Birth rites - taboos in pregnancy, miscarriages, birth procedures, and name-giving

This material is held atSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Archives, University of London

Reference
- GB 102 MS 380515/05
Dates of Creation
- c.1931 - 1933
Physical Description
- 205pp.

Scope and Content

Early drafts of chapter for Earthy's publication, 'Valenge women: the social and economic life of the Valenge women of Portuguese East Africa'. Typed and manuscript notes, mostly in English, but some in Lenge/Chopi.

Access Information

Open

Archive Record|Table of contents

Papers of Emily Dora EarthyMS 380515

Correspondence: Letter to Earthy from Winnie Hornter (?),dated 27 Oct.1924MS 380515/01

Typed draft with author's corrections of Earthy's book, 'Valenge women: the social and economic life of the Valenge women of Portuguese East Africa', with an introduction by A.C. Haddon.MS 380515/02

Social organisation and kinship system - including notes on chiefs and customs related to their accessionMS 380515/03

Material culture - food and taboos related to food, industries, trade and commerce, pottery, basketryMS 380515/04

Birth rites - taboos in pregnancy, miscarriages, birth procedures, and name-givingMS 380515/05

Early education - including children's games and Valenge dollsMS 380515/06

Tattooing, scarification and tribal marksMS 380515/07

Initiation ritesMS 380515/08

Marriage customs - including the "lobola" bride-price systemMS 380515/09

Death - burial and funeral rites, and widowhoodMS 380515/10

DancesMS 380515/11

Religion - beliefs about ancestral spirits, spirit-possession, seances and rites of sacrificeMS 380515/12

Religion - Lenge cosmology, divination and sorcery, and medicine menMS 380515/13

Folk lore and proverbs - description and analysis of folk tales, with actual examples in Chopi and English, including various versions of the Gilgamesh epic (story of creation and the flood), and Lenge riddlesMS 380515/14

"Initiation of girls in the Masiyeni district, Portuguese East Africa", by Earthy, reprinted from Annals of the Transvaal Museum, vol.xi, part 2.MS 380515/15

"The home of Mutswa: Marriage customs and home life", by N.J. Mbanse, abridged and translated by Earthy.MS 380515/16

"Activities of a Mandingo town" by Earthy.MS 380515/17

Lenge vocabulary notes, and miscellaneous manuscript Lenge texts.MS 380515/18

"The practical orthography of Tswana" - recommendations of the Tswana District Orthography Committee, by G.P. Lestrade.MS 380515/19