Pots, Fire and Gourds: A (Re)presentation of Cultural knowledge Systems Among the Bukusu, Iteso, Sabaot and Yoruba

Abstract

Abstract

Pots, fire and gourds are among the instruments of great antiquity. They are used as vehicles of cultural wisdom immortalized in the communities’ cultural practices and heritage. As cultural objects, they store invaluable knowledge about a community’s culture. This knowledge is manifested directly in the objects themselves, or indirectly through linguistic features. The knowledge is enriched within cultural contexts of rituals and ceremonies which define the objects’ roles. Such roles may be direct or symbolic or may relate to both the physical and spiritual worlds. Physically, Pots, fire and gourds are instruments of daily use, while Spiritually, they can be amulets, symbols of creation or tools of divination.

This project studies how instantiations of pots, fire and gourds in rituals and ceremonies represent social cultural practices as a system of knowledge among the Bukusu, Iteso, and Sabaot of Western Kenya, and the Yoruba of West Africa. Using documentation, observation and interviews, the project targets collections of community folklore on pots, fire and gourds, and an inventory of related names as manifested in birth and death ceremonies, marriage, and transitional rites, and associated rituals. Each of the objects will be analyzed for cultural information using Fleming’s (1974) model of artifact study. The names will be subjected to a linguistic stylistic analysis (Crystal and Dereck 1969) in order to derive cultural meaning associations. The project is motivated by the realization that the survival of a culture is dependent on its artifacts and language. Consequently, documenting folklore and names associated with pots, fire and gourds is a way of cultural preservation. More so, a study of the Bukusu (Bantu), Sabaot and Iteso (Nilotic), three neighbouring communities of Western Kenya, may reveal traces of inter community convergence and interaction. The inclusion of Yoruba provides an opportunity to understand cultural multiplicity and relatedness.