Symbolism and Death: Class-based Ritualised Performance in the Basukuma Burial Ceremonies

Abstract

Guided by a Marxist perspective on literature, and Muleka’s Performer-centrism, this paper highlights and discusses different manifestations or gestures that covertly suggest that there are elements of classes in some of the burial ceremonies, which are accompanied by performances among the Basukuma ethnic group of Tanzania. It reports the findings of a study whose data were collected using interviews held with respondents selected via snowball sampling. Note-taking served as a prominent data collection tool. Documentary review supplemented interviews, especially to collect data on the traditions of the Basukuma as one of the ethnic groups in Tanzania found predominantly in the Lake Victoria Zone. The study found that the burial ceremonies of the Basukuma are class conscious as manifested by their symbolic, incantatory, and invocatory performances. Indeed, when chiefs, singers, breech-birth and twins die, their burials require special burial ritual performances such as incantations, invocations and symbols that differentiate them from other rank and file individuals whose burial ceremonies lack fanfares characterising privileged individuals. Overall, these burial ceremonies graced by symbolic gestures among the Basukuma also help to unify the community since individuals define themselves in terms of who they are and what to expect from them and the community as a whole.