MbaKuhwa is a Tiv women in her thirties who died after only a few weeks of being sick. MbaKuhwa is not a witch. The Tiv determine this by doing a post-mortem examination. During the exam they will examine the heart and look for 'tsav' which in english translation approximately means “witchcraft potential”. MbaKuhwa did not have tsav therefore she was not deemed a witch. The etic view of this scenario would be that MbaKuhwa died of a disease such as an infection. Since her death was not caused by witchcraft the family must determine who's fault it is that MbaKuhwa died. This is a ritual in which family members throw blame back and fourth. The ritual of throwing blame back and forth does not cause one person to be punished for this death, it is more of a symbolic process.
What I found interesting from this article is how the anthropologist interacts with the Tiv people. The author asks one of the Tiv people if he can watch the post mortem examination. The Tiv person then asks him if his culture does a post mortem exam, the author replies that they do, so the Tiv allow him to watch. It seems the Tiv were very welcoming of the author.
You can read more about the funeral here.
What if no one is to blame for her death? Lets just say someone is blamed, but really that person has no fault in the death, do they just take the blame?
ReplyDeleteThe blaming I believe is more of a symbolic process. No one is really at fault or punished for the death.
ReplyDeleteIf ,it is a culture.the ritual has to be preform by the family.Some one has to be blamed for her death.
ReplyDeleteNo one has to be blamed. Even if someone is blamed, as i said, it's a symbolic ritual not a legal process. you can read about it by clicking on the link
ReplyDelete