human remains; waste heap; sacrifice; initiation; Kabye; Togo
Abstract :
[en] Until the beginning of the twentieth century, in the Kabye country, some heads of
enemies – those of men foreign to the group – were buried in a mound of earth
referred to as hude,meaning ‘manure’. In each locality, this mound is situated inside
a wooded sanctuary where the spirit of the mythical founding ancestor resides. In
order to understand this practice, this article examines how it fitted within the overall
logic of the male initiation cycle, contextualising it in relation to past and present
practices. Because it was a highly ambivalent element of the bush, the head of an
enemy renewed the generative power of this original ‘manure’ prodigiously, so as
to ensure the group’s survival in their land. The burial of the heads of strangers
appears to be an initiatory variant of other forms of mastery of the ambivalence of
wild forces, entrusted in other African societies to the chief and his waste heap.
Disciplines :
Anthropology
Author, co-author :
Daugey, Marie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences sociales > Labo d'anthropologie sociale et culturelle (LASC)
Language :
English
Title :
Sacrificial human remains in an initiatory variant of the African waste heap (Kabye country, Togo)