The Mother's Brother in South Africa PDF

.j·12 TIlY. ;'.f()TIIEP. 's BROTIIER IX S01:TJJ AFHH'A. THr; MO'l'HEH'" BHOTHE]( I); SOFTH AFRICA....

.j·12 TIlY. ;'.f()TIIEP. 's BROTIIER IX S01:TJJ AFHH'A. THr; MO'l'HEH'" BHOTHE]( I); SOFTH AFRICA. BY A. l{. TL\DCLIFFE-UllOWX, 1'1..-\., jJroj!'3S0/' of SOCi(ll.11Ifltro[lol():1!I ill tfte ~Unirf'r'~'ify of Cape TOHm. AmongBt primitive peoples in nWDy parts of the world a. good Jeal of importance is attaehcd to the relationship of mother's brother and sil:st,Cl"S son. In maD,)' instances, the sister's son has. ('el'tain sperinl right):) OVt~r the prop,,=,rty of his mother's urother. At one time it was usual to regard tlwse C'U::.iOBlt-i as being connected \\'ith matriarchal iIl1;titutions, and it ,Ytl!.j bdd that their pl"l:'::;ent'e in a, patrilinear people (lQuld be regarded as cddl~n('e that that people had at SOil)!' time in the pa;::.t bet'l1 mntrilinrnl. This "jew ~ Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009). though now ~oIIlewlwt disl'redited, is slill held by a few Hnthro- pologists, of whom Mr. Hidney Hartland is pcrhap:-; the lllost notable, and has ht,t'll adopted by :\11'..Jllnod in his hook on the Ba Thonga people of Portuguese East ~\.friuL Hefcrring to the (,llEl-tOIIlS relating to the hehaviour of the IllOthpr's hrothrr and the sistt'r's son to OIl(! another, he says: I, Xo\\', haYin/! inquired with special eare into this Bloot l'UriOllS featllrc of tlw Thonga. :'o,)':-;tcm, 1 come to the conclusion that, the only po!'.sihle explana- tion i:-; that, in fornwl' all(l Vt'l',Y remot(! tilll~'S, our tl'ibf:' has 1!l;lss~!d through thf' mntrilln·hal stflgC." (.Junod... The J~if(' of u Sout,h :\.friran Tribe," \'oJ. 1, p. 253.) It is with thi,; theory that, 1 wish to deal in this papel'; hut.. I do not propo6c to repeal, or add 10 the objections that hayc been ra,ised l1gainst it by \'ariou\S critic's ill rel'ent ,Years. Purely negative eriticism does not adnlJ)l'c a f·;eiencc. The only t>atis- fudory way of getting rid of an unsatisf:wtory hypothesis is to find a better olle. 1 propose, tht'fefore, to put bdore ,YOll an alternative hypothesi6, and if T nm sllcc:cssfui, not in proving that hypothesis, but in showing that it does giye a. possibl(~ t''\planatioll of the faets, T shall at least have refutl~d the \'iew of :\Jr. Jllnod that the ('xplanation hr ll('cepts is tllf' "only pos~ible" one. For tIl(' great IlUlllhrl' of Houth ~\fri('nn tri\)('~ WC' hnw· allllost no information flbout customs of tiIi·.:l idud. ~ot that the ('lH;t(Jm~ (In not exiHt, or are' not impor1ant to the n!Jtin:'s th0m- s('IYl':-';, but hecallse the :-;y~t(,ll1utie aud :';rif-'Iltifir. ~tuc1y of the  'fHE MOTIIEH'S UIWTIIEH IX ~Ol'TH AFBICA..'>43 lli1tives of this {'ollnLry has as yet hardly bcen begun. I shall, therefore, have to retf'r.chiefly to the (,llstOlllS of t.he BaThonga as recorded bv ,j-fr. Junod. These are to be found in the first yoiume of t.he~ work quoted above, pagr-s 22;) sqq. and 20 3 gqq. Some of the more importllIlt of them 11l1ly bt' summ,lnsr-d as follows : - 1. The Ilterine nephc\v all tht'tiugh his C,11'eer is the ohject of special car(> on the part of his unde. 2. \Vhen the nephew is sick the mother's brother sacrifices on hib behalf. i3. The ncphl'w is permiUed to take many ]ibC'rtie,; \'vith his mother's brother; for exa.mple, he rnav go to his unc]p's home and eat up the food that has he en prepared for t,he latter's weal. 4. The nephew claims somc of the property of his lllother's brothl'r when the latter die~, and rna)' ~{)ll1(;'timt'K claim one of t.he widows, fl. \Vhen the mother's brothcr Offr-l\!. it t;acrifice to his ancestors, the sister's son steals and conSUllles the portion of meat or beer offered to the gods. it must not be supposed that. tbese eustollls are pentliar to the BaThonga, rrhere is ('\'idence that similar customs might be found Hmongst. other Sout.h.\fricllll tribes if they were looked for. Alld we know of the cxi!'itence of ~iluilal' custOlll~ amongst other peoples in YUriOllS pads of the world. In South Africa Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009). itself cllstoms of this kind ha,-c been fOlllld bv 11rs, HoernIe :tlllOngl.;t the ~anw Hottentots. TIlE:' l';istel"s ':on lllfly behave wit.h great frecdom towards his nlothf'r's hrother, ilnd may take :wy pflrticularly fine beast from his herd of cnttle, or lilly par- Itenlar!}' fine object tlwt he lIlay possess. On the contrary. the lllotht:'r\; brotiwl' !TIny take fro1ll his n(:phew'~ hprd an.'-- heaRt that is malforllled or decrepit, fllld lllay take any old and \Yorn-out ubject that. he may pos~ess, \\That i:-:< particularly intC'ref.tillg to llll' is that in the pa.rt of Polynel:;ia tlw t I kllOW best, that is, in the Friendly Ii:jhUlds (Tongtl) and in Fiji, we fiud cu~t·O\l1S (hat· show a. H'ry close res(,lnblRllcc to those of the Ba'l'hollga. There, also, the sister':;;... on i" permitted to tnke mnny lib(,l'ti~'s ,,,"ith his mother':;; hrothcl', find to takC" all,Y of his uncle's possession", that he may desire..\nd there also we find the CllstOlll that, when tJw uncle llJ:Jkcs n sacrifice. the sister's son 1.nkf'13 nWfly t.he sacred portion uffered to tilf' gods, and may CRt it. I shnll, thcrdorC'. mai.;e oCCil:-:ter. In this \\-a Y the' fa the]' 's brut l{f'r ('Oil !l'S to bf' rq..(ardvd n ~ort of f;ltit("f, all:' his ~ons nrt"', Cill.'l'dort" l'('I,ltin't' of tll(, san I!.' ldnrl JS brothers. :-iimilurly. the l\lothl'r'~ sist.er i~ rt'g;lraed ;IS flIWtlWl' \1lother..'lnd h('r cllildrell art' then,forf' llrothel'''' alii I si~te}'s. This sysi\'ltl i::; tltc~ OTle tn he' fO\1nrl nJll()llg~t tIlt' Bantu tribes of ~outh AfrL('il, t!'l'. It would be posl-iiLle, of cour~e, to trt'ut tilt! fOrlllC'f us bt'ing like a father !lnd the latter a.s ~ilIlilar to ,\ lllOtlH'l', ,lIll1 111is course does seem to have vt::en tidupte(l in a few sOl'i('ties. A tendency in this direction if' bund in :O;Olllt' p,u'ts of :\ £ril'xtPllrlpo to the SOil., uf these IIH'n who tri1ll' the term !JIlIlllme hi!s gone out of moe, alld thf' mothf'l·'.~ iatlwl', the Il\oth!;'r's In·uther, and the MHl5 of the 'mother':; brothE'\, are aU (:alled l.·"l.'WWItl ignmdfat1lt~r). Howe\"er absurd it 1llr pilylllent is mad!' by a t'amily, then the t,hilrlrcl) of Uw woman who C'om«'s t.o thc11} in exclwngC' for tll(~ (',lttle helong to that Lunily, !lnd its g..J(]s iH't' their god;:.;. Tlw llllli,"es ('on"idC'r that tIle strongest. of all i3o;:ial bonds. is that be- t\Yl'(:n n child and its mot,her, and t.herefol'l' hy tile extefl:o.ioll that int'Yibbly takes pla(;e ther(, is a ypr,Y ~tl'on,g h(lllCl betw,,'t'n tIl(' (·hild and its mother'" family, 'rhl:-' function of tIl(' lnholn 'Payment is, not to destroy, but to modify this bond, !lnd to pla\.:e l.be c.hildrcn definitely in t.he filtlwr'", family :-ulfl group for nll matters ('on- enning nl)t only the s()(;i