Totems: beyond animal and human rightsDouglas RacionzerJuly 2013AbstractThe rights-based approaches to animal welfare and human flourishing often undermine the dignity and agency of the rights-bearers. This paper argues for a reconsideration of traditional clan totems as a means to achieve the social cohesion required to dignify humans and nature. IntroductionIt has always struck me as ironic that rights-based approaches to social organizing and advocacy often undermine the agency and dignity of the individuals and groups who possess these rights. It seems that human rights discourses in particular have become fixated on legal and formal definitions and processes. Formal norms as Garfinkel[endnoteRef:1] and others argue cannot be enacted without normal forms. That is the normal, taken for granted, mundane and situated actions of members in particular settings. [1: Garfinkel H. 2002. Ethnomethodologys Program: working Out Durkheims Aphorism. Oxford, Rowman and Littlefield]

On New Year s Day in 2010 I was visiting a friend and his wife, they expressed horror at a recent Zulu ceremony called Ukushwama. In this ceremony some 30 unarmed Zulu chase a bull around a kraal, corner the animal and suffocate it to death. An animal rights group took the matter to court to get the practice banned as cruelty to animals. The Ukushwama ceremony is practiced as a harvest festival.The storm of controversy sharply split the country into opposing sides. The National reported: The animal rights activists, the Presidents spokesman; Mr Kodwa wrote, were acting "out of desperation and the desire to impose their civilisation". The case was "absurd", and they were motivated by "racism that is cloaked as defence of animal rights". "The slaughtering of cattle carries a particular significance in African culture, as it does in many other countries in the world. The disrespect and contempt for African culture and traditions demonstrated by the debate demonstrates the utter hypocrisy of those who have anointed themselves voices of reason. This is reminiscent of the arrival of the European settlers on our shores who declared that our people were barbaric heathens who needed to be civilised. Mr. Kodwa went on to state that "For centuries we have been bombarded with the lie that African people, their values and beliefs, were inferior to those of their western counterparts." The ANC weighed in as well, in an official capacity, saying: "The matter of cultures and practices of our people is a subject that is sacrosanct."Michele Pickover, a spokeswoman for Animal Rights Africa, which brought the legal action, said accusations of racism were "inaccurate and untrue". "Societies are always changing. Culture is capable of significant adaptation as circumstances change. "Not all traditions are worthy of admiration and respect. Tradition should never be an excuse for cruelty, and surely harmful practices should not be condoned just because they are cultural practices," she said, citing cannibalism, infanticide, slavery, and bear-baiting as examples, among others. "Our humanity and humility is at stake. South Africa has laws against animal cruelty, but it also has constitutional guarantees of cultural, religious and linguistic rights.[endnoteRef:2] [2: Sebastian Berger. Dec 8 2009 article. Culture-Clash over Bull killong ritual. http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/culture-clash-over-bull-killing-ritual Downloaded 18 July 2012.]

The court found in favour of the defendants and of Zulu culture.This incident reflects the failure of a rights-based approach relying, as it does on formal legal processes to satisfy anyone. The Zulu traditionalists are still outraged and clearly are still smarting at the humiliation they feel at having their cultural practices and rights questioned and impugned. The animal rights activists are outraged and angry at the cruelty the Ukushwama metes out to cattle.A court of law is clearly going to disappoint one side and not fully salve the outrage of the other. Formal norms cannot address normal forms.This is perhaps where a more nuanced understanding and use of cultural traditions might be used to craft a means that upholds cultural traditions while also building social cohesion, human flourishing and promoting animal welfare.Totems in African societyStudies in cultural anthropology have shown that societies which are made up of clans also have totems and taboos. The totems are in great majority animals and plants. In some cases, however, the totem can be any object, animate or inanimate. The totem has been interpreted in the case of animals as a sacred object which is symbiotically linked to the clan historically, physically and spiritually. These animals are revered by clan members because apparently they represent the soul and the spirit of their progenitor.[endnoteRef:3] [3: Kimenyi, Alexandre. 1989. Kinyarwanda and Kirundi Names : A semiotic analysis of Bantu onomastics. New York : The Edwin Mellen Press]

Bozongwana says of the Ndebele: When nomadic life came to an end, families began to group together to form small communities under a powerful head. Caves usually served as their centres and as forts to protect them form harassment by other stronger families. To distinguish one group from another, the system of totems was used. This is how the Dube, Mpofu , Sibanda, Nkomo, Ncube and so on got their names. To adopt an animal as totem meant that it became not only a member of the group, but also theirpatron and its meat became sacred and is not eaten.[endnoteRef:4] [4: Rev. Wallace Bozongwana. 1983. NDEBELE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS (Originally published by Mambo Press in Association with The Literature Bureau- 1983) ]

The belief is that the ancestral spirits incarnate the totem animal and dwell init. Prohibitions are therefore an acknowledgement of subordination and acceptance of the authority of the amadlozi. The Sibanda may not eat animals belonging to the cat family that is, those with claws. The Ndlovu respect the elephant, while the Ncube totem is the baboon.[endnoteRef:5] [5: Ibid]

Tsiu, in his doctoral dissertation, writes of totems or diboko: The Basotho, especially those of old, believe that in some mysterious and inexplicable way, they derive their existence from these totems which they view as sacred.[endnoteRef:6] [6: Tsiu, W.M. 2008. Basotho oral poetry at the beginning of the 21st century (Volume 1). Doctoral dissertation UNISA]

Totems are universal and have been adapted to religious practices. Hindu religious practice can be said to have adopted the cow as its totem. The cow in Hindu religion is sacred and cannot be hurt or killed without offending Aditi, the mother of the gods.Totems and WesternizationThis use of totems and the clan structure of African society is widespread although urbanized youth often are not aware of these traditions and do not make use of them in any significant manner. Indeed Western interest in Totems can be traced to Fraser anthropological work which viewed Totemism as a primitive form of religion and thus not fitting for civilized people.[endnoteRef:7] [7: Fraser, J.G. 1910. Totemism and Exogamy (4 volumes), London]

Freud in 1913, following Fraser, erroneously argued that totems were a primitive form of religion and that they expressed social formations that reinforced a horror of incest, a commemoration of the primal binding act of fratricide and subsequent neurotic guilt.[endnoteRef:8] [8: Freud, S. 1913. Totem and Taboo. First published by Hugo Heller]

These views of totemism have been shown to be ethnocentric and racist. Totems are actually ancient and exquisitely crafted social conventions and normal forms that solve a number of social issues and serve to organize African society for the common good.Clans and Totems ListingsBelow is a list of 49 clans and their totems among the Sotho and Tswana[endnoteRef:9] [9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sotho-Tswana_Clans]

Clan NameLanguageCountryTotemTotem(English)split from

BabirwaSetswanaBotswanaNareBuffalo

BafokengSesotho, SetswanaLesotho, South Africa (North West, Free State)Mmutla, KwenaRabbit/Crocodile

BafulaSesothoLesotho, South Africa Free StateKolobeWild Hog

BagananwaSesotho sa LebowaSouth Africa LimpopoTshweneBaboonBahurutshe

BahlakwanaSesothoLesotho, South Africa Free StateTlouElephant

BahurutsheSetswanaBotswana, South Africa North WestTshweneBaboon

BakgagaSesotho sa LebowaSouth Africa LimpopoKwenaCrocodileBakwena

BakgalagadiSetswanaBotswana

Bakgalagadi - BaboalongweSetswanaBotswana

Bakgalagadi - BangologaSetswanaBotswana, Namibia

Bakgalagadi - BaphalengSetswanaBotswana

Bakgalagadi - BashagaSetswanaBotswana

BakgatlaSesotho, SetswanaLesotho, Botswana, South AfricaKgabo, EagleMonkeyBahurutshe

BakhurutsheSetswanaBotswanaTshwene/PhofuBaboon/ElandsBahurutshe

BakoneSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa Limpopohlagahlagane (tlhantlhagane)Scaly feathered finch

BakubungSetswanaKubuhippopotamusBarolong

BakwenaSesotho, Setswana, Sesotho sa LebowaKwenaCrocodile

BamaleteSetswanaBotswanaNareBuffalo

BanarengSesotho, SetswanaNarebuffalo

BangwaketseSetswanaBotswanaKwenaCrocodileBakwena

BangwatoSetswanaBotswanaPhutiduiker

BapaiSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa Limpopo

BapediSesotho sa LebowaNokoPorcupineBakgatla

BaphalaneSesothoKwenaCrocodileBakwena

BaphiriSetswanaPhiriHyenna

BaphutingSesothoPhutiDuiker

BapoSetswanaKwenaCrocodileBakwena

BarokologadiSetswanaNokoPorcupine

BarolongSetswanaTholoWildebest

BasiaSesothokatseWild CatBakgatla

BatauSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa LimpopoTauLion

BataungSesotho, Setswana, Sesotho sa LebowaSouth AfricaTauLionBahurutshe

BatawanaBatswanaBotswanaTholoKuduBangwato

BatlhakoSetswanaSouth AfricaTlouElephant

BatlhapingSetswanaSouth Africa, NamibiaTholo ba nina TlhapiKudu/FishBarolong

BatlharoSetswanaTshweneBaboon

BatlhwareSetswanaTshweneBaboon

BatlokwaSesotho, Setswana, Sesotho sa LebowaNoko, Nkwe, ThakaduWild CatBakgatla

BatloungSetswanaTlouElephant

BatsatsingLetsatsiSun

BatshwenengSesotho, Setswana, Sesotho sa LebowaTshweneBaboonBahurutshe

BatswapongSetswanaBotswanahare or kgope

MakgolokweSesothophuthismall buck

MakgwakgwaSesotho

MakololoZambiaKwenaCrocodileBafokeng

MapulanaSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa LimpopoTauLion

BakopaSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa Limpopo

BakutsweSesotho ba LebowaSouth Africa Limpopo

BarokaSesotho ba LebowaTauLion

Bakwena Ba MaThebe(also known as Bantwane)SetswanaSouth AfricaKwena, Tholo & KgaboCrocodileBammangwato, Barolong & Bakgatla

These Sotho and Tswana clans and their totems are valid and recognized across national boundaries and do not restrict the movement of people. Indeed people from different clans live side by side in peace partly due to the mutual respect they have for each others totems.

There seems to be little effort to formally preserve and valorise clans and their totems in South Africa. No centre for research has been established and research seems limited to a few doctoral dissertations. Freedom Park seems the natural centre for such research as well as the preservation of rituals and heritage but to date no work in this regard has been done.

Credo Mutwa has established a centre where such knowledge might be preserved in the park at Lotlamoreng dam just outside Mafikeng. The site though is run down and clearly under-funded.

I have gathered a listing of some 43 totems linked to clans and surnames that are common in South Africa:Clan name Totem

BafulaWild Hog

BakoneScaly feathered finch

baKubung /baKavubuHippo

baLobedu and ModjajiAnteater

Baphuthi / Makgoloekwe tribe/ baNgwatoDuiker

baRolong/baTawanaKudu/ wildebeest

Basia /baTloka/SibandaCat

Basia /Mokoteli/ baPediPorcupine

Bathlalerwa / ShongwaneCheetah

Dikolobe/ BalobeduPig

Dube /Cele of Zululand / baha dubaZebra

Ingwenyama /Shumba /Motaung/baTau/ baRoka/MapulanaLion

Inqilo (Xhosa)/Mlambo Clan (Xhosa)Orange throated longclaw

Inyosi (Xhosa) /Madiba/ Ubugqwango (Xhosa)bees &red ants

Kgabo/ baKgathlaMonkey / fire

Kgaka / sibanyoni/'nyoniGuinea Fowl

Khomo /Nkomo cow

Letlaka /Vulture

MakgolokweSmall buck

MakuduTortoise

Mokoka/Khumalo/ImbilaDassie (Hyrax)

MphisiHyena

MpofuEland

Mutlanyana / Mvundla /baFokeng /Phoka/baTswaponghare

Mutwa clan of the Msimango tribe /unonkala/ Rhadebe/ Mthimkulu/Zulu/Hlubi/HadebeCrab

Nare/ the Bedla in TranskeiRhino

Ndou / Tlou / amaHlubi- Rhadebe/Mhlanga/Msi/Mthinkulu/Ndlovu /baTloung /Lemba/ balobedu/Makgekge/ baHlakwanaElephant

Ngwenya/ bakwena /Tangwena of Zimbabwe/ baFokengCrocodile

NkuSheep

Nkwe /Ngwenya/ ikato yehlathi /Skosana /Bhele /Leopard

Ntja /Mnkbane (Xhosa)Dog

PhakweEagle

Phiri /phokojweJackal

PhitiBuck

Pitsi /pereHorse

Poho Bull

SibandaPredatory animal

Thlapi /Hove/ MasilelaFish

TolloImpala

Tshioene / mfene /baFurutshe /baTloaru from Zeerust /Ncube/baGananwaBaboon

Tshukudu the Nari/ baBirwa/bamalete/ BaNarengBuffalo

Umajola/ NzoHouse snake/ any snake

Uxam (Xhosa) /Ntshilibe/Bhanqo/MdumaniLeguaan

Putting totems to the service of the common good

These totems listed above do not cover the vast array of animals in South Africa. If however we could establish a movement that sought to promote totems and the respect due to them, we could at one fell, promote social cohesion as well as animal welfare.

An organization such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals could, instead of merely seeking to promote animal rights, begin to craft a discourse that brings animla welfare into the centre of nation-building.

By respecting the totems of your neighbour, you give them dignity and respect their cultural traditions.

ConclusionThis paper has sought to show that there is deeply entrenched cultural tradition in African society that uses animal and plant totems to promote the social cohesion. This paper argues that by putting this tradition to use in advocating for the welfare of animals and the common good, we can advance our social cohesion.

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