A Chewa cosmology of the body
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2467454 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deborah Kaspin (Yale University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 561-578 |
| Publication date | 1996-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Ethnologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1525/ae.1996.23.3.02a00060 |
| OpenAlex | W2106974100 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 25 |
| References cited | 22 |
For the Chewa peasantry of Malawi, conceptions of the body are based on agricultural metaphors, drawn from the routines of farm life and formalized as cosmology and physiology by rainmakers and midwives. In this article I describe Chewa body symbolism, focusing first on the agrarian lifestyle and then on the cross-referencing symbolisms of body and terrain in rainmaking ritual and in domestic practice. Menstruation and pregnancy are especially susceptible to cosmological schematizations. [Chewa, Malawi, body, reproduction, rainmaking, cosmology
Agrarian society · Agriculture · Archaeology · Astronomy · Biology · Cosmology · Geography · Menstruation · Physics · Reproduction · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Ecology · Medicine
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| Unique citing works | 25 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,89 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2026 (29) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 25 |