Elders' Authority and Women's Protest: The Masay Ritual and Social Change Among the Iraqw of Tanzania

Abstract

Anthropological theories of religion have demonstrated the role ofritual in supporting structures of power and authority. This article focuses on the relationship between ritual, ideology and authority over time in an Iraqw community. The analysis incorporates attention to changes in the wider political- economic context in which ritual is performed. In so doing, it illustrates the limits of ritual's effective- ness in securing consent to, and recognition of; authority. The ritual authority of male elders in Iraqw communities is increasingly dependent on legitimation by elder women, because the key ritual - the masay - no longer communicates universally shared values. This article thus explores competing arenas ofvalue and the effects that wider ideological debates in Tanzanian society may have on the future ofthe masay ritual. Introduction: historical transformations and behind-the-scenes events This article describes the masay ritual among the Iraqw in northern Tanzania. It ex- plores the relationship of ritual to power and authority, and traces developments in the ritual's effectiveness in perpetuating traditional authority. Power and authority are examined in both the ritual and secular domain. By incorporating these two spheres in my analysis, I show how elders' participation in ritual is shaped by their lives in non-ritual contexts. Elders hold the masay ritual to cleanse the community and enable the rains to fall. In performing masay, elders emphasize their critical role as the guardians of the community's welfare. For without rain, the harvests and livestock on which people depend for their livelihood would be threatened. By examining the ritual over time, it is apparent that while performing the masay ritual may once have reaffirmed elders' authority in both ritual and secular life, today their authority is largely lim- ited to the ritual domain. Thus, the performance of masay provides a window onto shifts in power and authority and illuminates the complexities of the structures of power. If ritual is, as Bloch (1986) states, the primary conduit of ideology, it appears that the elders' ideology is no longer a dominant one as it may have been during the pre-colonial period, as the power and authority of the Tanzanian state have largely relegated elders' authority to the ritual sphere. Their authority in this sphere, and thus their importance to the community's welfare, are increasingly dependent on female elders' legitimation of their role as community guardians.