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‘Fishers of Men’: religion and political economy among colonized Tabwa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Allen F. Roberts
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Extract

In the late nineteenth century, Catholic missionaries among Tabwa southwest of Lake Tanganyika (now Zaire) sought to create a cohesive community of African Christians. The priests prohibited communal practice of Tabwa religion in the vicinity of their churches (established at points of densest population) and appropriated important means of food production like river-fishing grounds, for their own exploitation or to reward those loyal to them. As they enhanced their own economic and political influence, they contributed to Tabwa anomie, rather than community.

Résumé

‘Pêcheurs d'hommes’: religion et économie politique chez les Tabwa

Le culte communal des ngulu, esprits de la terre, jouait un rôle très important dans la religion Tabwa à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. A Lubanda, sur la côte centrale-ouest du lac Tanganika, l'esprit de la terre, Kaomba, à la fois symbolisait et assurait une vitalité commune en faisant se multiplier dans les méandres de la rivière Lufuko un poissonchat appeléndjagali. Les ndjagali constituaient un mets de choix et étaient échangés dans des contrées distantes pour du sel ou du fer.

Des missionnaires d'Afrique (les pères blancs) s'établirent à Lubanda en 1885. Alors qu'ils cherchaient à créer une communauté chrétienne, ils attaquèrent avec ferveur la religion Tabwa, et Kaomba fut une cible facile. Les missionnaires s'emparerent de la sculpture de l'esprit, ainsi que des endroits de la rivière qui lui étaient dédiés. Ils permirent l'accès à ces endroits pendant de nombreuses années, selon leur propre réseau de loyautés et de responsabilités. Une ‘révolution technique’ au début du vingtième siècle, permit au Tabwa de pêcher en plein lac Tanganika, loin des côtes; cela devint une entreprise individuelle, plutôt qu'une occupation communale comme la pêche en rivière l'avait etê auparavant. La pêche sur la lac fut abordée individuellement plutôt qu'en groupe dû aux nouvelles circonstances économiques et politiques. La religion Tabwa s'achemina vers la possession de l'esprit intensément personnelle et devint une forme religieuse adaptée au nouveau context social du colonialisme.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 49 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1984

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