religion in South Africa
An Annotated Bibliography
David Chidester,
Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty,
Judy Tobler, and Darrel Wratten
Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies, Number 42
Greenwood Press
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Puhlication Data
African traditional religion in South Africa : an annotated
bibliography / David Chidester . . . [et al.].
p. cm.—(Bibliographies and indexes in religious studies,
ISSN 0742-6836 ; no. 42)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-313-30474^2 (alk. paper)
1. South Africa—Religion—Bibliography. 2. Blacks—South Africa—
Religion—Bibliography. I. Chidester, David. II. Series.
Z7834.S6A47 1997
[BL2470.S6]
016.299,698—dc21 97-6414
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1997 by David Chidester
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-6414
ISBN: 0-313-30474-2
ISSN: 0742-6836
First published in 1997
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Contents
Preface vii
1. African Traditional Religion 1
2. General Overviews 10
3. Khoisan Religion 68
4. Xhosa Religion 143
5. Zulu Religion 212
6. Sotho-Tswana Religion 276
7. Swazi Religion 375
8. Tsonga Religion 395
9. Venda Religion 411
Index 439
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Preface
The singing filled the air. The drumming kept the rhythm. In a loud
and clear voice, the ritual elder invoked the ancestors. The people—men in long
robes, women with painted faces—indicated their assent by exclaiming,
"Camagu," to the beat of the drum. "Camagu," they agreed. "We are present.
Let the ancestors be present."
We could have been at a rural homestead. We could have been in an
urban township. Instead, we were at the University of Cape Town for a confer
ence on African traditional religion. On 19 August 1995, academics, commu
nity leaders, and practitioners of traditional religion gathered for a one-day
conference sponsored by the Institute for Comparative Religion in Southern
Africa (ICRSA). At the very least, this event confirmed the continuing vitality
of traditional religion in a changing South African society.
This book, a product of an ICRSA research project, is a guide to lit
erature on African traditional religion in South Africa. It collects and describes
books, articles, and theses that have addressed the indigenous religious heritage
of the region. It organizes and annotates selected texts—the general overviews
and detailed case studies; the accounts of religious beliefs, practices, and experi
ences; the analyses of historical tradition and social change—that have been
produced in this field of study. We are convinced that a review of these re
sources can support and stimulate further inquiry into African traditional relig
ion.
Above all, we hope that this book will be useful. Of course, readers find
their own ways to use books. However, since this book does not tell a single
story, some "instructions for use" might be helpful. Accordingly, we offer three
suggestions that might appeal to readers who are interested in exploring the
field of African traditional religion in South Africa that is profiled here.
viii African Traditional Religion
First, introductory essays to each chapter provide brief outlines of top
ics that have been investigated and that bear further investigation. After re
viewing general overviews of African traditional religion in South Africa, the
chapters proceed through literature on Khoisan, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho-Tswana,
Swazi, Tsonga, and Venda religion. We have adopted these linguistic designa
tions without presuming that they represent uniform or separate ethnic identi
ties. As the introductory essays suggest, considerable common ground can be
found across these language groups when we consider the indigenous religious
heritage of South Africa.
Second, the index provides a map for tracking specific topics. Ar
ranged alphabetically by subject, the index refers readers to entries on such top
ics as ancestors, beer, divination, sacrifice, and witch detection. This approach
to reading might be of greatest interest to students and researchers who want to
focus on some particular aspect of African traditional religion. As a guide to
relevant literature, the index can be a useful tool for assembling a database for
research.
Third, since the entire book might be read as a library of works on Af
rican traditional religion in South Africa, we invite readers to take a random
walk through the collection. We could invoke a "postmodern" justification for
this approach. The library we have assembled refuses the imposition of any
"master narrative." It is fragmentary and episodic. Like any library, it allows
readers to wander through the stacks and pull any item off the shelves. In the
process of writing this book, we have found that taking random walks through
the collection has become our favorite method of reading. Every time we wander
through these texts, we learn something new. We find that new patterns emerge,
but we also find that new questions arise that inspire further reading.
As the first of a series of volumes on South African religions, this col
lection on African traditional religion has been organized according to two sim
ple principles of selection: The literature that is annotated must deal with South
Africa and it must deal with religion. Although these principles appear straight
forward, they do involve some complications that require brief mention.
Although South Africa is a geographical region, it is also a political
construction, a nation among nations. Arguably, South Africa did not exist, at
least not with any international legitimacy, until the first democratic elections
were held in April 1994. In the post-apartheid era, an emergent South African
nationalism will require revisiting the historical geography of the region. New
perspectives on history and territory will be discovered. While we cannot un
dertake that task of rediscovery here, we have allowed considerable geographi
cal latitude in determining what counts as being inside South Africa. Some
boundaries have been blurred, but a general sense of place and region has been
maintained. As a result, the literature reviewed can be regarded as representa
tive of African traditional religion in South Africa.
The question of what counts as religion also raises special problems. In
general terms, religion might be defined as a dimension of human belief, prac-
Preface ix
tice, and experience that engages the superhuman or the sacred. A vast body of
literature on defining religion might be invoked to support this general defini
tion. However, we have decided to allow wider latitude for what counts as rele
vant to religion by including samples of some literature—on precapitalist social
formations, for example—that are crucial for understanding the character of
precolonial African religion. Although much more could have been included,
we have tried to indicate some of the ways in which religion is necessarily re
lated to historical and social contexts.
In determining what to include in a collection of literature on African
traditional religion, we have had to make a decision about the place of theology.
Although significant theological innovations have appeared in South Africa,
often in conversation with the resources of indigenous religious heritage, we
have opted not to review very many explicitly theological works in this volume
on African traditional religion. Christian theology has had a troubled history
with indigenous religion. Theologians have often denied its legitimacy as a re
ligion; and they have frequently regarded its persistence, especially in the con
tinuing vitality of religious relations with ancestors, as a Christian pastoral
problem. More recently, Christian reevaluations of African traditional resources
have appeared in African theology, Black theology, and the work of independ
ent churches. Although they engage African resources, these theological initia
tives obviously reflect specifically Christian concerns. Bibliographies that
provide access to this theological literature are available elsewhere. In this vol
ume, however, we have concentrated on works that have undertaken the de
scription and analysis of African traditional religion as a religion in its own
right. Rather than theological discourse, we are interested in literature that
raises -questions of theory and method for the study of the indigenous religious
heritage of South Africa.
Just as we do not adopt a theological position on African traditional
religion, we also do not endorse all of the literature contained in this annotated
bibliography. Much of it is dated; much of it is based on colonialist, racialist, or
covertly theological prejudices that have no place in the academic study of re
ligion. However, even the outdated and the outrageous are instructive, if not
about African traditional religion, then about the kinds of academic representa
tions that have obstructed recognition and understanding of the indigenous re
ligious heritage of South Africa.
For readers interested in a history of colonial representations (or mis
representations) of African religion we offer David Chidester, Savage Systems:
Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1996). Since detailed accounts of the reports on
African religion by travelers, missionaries, and colonial agents are provided in
that volume, we have annotated only a small selection here. Nevertheless, colo
nial assumptions persist in much of the literature we have collected and anno
tated. In the interests of gaining a broader and deeper understanding, we must
critically confront a long legacy of misunderstanding. In the end, this annotated
