Abstract
This paper explores initiation ceremonies that are known by different names and are commonly observed in many traditions both in Africa and beyond. In keeping up with tradition and heritage, many communities in Africa practice initiations as a rite of passage to adulthood for their youths. In Zambia, the ceremony is known as Kulamba for the Chewa people. Contextually, it is a thanks giving festival for the harvest in a particular year; no wonder it has survived many years as a traditional practice for the Chewa people. This paper postulates that there are gender issues that have been undermined and need to be interrogated in order to strike a balance between indigenous practices as well as gender equality advances. This is a qualitative phenomenological paper, designed with the quest to engender and understand the meaning of individual women lived experiences about the Kulamba initiation ceremony of the Chewa people of Zambia. The paper concentrates on exploring the meaning of the Kulamba ceremony (embedded with it the Indigenous Knowledge System) to women’s lives in Zambia only. In support with Gerring on case studies: “as a systematic process of analyzing a particular person, group or detailed description of setting and situation” is found appropriate for this paper. Whilst, normally; findings from case studies are not generalizable to the larger population, here, the situation is different because the interpretation and meaning of gender embedded in the Kulamba initiation ceremony is applicable in different contexts to people that speak and practice the same culture.
Published Version
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