Himba People: Matrilineal Society and Political Structure

Extract

[...] The notion of matrilineal - which guarantees the exclusivity of biological recognition - is not necessarily associated with that of matriarchy - where power is distributed and exercised by women - or matrilocality - where the residence that prevails is that of the woman. In the case of the Himba tribes, it is indeed the woman who, through marriage, will live in the kraal of her husband, her habitation: there is no matrilocality. In this sense, the Himba society is a matrilineal society. In fact, women, divided into seven matrilineal clans6, they possess the functions of the eanda. This implies many legal and practical traits: inheritance is transmitted through the mother as well as many economic activities. [...]

[...] Obviously, we cannot reduce our understanding of this people to these simple characteristics. On the contrary, the Himbas possess many original anthropological traits, particularly due to its political structuring. II- The Himbas: From Ancestor Worship to Matrilineal Logics The Himba people are somewhat governed by very strong and structuring social conventions. Their customs and traditions have, to a certain extent, survived Western and nationalist acculturations. Thus, they have preserved the ancestor cult with the sacralization of tombs associated with them.3. [...]

[...] To evoke the social logics that govern the functioning of this community, we had to, first, distance ourselves from our a priori of numerous fantasized representations of the 'African tribe' in order to evoke the political organization and social structuring of these tribes. This presentation aimed to explain the main features of this people. In this sense, we did not discuss the conflicts and symbolic struggles that have traversed the history of these communities, but also their integration into larger social and political entities (notably the Namibian State). [...]

[...] In this sense, the functions and characteristics associated with feminine conditions must also be thought in relation to the position within the village and the family. III- An organization based on the sex-segregated division of activities The male members of the Himba society therefore divide many social functions, including political ones. The chiefs of the tribes are men and often have a higher social status. In fact, the chiefs of the tribes combine political, judicial - notably related to local conflicts - and spiritual functions. It is notably the chiefs of the tribes who celebrate the cult of ancestors. [...]

[...] This has led them to conserve the distinctive traits of their beliefs - mainly animist. Mukuru is the main god of their beliefs4. They communicate with him - for the purpose of blessings - through the ancestor cult. It appears important to revisit these facts in an exposition on the political system of the Himbas as religious conventions cement social order as authors such as Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss have shown. This is also the case for the matrilineality of this people: behind the filiation of women, there is the mythological and religious story of the common mother5 In the same way, the maintenance of customs and social conventions is extremely present in the hierarchy of tastes and aesthetic judgments - such as the way women powder themselves in red. [...]