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Cet article presente le cas de Billy Chisupe, fermier du sud Malawi qui fit un reve en 1994 dans lequel des esprits d'ancetres lui designaient un arbre dont l'ecorce etait censee contenir la guerison definitive du SIDA. Au bout de quelques mois des dizaines de milliers de personnes se rendaient chez lui pour y recevoir ce medicament nomme «Mchape». Apres presentation de ce cas, l'A. propose une interpretation de ses images sous-jacentes et conclut avec une evaluation de ce que cela nous dit sur la comprehension locale a la fois du SIDA et du processus de democratisation de ce pays.

Martin A. van Bakel, C.B. Wilpert, Südsee Inseln, Völker und Kulturen. Hamburg: Christians, 1987. - Leonard Blussé, Leo Suryadinata, The ethnic Chinese in the Asean states: Bibliographical essays, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian studies, 1989. 271 pages. - G. Bos, Cees Koelewijn, Oral literature of the Trio Indians of Surinam, Dordrecht-Providence: Foris, 1987. [Koniniklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Leiden, Caribbean series 6.] 312 pp., Peter Riviere (eds.) - Gary Brana-Shute, Thomas Gibson, Sacrifice and sharing in the Philippine highlands. Religion and society among the Buid of Mindoro, London: Athlone press [Londons school of economics Monographs on social anthropology No 57], 1986. x, 259 pp. - H.J.M. Claessen, Claude Tardits, Princes et serviteurs du royaume; Cinq études de monarchies africaines. Paris: Societé d’Ethnographie. 1987. 230 pp., maps, figs. - Mary Eggermont-Molenaar, Haijo jan Westra, Gerard Termorshuizen, P.A. Daum; Journalist en romancier van tempo doeloe. Amsterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 1988. 632 pp. - P.C. Emmer, Selwyn H.H. Carrington, The British West Indies during the American revolution, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris publications, 1988. [Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Caribbean series 8.] 222 pp., bibl. - James J. Fox, R. de Ridder, The Leiden tradition in structural anthropology; Essays in honour of P.E. de Josselin de Jong, Leiden: Brill, 1987., J.A.J. Karremans (eds.) - Silvia W. de Groot, H.U.E. Thoden van Velzen, The great father and the danger; Religious cults, material forces, and the collective fantasies in the world of the Surinamese maroons. Dordrecht (Holland)/Providence (USA): Foris, 1988, 451 pp., W. van Wetering (eds.) - Paul van der Grijp, Frederick Errington, Cultural alternatives and a feminist anthropology; An analysis of culturally constructed gender interests in Papua New Guinea, Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1987, 185 pp., Deborah Gewertz (eds.) - Marijke J. Klokke, Annette Claben, Kann die Gupta-Kunst Kalidasas Werke illustrieren? Teil I: Text; Teil II: Abbildungen. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1988. [Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde, Serie B: Asien, Band 11.] 90, XLV pp., 10 figs, 32 pls. - J. Kommers, Michael Young, Malinowski among the Magi. The Natives of Mailu, London and New York: Routledge, 1988. [International library of Anthropology.] viii + 355 pp. - Niels Mulder, Bernhard Dahm, Culture and technological development in Southeast Asia. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1988., Gotz Link (eds.) - Jan Michiel Otto, F. von Benda-Beckmann, Between kinship and the state; Social security and law in developing countries, Dordrecht: Foris, 1988. vii + 495 pp., K. von Benda-Beckmann, E. Casino (eds.) - Nigel Phillips, Rainer Carle, Cultures and societies of North Sumatra, Berlin and Hamburg: Dietrich Reimer, 1987. [Veroffentlichungen des Seminars für Indonesische und Sudseesprachen der Universität Hamburg, Band 19.] 514 pp. - R. De Ridder, James J. Fox, To speak in pairs; Essays on the ritual languages of Eastern Indonesia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. [Cambridge studies in oral literature 15.] xi + 338 pp.; bibl.; ills. - Matthew Schoffeleers, Serge Tcherkezoff, Duel classification reconsidered (Translation by Martin Thom), New York/Paris: Cambridge University Press and Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1987, 157 pp. - G.J. Schutte, J.L. Blussé, De dagregisters van het kasteel Zeelandia, Taiwan 1629-1662. Deel I: 1629-1641, uitgegeven door J.L. Blussé, M.E. van Opstall en Ts’ao Yung-ho, met medewerking van Chiang Shu-sheng en W. Milde. [Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie 195.] ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1986. xxi + 548 pp., map, indices - H. Steinhauer, Olaf H. Smedal, Lom-Indonesian-English and English-Lom Wordlists, NUSA Linguistic studies of Indonesian and other languages in Indonesia, Vol. 28/29, 1987. viii + 165 pp. - C.L. Voorhoeve, Janet Bateman, Iau verb Morphology. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, 1986. [Nusa, Linguistic studies of Indonesian and other languages in Indonesia 26.] vi + 78 pp.

En Afrique australe, pendant les annees recentes, on a assiste au developpement de reflexions et de pratiques qui ont le but de favoriser une utilisation equilibree et durable des ressources naturelles de la part des communautes rurales. Ceci se produit sur la base de programmes qui entendent garantir le developpement rural a travers l'empowerment des communautes locales. Le lien entre les initiatives de developpement et les conceptions liees a la protection de l'environnement ont historiquement marque le parcours de la region dans la periode coloniale aussi bien que post coloniale. L'article, dans la premiere partie, analyse l'evolution des ces proces en cle historique. Successivement, il discute les points nodaux des programmes de gestion des ressources naturelles bases sur les communautes comme ils se sont realises des les annees '80 dans la region australe de l'Afrique. En particulier, l'attention s'est focalisee sur le rapport fondamental entre acces a la terre et mecanismes de gouvernance des ressources naturelles, entre l'environnement et sa protection et l'emancipation des communautes et, finalement, sur le renforcement de pratiques de bonne gouvernance sur le plan local et de ses rapports avec les communautes qui participent aux programmes. L'article conclut en mettant en evidence l'exigence de discuter des perspectives du developpement local en sens democratique en contextes ruraux encore caracterises par des hauts niveaux de pauvrete et d'exclusion sociale.

Unilateral figures may be said to constitute a quasi-universal mythological theme in view of the fact that in numerous cultures gods and spirits are being portrayed as anthropomorphic beings consisting of one side only. Less drastically, such beings may be depicted also as in possession of two sides, a human one and one modelled of beeswax, vegetal material, earth, stone, iron or suchlike. In creation stories we are sometimes told that the gods at first want to fashion humans in their own likeness as half-beings, immortal but incapable of procreation. In the end, however, they invariably decide to make them two-sided and capable of reproducing themselves, but there is a price to be paid, which is that henceforth man must die. Apart from such radical forms of onesidedness, we come across a great many instances of figurative onesidedness in the form of otherwise normal personages, one of whose sides becomes mutilated or incapacitated in consequence of some heroic deed. In mythical discourse even single humans may be viewed as representations of one-sidedness, since from the viewpoint of biological procreation there must be two. An important conclusion to be drawn in the course of this paper is that these figurative cases belong to the same symbolic discourse as the 'strict'

M.A. van Bakel, R. Borofsky, Making history; Pukapukan and anthropological constructions of knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. 201 pp.; ill. - Andrew Beatty, J.A. Feldman et al., Nias, tribal treasures: Cosmic reflections in stone, wood and gold, Delft: Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, 1990. - A.G. van Beek, Christian F. Feest, Technologie und ergologie in der Völkerkunde, Band 2, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Ethnologische Paperbacks, 1989. xiv, 290 pp., Alfred Janata (eds.) - N. Bootsma, Bernhard Dahm, José Rizal, Der nationalheld der Filipinos, Zürich: Munster-Schmidt Verlag Göttingen, 1988, 88 pp. - Aart G. Broek, John de Pool, Bolívar op / en Curaçoa: Historische novelle / leyende histórico [Inleiding door / introducción del L.W. Statius van Eps en / y E. Luckmann-Levy Maduro; vertaling uit het Spaans door L. Hoetink-Espinal], Zutphen: De Walburg Pers, 1988. - Martin van Bruinessen, Peter Kloos, Door het oog van de antropoloog: Botsende visies bij heronderzoek. Muiderberg: Dick Coutinho, 1988, 148 pp. - J.G. de Casparis, Charles Higham, The Archaeology of mainland Southeast Asia. From 10,000 B.C. to the fall of Angkor. Cambridge World Archaeology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. - H.J.M. Claessen, Luc de Heusch, Ecrits sur la royauté sacrée. Brussel, Institut de Sociologie: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles. 1987. 314 pp. - H. Dagmar, Erich Kolig, The Noonkanbah Story, Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1987. - Anke van Dijke, Linda Terpstra, Anil Ramdas, De strijd van de dansers; Biografische vertellingen uit Curaçao, Amsterdam: SUA, 1988. - B.F. Galjart, Hans-Dieter Evers, Strategische gruppen. Vergleichende studien zu staat, bürokratie und klassenbildung in der dritten welt. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988, 279 pp., Tilman Schiel (eds.) - J. Hoffenaar, G. Teitler, Anatomie van de Indische defensie: Scenario’s, plannen, beleid 1892-1920. [Anatomy of the defence of the Netherlands East Indies: Scenarios, plans, policy 1892-1920], Amsterdam: Van Soeren, 1988, 482 pp. - Rudy de Jongh, Sjoerd Rienk Jaarsma, Waarneming en interpretatie. Vergaring en gebruik van ethnografische informatie in Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea (1950-1962). Utrecht: Interdisiplinair Sociaal Wetenschappelijk Onderzoekinstituut Rijksuniversiteit, 1990. 247 pp. English summary. - Ward Keeler, J.Joseph Errington, Structure and style in Javanese: A semiotic view of linguistic etiquette, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988, 290 pp. - Ank Klomp, Raymond T. Smith, Kinship and class in the West Indies; A genealogical study of Jamaica and Guyana, Cambridge etc.: Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, 1988. - G.J. Knaap, A.H.P. Clemens, Het belang van de Buitengewesten; Economische expansie en koloniale staatsvorming in de Buitengewesten van Nederlands-Indië 1870-1942, NEHA-series III, deel 7, Amsterdam: NEHA, viii + 306 pp. 1989., J.Th. Lindblad (eds.) - Jaap de Moor, E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga, Van compagnie naar koopvaardij; De scheepvaartverbinding van de Bataafse Republiek met de koloniën in Azië 1795-1806, Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1988. [Hollandse Historische Reeks, no. IX.] 320 pp., kaart, ills., tabellen, bibliografie, index. - Otto van den Muijzenberg, Jean-Claude Lejosne, Le journal de voyage de G. van Wuysthoff et de ses assistants au Laos (1641-1642), Metz: Editions du Centre de Documentation du Cercle de Culture et de Recherches Laotiennes, 1987. 370 pp., 3 indices, bibliography, maps, illustrations. - Gert J. Oostindie, M.J. van den Blink, Olie op de golven; De betrekkingen tussen Nederland/Curaçao en Venezuela gedurende de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw, Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1988, 128 pp. - Rien Ploeg, Robert M. Hill II, Continuities in highland Maya social organisation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, xxii + 176 pp., 1987., John Monaghan (eds.) - Harry A. Poeze, Takashi Shiraishi, An age in motion; Popular radicalism in Java, 1912-1926, Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 1990. xxiv + 365 pp. - Rob de Ridder, Willem F.H. Adelaar, Het boek van Huarochirí. Mythen en riten van het Oude Peru, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1988, 150 pp., - Marie-Odette Scalliet, Peter Carey, A.A.J. Payen: Journal de mon voyage à Jogja Karta en 1825. The outbreak of the Java War (1825-30) as seen by a painter, Cahier d’Archipel 17, Paris 1988. XIV + 183 pp., 17 ill., 3 maps. - Matthew Schoffeleers, Marion Melk-Koch, Auf der Suche nach der menschlichen Gesellschaft: Richard Thurnwald, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1989. 352 pp., maps, photographs and Thurnwald bibliography. - Matthew Schoffeleers, Peter Metcalf, Where are you / Spirits? Style and theme in Berawan prayer, Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, 345 pp. - J.W. Schoorl, J.F.L.M. Cornelissen, Pater en Papoea; Ontmoeting van de Missionarissen van het Heileg Hart met de cultuur der Papoea’s van Nederlands Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea (1905-1963), Kampen: Kok, 1988, XIV + 256 pp. - Alex van Stipriaan, Jo Derkx, Suriname; A bibliography, 1980-1989, Leiden: KITLV (Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology), Department of Caribbean studies, 1990, 297 pp., Irene Rolfes (eds.) - A.A. Trouwborst, Th. Schweizer (Hg), Netzwerkanalyse; Ethnologische perspektiven, Berlin: Dietrich Reimerverlag, 1989, VIII, 229 pp. - Hans Vermeulen, Brian Juan O’Neill, Social inequality in a Portugese hamlet; Land, late marriage and bastardy, 1870-1978, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 431 pp. 1987. - C.W. Watson, Hendrick M.J. Maier, In the center of authority. The Malay Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Ithaca: Southeast Asia program, Studies on Southeast Asia , 1988. 210 pp. - Neil Lancelot Whitehead, Edmundo Magaña, Orión y la mujer Pléyades. Simbolismo astronómico de los indios kaliña de Surinam, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris, 1988. [CEDLA Latin American studies series 44.] 373 pp. - J.J. de Wolf, Meyer Fortes, Religion, morality and the person: Essays on Tallensi religion, edited and with an introduction by Jack Goody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

M.A. van Bakel, R. Borofsky, Making history; Pukapukan and anthropological constructions of knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. 201 pp.; ill. - Andrew Beatty, J.A. Feldman et al., Nias, tribal treasures: Cosmic reflections in stone, wood and gold, Delft: Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, 1990. - A.G. van Beek, Christian F. Feest, Technologie und ergologie in der Völkerkunde, Band 2, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Ethnologische Paperbacks, 1989. xiv, 290 pp., Alfred Janata (eds.) - N. Bootsma, Bernhard Dahm, José Rizal, Der nationalheld der Filipinos, Zürich: Munster-Schmidt Verlag Göttingen, 1988, 88 pp. - Aart G. Broek, John de Pool, Bolívar op / en Curaçoa: Historische novelle / leyende histórico [Inleiding door / introducción del L.W. Statius van Eps en / y E. Luckmann-Levy Maduro; vertaling uit het Spaans door L. Hoetink-Espinal], Zutphen: De Walburg Pers, 1988. - Martin van Bruinessen, Peter Kloos, Door het oog van de antropoloog: Botsende visies bij heronderzoek. Muiderberg: Dick Coutinho, 1988, 148 pp. - J.G. de Casparis, Charles Higham, The Archaeology of mainland Southeast Asia. From 10,000 B.C. to the fall of Angkor. Cambridge World Archaeology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. - H.J.M. Claessen, Luc de Heusch, Ecrits sur la royauté sacrée. Brussel, Institut de Sociologie: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles. 1987. 314 pp. - H. Dagmar, Erich Kolig, The Noonkanbah Story, Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1987. - Anke van Dijke, Linda Terpstra, Anil Ramdas, De strijd van de dansers; Biografische vertellingen uit Curaçao, Amsterdam: SUA, 1988. - B.F. Galjart, Hans-Dieter Evers, Strategische gruppen. Vergleichende studien zu staat, bürokratie und klassenbildung in der dritten welt. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988, 279 pp., Tilman Schiel (eds.) - J. Hoffenaar, G. Teitler, Anatomie van de Indische defensie: Scenario’s, plannen, beleid 1892-1920. [Anatomy of the defence of the Netherlands East Indies: Scenarios, plans, policy 1892-1920], Amsterdam: Van Soeren, 1988, 482 pp. - Rudy de Jongh, Sjoerd Rienk Jaarsma, Waarneming en interpretatie. Vergaring en gebruik van ethnografische informatie in Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea (1950-1962). Utrecht: Interdisiplinair Sociaal Wetenschappelijk Onderzoekinstituut Rijksuniversiteit, 1990. 247 pp. English summary. - Ward Keeler, J.Joseph Errington, Structure and style in Javanese: A semiotic view of linguistic etiquette, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988, 290 pp. - Ank Klomp, Raymond T. Smith, Kinship and class in the West Indies; A genealogical study of Jamaica and Guyana, Cambridge etc.: Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, 1988. - G.J. Knaap, A.H.P. Clemens, Het belang van de Buitengewesten; Economische expansie en koloniale staatsvorming in de Buitengewesten van Nederlands-Indië 1870-1942, NEHA-series III, deel 7, Amsterdam: NEHA, viii + 306 pp. 1989., J.Th. Lindblad (eds.) - Jaap de Moor, E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga, Van compagnie naar koopvaardij; De scheepvaartverbinding van de Bataafse Republiek met de koloniën in Azië 1795-1806, Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1988. [Hollandse Historische Reeks, no. IX.] 320 pp., kaart, ills., tabellen, bibliografie, index. - Otto van den Muijzenberg, Jean-Claude Lejosne, Le journal de voyage de G. van Wuysthoff et de ses assistants au Laos (1641-1642), Metz: Editions du Centre de Documentation du Cercle de Culture et de Recherches Laotiennes, 1987. 370 pp., 3 indices, bibliography, maps, illustrations. - Gert J. Oostindie, M.J. van den Blink, Olie op de golven; De betrekkingen tussen Nederland/Curaçao en Venezuela gedurende de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw, Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1988, 128 pp. - Rien Ploeg, Robert M. Hill II, Continuities in highland Maya social organisation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, xxii + 176 pp., 1987., John Monaghan (eds.) - Harry A. Poeze, Takashi Shiraishi, An age in motion; Popular radicalism in Java, 1912-1926, Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 1990. xxiv + 365 pp. - Rob de Ridder, Willem F.H. Adelaar, Het boek van Huarochirí. Mythen en riten van het Oude Peru, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1988, 150 pp., - Marie-Odette Scalliet, Peter Carey, A.A.J. Payen: Journal de mon voyage à Jogja Karta en 1825. The outbreak of the Java War (1825-30) as seen by a painter, Cahier d’Archipel 17, Paris 1988. XIV + 183 pp., 17 ill., 3 maps. - Matthew Schoffeleers, Marion Melk-Koch, Auf der Suche nach der menschlichen Gesellschaft: Richard Thurnwald, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1989. 352 pp., maps, photographs and Thurnwald bibliography. - Matthew Schoffeleers, Peter Metcalf, Where are you / Spirits? Style and theme in Berawan prayer, Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, 345 pp. - J.W. Schoorl, J.F.L.M. Cornelissen, Pater en Papoea; Ontmoeting van de Missionarissen van het Heileg Hart met de cultuur der Papoea’s van Nederlands Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea (1905-1963), Kampen: Kok, 1988, XIV + 256 pp. - Alex van Stipriaan, Jo Derkx, Suriname; A bibliography, 1980-1989, Leiden: KITLV (Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology), Department of Caribbean studies, 1990, 297 pp., Irene Rolfes (eds.) - A.A. Trouwborst, Th. Schweizer (Hg), Netzwerkanalyse; Ethnologische perspektiven, Berlin: Dietrich Reimerverlag, 1989, VIII, 229 pp. - Hans Vermeulen, Brian Juan O’Neill, Social inequality in a Portugese hamlet; Land, late marriage and bastardy, 1870-1978, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 431 pp. 1987. - C.W. Watson, Hendrick M.J. Maier, In the center of authority. The Malay Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Ithaca: Southeast Asia program, Studies on Southeast Asia , 1988. 210 pp. - Neil Lancelot Whitehead, Edmundo Magaña, Orión y la mujer Pléyades. Simbolismo astronómico de los indios kaliña de Surinam, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris, 1988. [CEDLA Latin American studies series 44.] 373 pp. - J.J. de Wolf, Meyer Fortes, Religion, morality and the person: Essays on Tallensi religion, edited and with an introduction by Jack Goody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

L'A. presente trois ouvrages, celui cite dans le titre de H. Reijnaerts, Religion et dramatisation de la vie : croyance aux esprits et rituels dans le centre et le sud du Malawi de Matthew Schoeffeleers, et Femmes, presbytarianisme et patriarcat : l'experience religieuse des femmes Chewa au centre du Malawi de Isabel Phiri. Ces trois livres sont fort differents mais sont des exemples de l'initiative de l'entreprise de publication Kachere lancee par le Departement d'Etudes religieuses de l'Universite du Malawi.

Ever since Malinowski formulated his concept of myths as charters, there has been a tendency among anthropologists to regard origin myths more or less aspost factumconstructs designed to legitimize existing privileges and positions. A classic example of this pragmatist view is Leach's study of political systems in highland Burma, in which he attempts to demonstrate that origin myths change with clocklike regularity in response to shifts in the political constellation. More recently, however, voices have been raised, particularly among historians, which insist that a society's past cannot always be manipulated at will, but that under certain conditions it has to be treated circumspectly in the way one deals with any scarce resource.My own interpretation of this view is that accounts of the past, when they concern important aspects of a society, are often (or perhaps always) constructed in such a way that the original event is somehow preserved and recoverable. The qualification “somehow” is added on purpose to make clear that the phrase ‘oral history’ refers to such a wide range of genres and mnemonic techniques, and that the methods at our disposal to extract the original event are still so rudimentary--despite the progress made over the past dozen years or so--that for the moment one cannot do more than express belief in our ultimate capability to discover what happened in actual fact.

The above quotation from a prominent South African theologian seems eminently applicable to a country where the system of apartheid has given rise to theologies, which are either strongly supportive of or sharply antagonistic to the status quo. Indeed, at the present juncture one can hardly think of another country, where theology is so passionately engaged in as South Africa. The reason is that there are few places where oppression is so evident, where the oppressed are so capabele of speaking for themselves, where religion is such a prominent social and political factor, and where the stakes on both sides are so high. Although the main divide in South Africa is that between proapartheid and anti-apartheid theologies, this is not what the present paper will be about. Not that the topic in itself is unimportant. On the contrary, it is of vital importance, but it is unlikely that discussing it at this point would yield much in the way of fresh insights. Anybody familiar with the South African churches knows more or less what the theological arguments pro and contra apartheid are, and those arguments have not changed substantially over the years. What has changed is the number of their practitioners and adherents, considering which it is to be noted that anti-apartheid

Christopher Wrigley's objections, in ‘The River God’, to my historical interpretation of some Mbona stories do not differ substantially from those of Luc de Heusch against Vansina. In essence, the allegation is that the historical information I think can be derived from those stories finds little support in the historical facts insofar as they are known to us. Or, put somewhat more mildly, even if my historical interpretation of the Mbona stories were correct, there is no way to ‘prove’ its correctness, not even to the lawyer's standard, ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, that Wrigley claims for his own exegesis. More concretely, he holds with M. D. D. Newitt, my earlier discussion partner, that there is little or no evidence for the existence of a Lundu kingdom at the time of the Zimba raids, just before A.D. 1600. He further maintains that the few seventeenth-century references known to us do not suggest that the Lundus were different in kind from other regional power-holders, whereas I claimed — and still claim — that between the 1580s and 1622 the Lundus managed — initially with the help of the Zimba — to organize a state system, which differed from neighbouring systems in that it was considerably more centralized and repressive.

ABOUT twenty years have passed since E. A. Alpers first argued that the Zimba, who are on record as having twice defeated a Portuguese armed force and as having occupied a large part of Makualand in the closing decade of the sixteenth century, were actually a fighting force in the service of the Lundul of the lower Shire valley in Malawi.2 Alpers' viewpoint has in the meantime come to be accepted by virtually all students of Malawi's precolonial past, including M. D. D. Newitt, who some years ago made his own authoritative contribution to this discussion.3 However, whereas Newitt is prepared to accept Alpers' contention that the Zimba were the Lundu's warriors, he disagrees on the reputed motive behind the Zimba raids. While Alpers is of the opinion that the Lundu state, together with the rival state of Muzura, was already well established in the second half of the sixteenth century, if not earlier, Newitt holds that these states did not materialize as formal systems before the first quarter of the seventeenth century. In his view the overall situation just before and after i 6oo was rather one in which powerful groups of invaders, including the Zimba, were still in search of a suitable environment in which to set up a feudalistic state system, modelled after the Portuguese enclaves on the Zambezi. Consequently, Alpers' idea that the Zimba were being employed by the Lundu of that time to strengthen his position as an already established ruler against his rival Muzura would be untenable. Newitt's alternative reading of the early Portuguese documents has far-reaching consequences, for it upsets much of what by now has become standard Malawian historiography. It also considerably weakens the concept of the Maravi states as representing the first clear case of a trade-based as against a tribute-based political power in the East African interior.4 It is