Abstract

PALMEIRIM, Manuela. Paradox, fluidity and ambiguity of symbolic thought (the Ruwund case): a critique of some theoretical models. Etnográfica [online]. 2008, vol.12, n.2, pp.353-368. ISSN 0873-6561.

The concept of “versions” or “variants” has been crucial in the analyses of oral traditions. When dealing with Central African narratives of State foundation, however, the use of versions as somewhat rigid and self-contained texts leads to the emergence of apparently inconsistent and contradictory statements. Africanist historians assume that these statements should be questioned for “accuracy” and “authenticity”; structuralists reduce these inconsistencies to rather static oppositions. Both approaches, I hope to demonstrate, risk to obliterate the extreme complexity, richness and, above all, overwhelming suppleness of these narratives. A presentation of the account on the foundation of kingship as told by the Aruwund of the Democratic Republic of the Congo shows that this oral tradition should be better understood as a “constellation” of what will be called “minor narratives”, recalled upon or else omitted to convey different levels of specificity and diverse symbolic emphases to the narrations. This, together with the fluidity conferred to the relationships among Ruwund titleholders by the classificatory nature of the system of “perpetual kinship”, accounts for many of the apparent contradictions and makes Ruwund ideological thought a ground constantly open to different claims and interpretations. The reading of the material presented suggests paradox, ambiguity and fluidity as intrinsic qualities of these narratives and the mechanisms upon which symbolic thought is built. In doing so, this article aims at steering away from both historical approaches and the fixity of the dichotomous models so often applied to the analysis of symbolism and oral tradition.

Keywords : Lunda (Aruwund); Congo (DRC); symbolic ambiguity; foundation myths; historical use of oral sources; binary opposition.

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