10 - Norms as a strategic resource

Summary

The discussion in the preceding chapters has concentrated on the description of the new way of conceptualising the mukowa and on the new norms of succession and inheritance which have emerged in Ngwezi during the past few decades. The traditional notions about descent, village ownership, succession and inheritance, described in Chapter 1, have, however, not disappeared from consciousness. They coexist alongside the newly emerged notions and are part of the cultural knowledge not only of those who advocate their continuing validity, but also of those who dispute or challenge it. In this respect, the culture of the Ngwezi Toka is less homogeneous than that of Guta and Cifokoboyo in that it encompasses two different ideologies and two different normative systems. In this chapter, I consider how these ideologies and their accompanying norms are being manipulated in the course of people's strategic behaviour.

In the discussion of the change in the inheritance system among the Ngwezi Toka, I pointed out that the norm stipulating the relationship of the successor and main heir to the deceased has been adapted to include the son, who was traditionally excluded from succeeding his father and becoming his main heir. The sister's son, however, has not been barred from his traditional prerogative of becoming the successor and main heir.