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Ambiguous animals: Two theriomorphic metaphors in Kaguru folklore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

T. O. Beidelman
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Extract

This paper deals with certain metaphorical uses of animals in the folklore of the Kaguru, a Bantu language speaking people of east-central Tanzania, East Africa. I have published elsewhere on Kaguru social structure (Beidelman, 1971b) and discuss this here only as it bears directly on the problems at hand. I have published many Kaguru folk-tales as well as various legends, riddles, and other texts (cf. bibliographies, Beidelman, 1967a, 1969, 1974c); it is difficult to publish textual material so that much of my data is still unavailable. In this paper I use published and unpublished texts.

Résumé

ANIMAUX AMBIGUS

Cet article traite de certaines utilisations d'animaux à des fins métaphoriques dans le folklore des Kaguru du centre-ouest de la Tanzanie.

Les contes de hyènes et de lièvres sont populaires chez les Kaguru; la conduite des deux protagonistes présente une étroite ressemblance; pourtant, les conteurs kaguru en opposent les implications morales. Le lièvre connote généralement un comportement social positif alors que la hyène infère un comportement asocial. Ces conflits induisent généralement des dénouements, qui définissent la portée et la qualité des obligations sociales réciproques, parfois entre consanguins, parfois entre parents par alliance, parfois encore entre amis et voisins. Différents mobiles et situations sont opposés de telle sorte que ceux qui sont tenus pour socialement acceptables dans une situation sont rejetés dans une autre. L'étude des différents aspects des relations hyène-lièvre fournit des points de repère pour la compréhension des notions de moralité chez les Kaguru en matière de relations sociales. Un de ces contes kaguru est rapporté ici. L'opposition entre la hyène et le lièvre est vu sous plusieurs angles, en termes de taille, de nourriture, de différence dans les habitudes. Ce faisant, on trouve que leurs attributs respectifs semblent similaires. Il est possible de relier les métaphores sexuelles et alimentaires — apparaissant dans les contes kaguru — à la socialisation vécue par tous les Kaguru et aux problèmes récurrents que pose la subordination des besoins et désirs individuels aux obligations que les relations sociales supposent.

Ces thèmes métaphoriques, évidemment chargés de qualités liminaires, ambivalentes ou ambiguës, sont associés, dans les intrigues de ces contes, à des situations et des positions sociales problématiques pour les Kaguru eux-mêmes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , April 1975 , pp. 183 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1975

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