Ritual, Rebellion, Resistance: Once More the Swazi Ncwala

This article reconsiders the Ncwala ritual, an annual revitalisation of Swazi society, polity, and natural environment, as reported by Hilda Kuper based on fieldwork of 1934-1936. Central to the argument is the insistence that ritual be considered within its proper historical context: here, the situation of colonialism. When this is done, the limitations of previous studies, particularly Gluckman's 'rituals of rebellion' theory, become apparent and a clearer picture emerges of how the Ncwala served as an instrument of resistance to British domination, through which Swazi solidarity was effectively mobilised and maintained. Broader discussions are devoted to i) the ritual construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of society via the evocation of sentiments reified as social borders, and 2) the nature of domination and resistance as specialised cases (respectively) of fusionary and fissionary processes.