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Money, milk and sorghum beer: change and continuity among the Iraqw of Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Ole Bjørn Rekdal
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Extract

This article focuses on the symbolic qualities of sorghum beer and milk among the Iraqw of northern Tanzania. The author illustrates how the villagers in a southern Mbulu village handle and make use of these two products, and seeks to illuminate the manner in which they both become associated with qualities that are perceived as positive and desirable. With the spread of the market economy, and of money as a medium of exchange, the symbolic content of sorghum beer and milk has come under considerable pressure. As products in demand, they may today circulate in impersonal relations which lack the social and religious qualities that they traditionally communicated. The monetisation of sorghum beer and milk has not, however, caused a breakdown in established practices, or in the structures of meaning in which such practices are embedded. The article illuminates some of the processes which seem to be of importance in explaining this remarkable cultural continuity in the face of fairly radical social change. The examples of sorghum beer and milk seem to reflect and highlight more general dynamics of change and continuity among the Iraqw, and it is suggested that they may help to shed light on certain seemingly paradoxical ways in which the Iraqw have been conceived by outsiders and by members of neighbouring ethnic groups.

Résumé

Cet article met l'accent sur les qualités symboliques de la bière sorgho et du lait parmi les Iraqw de la Tanzanie du nord. L'auteur illustre l'usage que les villageois d'un village Mbulu du sud font de ces deux produits, et essaie d'illuminer la manière par laquelle ces deux produits deviennent associé avec des qualités qui sont perçues être positives et désirables. Avec la propagation de l'économie de marché et de l'argent comme moyen d'échange, le contenu de la bière et du lait ont été mis sous des pressions considerables. En tant que produits en demande ils peuvent circuler aujourd'hui à travers des relations impersonelles qui manquent les qualités religieuses et sociales qu'ils ont traditionnellement communiqué. L'échange de la bière sorgho et du lait avec de l'argent n'a pas cependant causé de ruptures dans les pratiques établies, pas plus que dans les structures de sens dans lesquelles ces pratiques sont enracinées. Cet article illumine certains de ces processus qui semblent être important pour expliquer cette continuité culturelle remarquable en face de changements sociaux assez radicaux. Les exemples de la bière sorgho et du lait semble refléter et souligner des dynamiques plus générales de changements et de continuité parmi les Iraqw, et il est suggéré qu'ils peuvent nous aider à éclaircir certaines des manières, à première vue paradoxales, par lesquelles les Iraqw ont été perçus par les étrangers et les membres des groupes ethniques voisinants.

Type
Maintaining meanings in the midst of change
Information
Africa , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 367 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1996

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