Society-LOZI

The Lozi consist of a number of interrelated ethnic groups located
along the Zambezi River in Barotse Province of western Zambia. As
used here, the term Lozi refers both to the Lozi proper and to those
groups that have become subject to and assimilated by the Lozi. These
groups include the Kwanda, Makoma (Bamakoma), Mbowe (Mamboe), Mishulundu,
Muenyi (Mwenyi), Mwanga, Ndundulu, Nygengo, Shanjo, and Simaa. In
addition to being members of the Lozi-dominated Barotse kingdom, these
peoples share much the same culture, speak the Lozi language (Kololo),
and are highly intermarried. Furthermore, the Barotse kingdom incorporates
a number of other ethnic groups, such as the Tonga, Lukolwe, and Subia,
but these have remained somewhat distinct in language and customs.

Lozi (Kololo) is the common language of Barotse Province, although
many inhabitants speak other Bantu languages as well. Lozi has been
classified by the Voegelins with Bantu languages of the Benue-Congo
family of the Niger-Congo macrophylum (Voegelin and Voegelin 1964:
85, 131). Lozi derives largely from the Sotho dialect spoken by the
Kololo, who conquered the Lozi, but it exhibits some modifications,
especially in phonetics and vocabulary.

The history of the Barotse kingdom begins with the southward movement
of the Luyi people sometime around 1600. Luyi history is characterized
by a series of expansionary conquests and the absorption of numerous
other peoples under their rule. Luyi domination was temporarily interrupted
when they were conquered by the Kololo, a group of invaders from the
south, who ruled the kingdom from 1838-64. In 1864, one of the Luyi
(now known as Lozi) princes re-established his group's dominance by
conquering the Kololo. By then, however, British and Portuguese interests
had begun to penetrate the area. The first treaties between the British
and Lozi, signed in 1890 and 1900, placed the Lozi under the governance
of the British South Africa Company, but allowed them considerable
autonomy in self-government. During the 1900s, there was a series
of changes in the larger political institutions to which the Lozi
were subordinate. From 1924 to the 1950s they were a part of Northern
Rhodesia, under the rule of the British Colonial Office. Subsequently,
they were incorporated into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
And finally, in 1964, Barotse Province became part of the newly proclaimed
Republic of Zambia. Each of these political developments brought changes
to the sociopolitical organization of the Lozi; the indigenous political
organization increasingly lost power and functions, and the territorial
extent of Lozi domination was constricted.

Population data for the Lozi are poor, based mainly on estimates,
and do not lend themselves to an assessment of demographic trends.
Figures for the whole of Barotse Province (including non-Lozi) place
the population at 295,741 in 1938 and 361,905 in 1963 (Gluckman 1941:
facing p. 12-A; Kaplan et al. 1969: 61). The 1938 estimates suggest
figures of about 67,000 for the Lozi ethnic group itself and 105,000
for the Luyana group (the Lozi and related groups that consider themselves
to have common origins). If assimilated peoples are included, the
Lozi population in 1938 reached over 160,000 (Gluckman 1941: facing
p. 12-A).

The Lozi are concentrated around the Zambezi River plain, lying at
lat. 14 degrees 30 min.-16 degrees S by long. 23 degrees E. Within
this area, there are several major environmental zones, stretching
from the river and its flood plain to the river margins to the brush
and forest covered uplands beyond. The climate is marked seasonally
by changes in temperature and rainfall. The rainy season lasts about
five months, usually beginning in November, and brings with it the
flooding of the river plain.

In a habitat characterized by great seasonal and ecological variation,
it is not surprising that the Lozi subsistence economy is both mixed
and complex. Lozi agriculture produces such staples as bulrush millet,
cassava, sorghum, and maize, plus a number of lesser crops, including
groundnuts, sweet potatoes, beans, and melons. Agricultural crops,
methods, and intensity vary with the location of the plot, the type
of soil, the amount of moisture, and the population's needs. Most
cultivation is done with hoes, the plow being a recent, and not always
practical, introduction. Fallowing, manuring, crop rotation, and construction
of drainage ditches are all known to the Lozi and applied where deemed
necessary. Most Lozi also keep domestic animals--cattle in particular,
but also poultry, goats, and sheep. Hunting, collecting, and fishing
are all important adjuncts to the subsistence economy, and the Lozi
use a variety of technical equipment in these activities.

The division of labor in subsistence pursuits largely follows lines
of sex. Men are responsible for livestock, hunting, most of the fishing,
and the more arduous agricultural tasks; while women do most of the
work in agriculture and collecting, a little fishing, and most of
the routine domestic chores. Occupational specialization was limited
in the past, but has become increasingly important. As with so many
other modernizing countries, migration for wage labor opportunities
has become a major means of support for the Lozi (cf. Peters (1960);
Gluckman (1941). In previous times, economic exchange was effected
through barter and redistribution by the king, but the Lozi are now
part of a full-fledged cash economy with market mechanisms.

The nuclear family constitutes the basic economic unit of Lozi society.
In the case of polygynous marriages each wife has a separate dwelling
and her own gardens and animals to tend. She has the rights of disposition
of her own produce and receives a share of the husband's produce.
Cooperation in production and consumption between co-wives is highly
variable. The traditional ideal is that each wife produces only for
her husband and her own children, but it appears that there has been
an increased tendency away from this ideal of separateness. Peters,
for example, noted that it was common for one wife to prepare food
for the whole polygynous unit, a practice that had been the exception
rather than the rule some years before (Peters 1960: xii; Gluckman
1959: 79-83).

Marriages are legitimated by the payment of a small bride-price. The
practice of bride service has fallen out of use, and postmarital residence
is usually in the community of the groom. Polygyny is common, but
polyandry is not practiced. Co-wives are accorded relatively equal
status, though ranked according to order of marriage. The senior wife
has a few privileges such as first consideration in the distribution
of food produced by the husband, but she has no authority over her
co-wives. Neither the levirate nor the sororate is practiced. Divorce
rates are high, and an individual Lozi may have had several partners
during his or her lifetime. Although marriages are prohibited between
close relatives out to third cousins, some cousin marriages still
occur, but with the proviso that such marriages may not be dissolved
by divorce.

Despite a slight patrilineal bias, kinship is reckoned bilaterally,
with relations traced as widely as possible through both consanguineal
and affinal ties. Cousin terminology is Hawaiian; terminology in the
first ascending generation is bifurcate merging. Kin terms used for
the first ascending generation are used for members of the third ascending
generation as well. In contrast, members of the second and fourth
ascending generations are all lumped together under a single kin term.

The village is the major unit of territorial organization for the
Lozi. Villagers tend to be related through male lines, but there are
no exclusive residence rules. The village is a corporate unit. Rights
to use village lands and fishing sites depend on residence within
the village. Land arrangements and village affairs are handled by
the village headman. Selection to headmanship ideally follows patrilineal
lines, but this ideal is frequently overridden if another man is thought
to be more capable. Although village sites persist over time, there
is a great deal of flux in village population. Flooding of the Zambezi
River necessitates abandonment of villages in the floodplains during
part of the year. In some cases, all or most of a village's population
will move together to their lands on higher sites, but often the entire
village will disperse, with its members joining kin from other villages.
Besides this annual flux, there is continual flow of people from one
village to another for various reasons.

During the days of the Lozi kingdom, there was no higher territorially-based
organization than the village, except for the kingdom as a whole.
Beginning with British rule, however, territorial organization was
introduced, with villages organized into districts, districts organized
into Barotse Province, and the province forming a part of a larger
political unit. In contrast, the Lozi kingdom was hierarchically organized
into a system of nonterritorial sectors. Members of a sector owed
allegiance to the sector head, a man who held a senior title in the
Lozi court, and were frequently dispersed throughout the kingdom.
Sectors served as judicial, military, and administrative units.

The Lozi kingdom was highly stratified socially. At the top was the
royalty (linabi and bana bamulena) composed of all those who could
trace their descent from a king bilaterally within four to five generations.
Husbands of princesses (boishee) and commoners related to the royalty
(likwanabi) were also of high status. Below them were the ordinary
commoners. Slaves and serfs formed the lowest strata, but the institutions
of serfdom and slavery were abolished in 1906. The king was the ultimate
authority in the kingdom. In earlier times, a chief princess held
almost equivalent power over the southern portion of the kingdom,
but British rule eroded her powers. In addition, the Lozi courts had
a number of stewards, councillors, and members of the royalty, all
of whom participated in decision making. The most important office
next to the king was that of ngambela, chief councillor, a commoner
who represented the commoners' interests in the court. Allocation
of power within the Lozi power structure was highly complex and dichotomized.
Commoner interests were balanced against royal interests from the
top down.

The prerogatives and functions of the king and his courts have undergone
steady erosion since the beginning of British colonial rule. As part
of a larger political unit, the king was no longer the ultimate power.
Power in judicial matters was first limited to minor legal cases and
later placed completely within the Zambian judicial system. Similarly,
the right to collect tribute was taken from the king. By 1965, most
of the governance of the Lozi was through Zambian national agencies,
and the right to distribute land rights was about all that was left
to the king (cf. Gluckman 1959; Gluckman 1967: 419-428).

Lozi religious beliefs are not well reported in the literature. They
aappear to be monotheistic, but also included are a number of beliefs
about spirits and other supernatural beings. Elaborate rituals and
offerings are focused on the burial sites of former kings and chief
princesses. Here priests mediate between the Lozi and the spirits
of their former rulers. There is a different set of beliefs and practices
concerning commoner ancestors, and ritual concerning these spirits
takes place on an individual level. Sorcery, divination, exorcism,
and the use of amulets are all elements in the Lozi religious system
(cf. Turner 1952: 48-54; also cf. Reynolds 1963).

The two basic sources to consult for a distilled overview of the Lozi
are Turner (1952) and Gluckman (1959). Turner's work is a secondary
source and provides summary coverage of all aspects of Lozi ethnography.
Gluckman is somewhat more limited and concentrates on the social and
political organization. Gluckman is the foremost authority on the
Lozi and authored a number of articles and monographs.

Culture summary by Eleanor C. Swanson



Gluckman, Max.
 Economy of the central Barotse plain.
 Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia, Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, 1941.
 22, 130 p. illus., maps.
 Gluckman, Max.
 The Lozi of Barotseland in northwestern Rhodesia.
 In Elizabeth Colson and Max Gluckman, eds.
 Seven Tribes of British Central Africa.
 Reprint with minor corrections.
 Manchester, published on behalf of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, Northern Rhodesia, by Manchester University Press, 1959: 1-93.
 Gluckman, Max.
 The judicial process among the Barotse of Northern Rhodesia.
 2d ed.
 with corrections and two additional chapters.
 Foreword by A. L. Goodhart.
 Manchester, published on behalf of the Institute for Social Research, University of Zambia, by Manchester University Press, 1967.
 25, 469 p. illus., maps, table.
 Kaplan, Irving.
 Area handbook for Zambia.
 By Irving Kaplan et al.
 Washington, D.C., U.S.
 Government Printing Office, 1969.
 Peters, David Urlin.
 Land usage in Barotseland.
 Edited by N. W. Smyth.
 Foreword by C. W. Lynn.
 Preface by William Allan and Max Gluckman.
 Lusaka, Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, 1960.
 2, 14, 60 p. illus., maps, tables.
 Reynolds, Barrie.
 Magic, divination and witchcraft among the Barotse of Northern Rhodesia.
 London, Chatto and Windus, 1963.
 19, 181 p. illus., maps.
 Turner, Victor W. The Lozi peoples of north-western Rhodesia.
 London, International African Institute, 1952.
 62 p. charts, map.
 Voegelin, Carl F. Languages of the world: African fascicle one.
 By Carl F. Voegelin and Florence M. Voegelin.
 Anthropological Linguistics, Vol.
 6, No.
 5, 1964.


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