Society-BEMBA

The Bemba are the largest ethnic group in the Northern Province of
Zambia, where they occupy the high plateau land between lat. 9 degrees-12
degrees S and long. 29 degrees-32 degrees E, covering the whole district
of Kasama and much of Mpika, Chinsali, Luwingu, and Mporokoso districts.
Their population was estimated as around 140,000 in the middle 1930s,
but there are figures indicating that the group may have doubled in
size by the middle of the 1960s (cf. Whiteley 1950: 7; Kaplan et al.
1969: 59, 76).

Some 17 or 18 ethnic groups in this general area of Zambia comprise
the Bemba-speaking peoples, and they form with the Bemba a closely
related culture cluster. All of these peoples have a matrilineal-matrilocal
emphasis, and are predominantly agricultural. They practice shifting
cultivation, with finger millet (Eleusinium coracanium) as the staple
crop in the eastern part of the area, including the Bemba, and manioc
among the western groups. There is a general absence of cattle, since
this area is within the tsetse belt, but the Bemba do have a few sheep
and goats. The Bemba-speaking peoples, together with several other
ethnic clusters, are generally considered to comprise a broader cultural-linguistic
category known as the Central Bantu.

The Bemba recognize the following distinctive marks of societal membership:
a common name, Babemba; a common language, Cibemba, which in their
eyes forms a distinct dialect; the special scarification, a vertical
cut on each temple behind the eyes, almost one inch long; common historical
traditions; and allegiance to a common paramount chief, the Citimukulu,
whose rule of the Bemba territory is unquestioned.

Descent, sib affiliation, and succession to office follow the matrilineal
line, and marital residence is matrilocal. Each individual belongs
to a matrilineal lineage, which determines his succession to different
offices and his status in the community. He also belongs to an exogamous,
matrilineal sib (mukoa), which is important for certain hereditary
offices. There are about 30 sibs among the Bemba, and they are ranked
according to status based on their relations with the royal crocodile
sib. Inheritance is relatively unimportant, since there are few forms
of inheritable wealth.

Despite this matrilineal orientation, the Bemba kinship system is
in some ways, bilateral in nature. The kinship group to which a person
constantly refers in everyday affairs is the lupwa, a bilateral group
of near relatives on both sides of his family (i.e., a kindred), who
join in religious ceremonies, matrimonial transactions, mortuary ritual,
and inheritance. Richards claims that this group is more important
to a Bemba sociologically than his matrilineal sib. In addition, a
patrilineal emphasis has been increasing in recent years, including
a broadening of the father's authority within the family (cf. Richards
1939: 17; Richards 1940: 87; and Richards 1968: 173-178).

Superimposed upon this kinship base is a highly centralized, hierarchial,
and authoritarian political system consisting of three main levels
of organization: the state, the district, and the village. As previously
noted, the state is ruled by a Paramount Chief called Citimukulu whose
office is hereditary within a royal sib. His authority is nearly absolute,
and he is believed to have supernatural powers. The Citimukulu is
assisted by a council consisting of 30 to 40 hereditary officials
(the bakabilo), many of royal descent, and each responsible for some
special ritual duty kept secret from the ordinary members of the society.

The Bemba state is divided into political districts (icalo), usually
five or more in number. Each icalo is a geographical unit with a more
or less fixed boundary and name, and it is also a ritual unit. A hereditary,
territorial chief (mfumu) rules over each icalo. These chieftainships
are arranged in order of precedence, according to their nearness to
the center of the country and the antiquity of their offices. To the
most important of these chiefdoms the Citimukulu appoints his nearest
relatives. In 1933, Richards found three major districts: the Citimukulu's
personal district (called Lubemba -- the center of the country), comprised
of 160 villages; Mwamda's district (Ituna), with 69 villages; and
Nkula's district (Icinga), with 76 villages. Each territorial chief
also has his own councillors. It is important to note that the worship
of the spirits (mipashi) of dead chiefs--both Paramount and territorial
chiefs-- is the essential element of Bemba religion.

Each territorial chief has under him a number of subchiefs, who might
rule over very small tracts of country, or rather, over a few villages.
A district or territorial chief is also chief of his own village (musumba),
and there is a significant difference in size between a chief's village
and a village with a commoner as headman. The average Bemba village
is rather small in size, with 30 to 50 huts. Richards mentions one
village with a population of 60, and another with a population of
160. In contrast, chiefs' villages are very much larger in size. In
the old days, a chief's village are very much larger in size. In the
old days, a chief's village might have had thousands of inhabitants;
in 1934, the villages of important chiefs observed by Richards had
400 to 600 huts. They were divided into quarters, ruled over by loyal
supporters of the chief. The nucleus of a commoner Bemba village consists
of the headman's matrilocal extended family. In older villages, such
as Kasaka, there may be three or four related matrilocal family groups.
The heads of these family groups are the most influential members
of the community; they are known as the "great ones" of the village
(bakalamba). It can be seen that rank is a marked feature of Bemba
society. It is based ultimately on kinship--real or fictitious--with
the Paramount Chief and, derivatively, with the territorial chiefs.

See Richards (1939, 1940, 1968) for an overview of Bemba culture.

Culture summary by Robert O. Lagace



Kaplan, Irving.
 Area handbook for Zambia.
 By Irving Kaplan et al.
 Washington, D.C., U.S.
 Government Printing Office, 1969.
 Richards, Audrey I. Land, labour and diet in northern Rhodesia: an economic study of the Bemba tribe.
 Oxford, Published for the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures by the Oxford University Press, 1939.
 16, 424 p. illus., maps.
 Richards, Audrey I. The political system of the Bemba tribe--northeastern Rhodesia.
 In Meyer Fortes and Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, eds.
 African Political Systems.
 London, International African Institute, 1940: 83-120.
 Richards, Audrey, I. The Bemba of North-eastern Rhodesia.
 In Elizabeth Colson and Max Gluckman, eds.
 Seven Tribes of Central Africa.
 Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1968: 164-193.
 Whiteley, Wilfred.
 Bemba and related peoples of Northern Rhodesia.
 London, International African Institute, 1950.
 6, 100 p. maps

7831