Zulu Divining Rituals and the Politics of Embodiment

Volume entitled: Bodies and Politics. Healing Rituals in the Democratic South Africa, Co-ordinated by Véronique FAURE, co-edited by Arnold SHEPPERSONThis paper provides an analysis of the ukuthwasa ritual through which Johannes Manzini of KwaNgwanase [1] entered the Majoy divining sodality. I will highlight how these rituals are examples of transformation in the politics of the body, relating the initiation process to Johannes's many attempts to overcome his marginalization. Entering the divining world after undergoing extensive training is also a passage between two social conditions, in which the membership of a quasi-professional sodality fills the cultural gap between the individual and the social realms. Divining rituals serve to alter the candidate's identity and consciousness, at the end of which she or he gains a new social status. As such the entry into divination practice is a micro-level response to conditions in the macro-level world structure