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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Um discurso conjugal em relevo para uma (des)codificação posicional das figuras esculpidas nos 'Mabaia Manzangu' de Cabinda
Author:Vergani, Teresa
Year:1988
Periodical:Revista internacional de estudos Africanos
Issue:8-9
Pages:93-155
Language:Portuguese
Geographic terms:Angola
Cabinda
Subjects:proverbs
sculpture
Abstract:This article examines a particular category of proverbs, traditionally used by the people of Cabinda, Angola, at crucial moments of matrimonial life, and expressed in the form of sculptured figures ('mabaia manzangu'; sing. 'libaia linzungu') on the lids of cooking pots which are brought to the 'table' at meals. Through the use of mabaia manzangu husband and wife are able to express - in a codified but public form - feelings which need an urgent reply in terms of behaviour. On the basis of a mathematical analysis of the messages represented on 17 mabaia manzangu, the author shows the spatial opposition of clusters of 'men's words' and 'women's words'; the specific nature of the central figures and the horizontal separation of the proverbial right and left regions; the cultural importance of diametrical lines; disjunctions and configurations of dual proverbs; and the violence of the sexual division in certain proverbial expressions. Notes.
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