Beschreibung
Female initiation rites appear to be at odds with
westernized urban society in present-day Zambia. This book
offers an interpretation of the relevance of female
initiation rites in an urban setting among today’s `modern’
Christian women.
Female initiation rites are linked to gender relations. In
this book changes in gender relations during the last few
centuries and decades are examined on a socio-economic,
religious and political level. Despite these changes,
initiation rites remain of remarkable significance to women.
In this book, the author gives an in-dept description of
these initiation rites and analyzes their meaning and
relevance for Zambian women at present. Despite new types of
initiation rites and wedding ceremonies, such as Christian
weddings and kitchen parties, based on Christian ideas and
ideas of modernity, traditional initiation rites remain the
central institution that construe female Zambian identity.
Initiation rites emphasize female fertility, but also the
importance of inter-human relationships, necessary for
procreation, as well as relationships with the ancestral
spirits, and women’s central religious roles.
Thera Rasing (Ph. D. Erasmus University,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2001) is a cultural
anthropologist and specializes in gender studies.
Publications include “Passing on the rites of passage”
(1995) and “Globalization and the making of consumers:
Zambian kitchen parties” (in Fardon, van Binsbergen and van
Dijk (eds) 1999).
