The Nyakyusa of south-western Tanzania have received very substantial ethnographic coverage. Nonetheless there remain certain gaps in our knowledge of this society. The field-work by Dr. Godfrey Wilson and Professor Monica Wilson was done largely in the mid 1930s before structural-functional analysis had achieved its present refinement and was evidently influenced by Malinowski who was not himself known for a concern in sociological analysis per se. In these studies of the Nyakyusa, values, beliefs, and ritual were a main object of attention; they present Nyakyusa society as though it were a direct result of the Nyakyusa value system, although the actual workings of the society have been left rather obscure. It is presented as coherent, values and social organization reinforcing each other at every point. But internal evidence contradicts this picture, and on a priori grounds it may also be seen that there were several structural pressures towards incoherence, or rather, conflict between the actual development of social organization through time and those presumably timeless values reputed to maintain it.

Africa is notable for the extent to which women participate in cultivation. An examination of the contribution of men and women by means of ‘The Ethnographic Atlas (Ethnology, 1967) shows that women play the major part in cultivation in 45 per cent of societies in Africa as a whole, and in 53 per cent of sub-Saharan societies. We are concerned here with the contribution women make to cultivation (in pastoral as well as purely farming economies) and not to its over-all control, which is largely in the hands of men.

In the essay which follows an attempt will be made to answer and elaborate on some of the points raised by Kopytoff in his article ‘Ancestors as Elders in Africa’ (Africa, xli, 2 April 1971, pp. 129–42), an article which will, no doubt, stimulate much argument and discussion. To do this I shall utilize both published sources and material collected in Uluguru in Eastern Tanzania.

Although classification of farming systems has been an important theme in the fields of agricultural geography and agricultural economics, there appear to have been no agreed criteria upon which a typology should be made (Grigg, 1969). The problem seems quite intractable as far as most of the developing countries of the tropics are concerned, because lack of statistical data on agriculture has made it impossible for the quantifiable criteria used by agricultural geographers in the advanced countries to be applied. It is therefore not surprising that ‘the notion that shifting cultivation is simple and varies little from area to area and continent to continent’ runs through much of the literature on tropical agriculture. This oversimplified picture of traditional agriculture in the tropics was drawn by earlier writers (Gourou, 1965) who established the framework for a regional differentiation of agriculture. It disregards the changes which have been taking place as a result of increased population pressure on available land, the introduction of cash crops, and the impact of agricultural innovations.

This paper is concerned with a description of the religious beliefs of the Tiv with regard to kuraiyol. Kuraiyol, literally translated, means ‘body protectors’. The belief in kuraiyol is closely related to the major religious belief system termed akombo a soron, or propitiation of fetishes. A good deal has been written about akombo by students of the Tiv but very little has been written about kuraiyol. It is difficult to determine when kuraiyol became an important aspect of Tiv religious practices. Dr. Paul Bohannan has recently mentioned in written correspondence to this writer that as early as 1949 kuraiyol had ‘gained a tremendous popularity’. From personal observation during the period from 1955 to 1967 an increasing emphasis appeared to be placed on kuraiyol, especially during periods of war and violence which so greatly affected Tivland. Many Tiv believed kuraiyol to be effective charms against evil forces, including the mbatsav (night witches), the adzov (wood spirits, goblins), and other malevolent spirits. In addition, kuraiyol was believed to impart to the owner certain magical powers which enhanced the wearer's ability to fight, make love, gain material possessions, and the like.