Book
CHISUNGU: a girls' initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia
Faber and Faber • London, England • Published In 1956 • Pages:
By: Richards, Audrey I. (Audrey Isabel).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a descriptive and interpretive account of the CHISUNGU or girls' initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia. In the introduction, the author discusses the theoretical significance of the puberty rites. A summary of the material environment and institutional structure of the Bemba society provides the necessary frame of reference for the better understanding of the ceremony itself. Being one of the sponsors of the particular ceremony that she had witnessed, the author is able to record the various rituals in detail. A functional interpretation of the CHISUNGU, especially its place in a matrilineal society, concludes this fine study. An appendix on the distribution of the puberty ceremonies in central Africa, and one on the songs sung during the Bemba ceremony are included in the book. For more information about the author see 2: Richards, this file.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Puberty and initiation
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Bemba
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1997
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Robert Lee ; 1958
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1930-1934
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Zambia
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Audrey I. Richards
- Includes bibliographical references ( p. 213-216) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 57018530
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bemba (African people)