Prestige Chief Stool - Wood - KITI - KAGURU - Tanzania

Kaguru African Chief Stool - central Tanzania Dimensions: 618mm(backrest height) x390mm(width) x380mm(seat level height) Weight: aprox. 6kg Unlike household stools this stool was probably used only at special ceremonies. Estimated age: 1930s- 1940s Presents several chips, cracks, scratches and signs of wear The stool represents a chief with his two wives. One of them is young and has not yet given birth to children. She is probably in her teens. The other one has passed her most fertile years and is bitter because of the new wife which her husband has married. If you read the brief tribal context of the Kaguru people you will be able to better understand the idea the carver had in mind when he created this stool. Most likely the stool was commissioned by a chief. As much as the man is the leader of the house, women have a prominent role in Kaguru society. The hands of the three are united, inseparable in life and in death. The modest and innocent representation of the figures is also in line with the conservativism of Kaguru society when it comes to sex and nudity as compared to many other African tribes. The Kaguru were and remain a matrilineal people (tracing the descent and inheritance through the female) and speaking Chikaguru. They needed to establish broad and diverse relationships since their society was organized around relatives and household groups containing people who could be called upon for support and were a major resource for security and prosperity. Since Ukagura was vulnerable to raids, and at times lacked sufficient manpower to work the land, defend it, and guard against outsiders looking for goods and captives, people not land, were the scarcest and most sought-after resource. Gender roles and marriage Flesh and blood was identity and came from the mother. The father was important but not as powerful as the ties to the mother and her kin. A child is a member of his or hers mother's clan but not a member of the father's. Ties to the mother were automatic and profound, ties to the father and his kin went into effect only after payments were made. Most Kagura marriages were not considered complete until the birth of children, which only then complicated the varying interplay of loyalties over time. Men monopolized all ritual and official public life, but women were also essential, whether or not they were married, and had total rights of control over their children. The difference between the two sexes can be illustrated by the kinds of abuse aimed at each. A man may be told he is unmarried or acts as though he were uncircumcised. This can be changed. A woman, on the other hand, can be rebuked for having no children, a flaw in the woman that cannot be changed. The most important role for men is as husband and brother and they rarely favor divorce, even when the wife is difficult, in contrast many women press for divorce or use it as a threat. The more children a couple have, the more advantage the wife's kin find in divorce. If she is divorced her side withholds a portion of the bridewealth for every child born, even if these died. If there were five or six children born, no bridewealth is returned and the brideservice is not returned. If she remarries, her kin could again secure bridewealth and brideservice. Divorce is always an economic threat to a husband unless his wife is barren or is considered so unpleasant that the community supports his refund. No divorced man wants to remain alone for long. Mature men cannot easily manage without a wife to cook, and carry water and wood, whereas grown women can manage rather well if raiding is no problem. From a woman's viewpoint the best reason to marry is that she gets a man to appease her own father and mother's brothers, for women are most closely bonded to their mothers and children. The father finds the support of his wife to be vital in order to secure the loyalty of his children. Whatever value a Kaguru woman holds for her brothers and husband stems from her importance as a mother. She sees her long-term loyalties as the same as those of her children. The Kaguru mother is the person most likely to provide true heartfelt advice and support for her children, as her own needs are totally wrapped up with those of her children. When a woman grows older, her focus upon her children increases, and increases even more when there are co-wives. All Kaguru women desire as many children as possible, in or out of marriage. It is barrenness, not an illegitimate child, which is a Kaguru woman's greatest calamity. Help during illness or need becomes undependable as the woman ages. Her lot is not an easy one. A childless woman's greatest concern is finding kin to care for her after she becomes old, with brewing, prostitution, and midwifery becoming her most likely means for added income. Childlessness has become a disgrace and a catastrophe. Sexuality Traditional Kaguru were quite prudish about any kind of public nudity. No immature Kaguru would ever have been able to examine an entirely unclothed adult of either sex. Men wore a toga-like garment and took great care not to appear naked even when washing. Women always wore a skirt. All sexual allusions were forbidden between parents and child and between all siblings. Such talk would be considered shameless and perverse. It is the grandparents, cross cousins, or those unrelated of the same age that are expected to be free to mention such matters. There was very little sexual information available to Kaguru youth before initiation. Parents' sexuality was shielded from children who could not even touch the bed of a parent. It is only at initiation that sexual questions can at last be freely mentioned and are a constant and required topic of instruction. Male circumcision (initiation) is performed at puberty by men in a bush camp (not in a settlement) where the youth remains until he recovers, and consists of removing the foreskin of the penis with a knife. It was said that his childhood has died and he has been reborn as an adult. It is thought to please women because it makes males even more different from females and the sexes are attracted to the opposites of each other.