The Calf of the Wild: Sound, Embodiment, and Oral Poetry among Cattle Herders in Southwestern Angola
Vol. 46 No. 2 (2019), Articles
Vol. 46 No. 2 (2019)

The Calf of the Wild: Sound, Embodiment, and Oral Poetry among Cattle Herders in Southwestern Angola

Articles
Published 2020-01-21
  • Christine Dettmann
Christine Dettmann
PDF

How to Cite

Dettmann, C. (2020). The Calf of the Wild: Sound, Embodiment, and Oral Poetry among Cattle Herders in Southwestern Angola. MUSICultures, 46(2), 33–61. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/view/30489
ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver

Download Citation

Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

Abstract

By employing an ecomusicologically inspired approach, this paper explores cultural expressions of Muhumbi cattle herders in the Angolan province of Cunene. The focus on the relationship between herder and herd animals reveals to what extent these practices display a vast body of experience informed by cattle herding alongside wildlife, among other things. Male-dominated genres of playing the mouthbow onkhondji and combat games such as khandeka, khakula, and engolo are a means of imitating and enacting the animals through movement and song. Moreover, these practices act as a means of sustaining herding and the continuous transmission of knowledge. To complete the picture, this paper sketches out the role of women in these agropastoral communities and the current preoccupations (2010/2011) of the herders in communicating their traditions.

PDF
  • The author retains copyright over the work.
  • The author grants the journal owner (The Canadian Society for Traditional Music / La Société canadienne pour les traditions musicales) an exclusive license to publish the work.
  • The author may post a pre-print or post-print version of the work (see definitions below) on a personal website for up to twelve months after the work is published in MUSICultures. After twelve months, the pre-print version must be replaced with the published version.
  • The author may deposit the published PDF of the work in a non-commercial online repository twelve months after the work is published in MUSICultures, or any time thereafter.
  • Any such deposit must include a link to the work on the MUSICultures website, e.g., https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/view/19996

A pre-print is a work-in-progress—a contribution not yet accepted, or perhaps even submitted, to MUSICultures.

A post-print is the version of a contribution after peer review and acceptance by MUSICultures, with revisions completed.

The published version is the PDF file of a contribution as it appears in MUSICultures.

Please note that academia.edu and ResearchGate.com are both for-profit repositories; authors may not deposit the published PDF of the work in these repositories until after the journal’s embargo period.

For permission to reprint or translate material from MUSICultures, please contact Heather Sparling, General Editor of MUSICultures (heather_sparling@cbu.ca).