essay

Heat, physiology, and cosmogony: rites de passage among the Thonga

Explorations in African systems of thoughtBloomingtonPublished In 1980 • Pages: 27-43

By: Heusch, Luc de.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document discusses rites de passage of young children in Thonga society. Focusing on the yandla rite, the document offers a privileged reading of the semantic web, spun by both the succession of gestures and the manipulation of objects. It concludes with a theoretical argument proposing that 'the ritual acts, far from abolishing thought, belong to implicit or explicit codes, that action and thought form one and the same system.'
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Puberty and initiation
Cultural identity and pride
Ceremonial during infancy and childhood
Cosmology
Theory of disease
Mythology
Conception
Childbirth
Purification and atonement
Disasters
Difficult and unusual births
Ethnometeorology
Community structure
Prayers and sacrifices
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Tsonga
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2010
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
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Anthropologist
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.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem; 2010
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1895-1980
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Thonga, Mozambique and SouthAfrica
NotesAdditional notes
Luc de Heusch
Includes bibliographical references (p. 43)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
80007492
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Tsonga (African peoples)