Appendix table to Social structure and shrines (Wim van Binsbergen 1976 ASA paper) -- part of: Historic Berber culture: Wim van Binsbergen's webpage on Khumiriyya (N.W. Tunisia), late 18th

Appendix table: Systematic comparison Khumir and Nkoya

Shrines, cults and society in North and Central Africa

Wim van Binsbergen's webpage on Khumiriyya (N.W. Tunisia), late 18th - mid-20th century

return to main text of 1976 paper | return to the index page of Historic Berber culture

Appendix . Systematic comparison of Kroumir and Nkoya society, shrines and cults

Legend: K = Kroumirs N = Nkoya + = yes - = no n.a. = not applicable

( ) difficult to classify; estimate * major diference between Kroumirs and Nkoya

VARIABLE	Khumiriyya		Nkoya		Remarks
1. Macro structure and history
1.1. Local society belongs to a general linguistic, cultural and social-structural complex extending over whole subcontinent	+		(+)		K: Maghreb; N: Central Bantu, but more distinct vis-à-is neighbours , than K
1.2. Participants consider their religion a local variant of a general religion shared with neighbours	+		(+)		K: Islam; N: recognise identity in neighbours’ veneration of High God , ancestors etc .
1.3. prior to European colonisation, local pol. system in periphery of sphere of influence of remote state	+		+		K: Bey of Tunis etc.; N: Lozi
1.4. Year of European colonisation	1881		1900
1.5. The rigid monopoly of central power was inherited by the independent state without major changes	+		+
2. Local social structure
*2.1, Density of population (inh/km2 )	60		7
2.2, Effective local communities (valleys) are imposed by ecological/ geomorphologic features	+		+
*2.3. High social-organisational density of the community	+		-		K: highly segmented on many well-defined levels; N: villages only
*2.4. Local communities have a stable membership and are highly endogamous	+		-
*2.5. Marriage tends to be stable and (for women) once in life	+		-
*2 .6. Women become effectively incorporated in the group into which they marry	+		-
2.7. Whatever the explicit participants ' ideology, the underlying kinship structure is bilateral	+		+		K: cf. Van Binsbergen 1970a, 1970b; N: 1976b"
2.8. Subsistence economy, predominantly horticulture"	+		+
2.9. No stratification	(+)		(+)		"K: rural classes beginning to emerge; N: headmanship, slavery was individual, achieved status, did not precipitate ascribed and endogamous classes
2.10, Multiplex, inclusive relationships dominant	+		+
*2.11. Outside central power, local leadership is diffuse and shifting	+		-
*2.12. Women lack economic opportunities of their own	+		-
3. Community shrines	K		N village	N valley	in K/N comparison, N. village shrines prevail since they feature much more in ritual than valley shrines
*()3.1. Material form of shrines**	see remarks		see remarks	see remarks	"K: trees, springs, huts, stone buildings;" N(vil): wooden poles, shrubs N(val):poles
*()3.2. Shrines are places where an important man or woman was buried**	(+)		-	+	K: also other associations than burial occur
*3.3. Regular cemeteries are located around shrines	+		-	-
3.4. There are keepers for shrine at maximum community level	+		n.a.	+
3.5. Shrine cult has ecological connotations mainly	(-)		(-)	+
3, 6. No residential groups without a shrine	+		+	+
*3.7. Cult at maximum community level involves all members in collective ritual	+		n.a.	-
*3.8, Shrines are permanent structures	+		-	-
*3,9, Shrines are linked to other similar shrines through myths and ritual	+		-	-
*3.10, Shrines are named and associated with individual, supernatural beings	+		-	+
3.11. Shrines are a focus of identity and collective ritual	+		+	-
3.12. Shrine cults have a major rallying function for community members and outside contacts	+		+	-
*3.13. Compulsory pilgrimages form a device to maintain interlocal contacts	+		-	-
*3.14. dissociation with shrines legitimates local leadership	(-)		+	(+)	K: used to be so when the lodge/shrine complex was still in power, while nowadays govt.-appointed chiefs strife in vain to derive legitimacy from association with shrine; N(val): officiants must be community leaders, but effect is reinforcement not legitimation
*3.15. The beings associated with the shrines are believed to take a moral interest in the interaction between community members	–		+	(+)	N(val) :scarcely documented in Nkoya data but ties in with general Central?African equation of sin/sorcery/murder, drought, and infertility
3.16. Affliction attributed to beings associated with community shrine reflects in-group socialprocess	+		+	n.a .
*3.17, Collective shrine ritual is mainly a women's affair	+		-	-
*3.18, Cult staff, as such, pronounce on matters of moral concern	(-)		(+)	-	K: did so in past, before eclipsed by govt. chiefs (1930s); N(vil): leadership in cult coincides with village leadership, no special cult staff, but moral issues abound
4. Ecstatic cults	K lodge	K outside lodge	N non-pro-phetic	N pro-phetic
4.1, Percentage of male population inv.	20%		20%		N: extensive quantitative data now being processed
*4.2. Percentage of female population involved	5%		80%
4.3. Membership through initiation	+		+
4.4. ritual involves ecstasy	+		+
4.5. Individual affliction is the cult’s central theme, affiliation come in less frequently	+	(-)	+	+	K (outside lodge): Veneration of local saints main theme, affliction coms in less frquently
4.6. Leaders have cult shrines	+	(+)	+	+	K (lodge.): the lodge building itself; K (outside lodge): fekirs concentrating on a particular local saint have special relation with that saint’s shrine
4.7. sessions usually involve sets of performers , in a role structure of leader and adept(s )