First published in 1951 by the International African Institute.
This edition first published in 2017
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1951 International African Institute
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ISBN: 978-1-138-23217-4 (Set)
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ISBN: 978-1-138-23515-1 (Volume 27) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-23518-2 (Volume 27) (pbk)
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ETHNOGRAPHIC SURVEY OF AFRICA
edited by
DARYLL FORDE
WEST CENTRAL AFRICA
PART I
The Southern Lunda and Related Peoples
(Northern Rhodesia, Belgian Congo, Angola)
MERRAN McCULLOCH
INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN INSTITUTE
17, WATERLOO PLACE,
LONDON, S. W. 1.
This study is one part of the Ethnographic Survey of Africa which the International African Institute is preparing with the aid of a grant made by the Secretary of State under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts, on the recommendation of the Colonial Social Science Research Council
The preparation of a comprehensive survey of the tribal societies of Africa was discussed by the Executive Council of the Institute as far back as 1937, but the interruption and restricting of its activities caused by the war resulted in the postponement of the project. Events and developments during the war led to a wider recognition of the need for collating and making more generally available the wealth of existing but uncoordinated material on the ethnic groupings and social conditions of African peoples, particularly in connection with plans for economic and social development. It appeared also that the International African Institute, as an international body which had received support from and performed services for the different Colonial governments, was in a very favourable situation for undertaking such a task.
The Institute, therefore, in 1944, applied to the recently established British Colonial Social Science Research Council for a grant from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund to finance the preparation of an Ethnographic Survey of Africa, and a grant was allocated for a period of five years from 1945. A committee, under the Chairmanship of Professor Radcliffe-Brown, was appointed to consider the scope and form of the survey; and collaboration was established with research institutions in South Africa, Rhodesia, East Africa, French West Africa, Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
The aim of the Ethnographic Survey is to present a concise, critical and accurate account of our present knowledge of the tribal groupings, distribution, physical environment, social conditions, political and economic structure, religious beliefs and cult practices, technology and art of the African peoples. The material is to be presented as briefly and on as consistent a plan as possible, and the text will be supplemented by maps and comprehensive bibliographies.
The Ethnographic Survey will be published as a series of separate, self-contained studies, each devoted to one particular people or cluster of peoples. It is hoped that publication in this form will make the results more quickly and readily available to those interested in specific areas or groups. The sections of the survey will be published as they are completed, and a list of those in course of publication is given on the cover of this section.
Since the unequal value and the generally unsystematic nature of the available information constituted a chief reason for undertaking this survey, it will be obvious that the material here presented can make no claim to be complete or definitive.. Every effort has been made, however, to scrutinise all available literature and to check it by reference to unpublished sources and to workers actually in the field; thus it is intended to present a clear picture of our existing knowledge and to point out the directions in which the need for further studies is most pressing. Any assistance from those who are in a position to remedy deficiencies and correct inaccuracies by providing supplementary material will be greatly appreciated.
The International African Institute expresses its thanks to the Colonial Social Science Research Council, for recommending the grant which has made possible the initiation of the work, and also to the many scholars, research workers, administrative officers and missionaries in Europe, South Africa and the various African territories who have so generously responded to our appeals for information and who have spared time to correct and add to the drafts.
We are especially grateful for help given in the preparation of the present volume, to Professor M. Gluckman of Manchester, who has kindly supervised the study; to Mr. C. M. N. White, of the Northern Rhodesian Administrative Service, for unpublished material on most of the peoples concerned and for checking many points in the text. We are also indebted to Mr. I. Cunnison, of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute for checking the historical section; to Mr. W. Singleton-Fisher for information on the Lunda of South-West Katanga; to Mr. P. Koornhof for translating the Flemish articles; to Mrs. K. Jellinek and Mrs. E. Hamilton for assistance with the German material, and to Professor Mendes Correia for providing a sketch map of Administrative Districts in Angola and for bibliographical advice.
DARYLL FORDE,
Director
The Southern Lunda and Related Peoples in Northern Rhodesia, Belgian Congo and Angola
The Lunda, Luena, and related peoples together occupy most of the eastern half of Portuguese Angola and smaller areas in the north-western districts of Northern Rhodesia and in Katanga Province of the Belgian Congo. Groups of Lunda and Luena have lived in Northern Rhodesia for about four centuries, while further immigrations of Luena, together with Chokwe, Luchazi and Mbunda, have occurred within the last fifty years. The Nkoya-Mbwela are thought to be the descendants of pre-seventeenth century settlers in the region. Apart from this last group, about which very little is known, these peoples form a fairly homogeneous group, speaking similar languages, practising matrilineal descent and patrilocal marriage, and having loose, de-centralised political systems. The relative importance of various features of their economy differs considerably from one area to another, corresponding with ecological differences, but the variation is sometimes as great within one tribe as between different tribes. Grouping in this survey has therefore been adopted for convenience only and follows that generally used in the literature. Thus the Portuguese tend to class Lunda and Chokwe as one group, and Luena, Luchazi, Mbunda etc. as another, the latter group being usually called the Ganguella. In Northern Rhodesia, on the other hand, all these tribes (with the exception of Nkoya-Mbwela) are often referred to collectively as Balovale.
