Medicinal rule and the interdependent duality of power between ntemi (chief) and ngole (queen): A historical ethnographic work on Sukuma chiefdom Busiya

Abstract

By employing a historical ethnographic method in approaching Sukuma chiefdoms as spaces of medicinal rule, this article argues that the basis of the functioning and the prevalent well-being of these very chiefdoms lied in the duality and interconnectedness of ntemi (male) and ngole (female) as interdependent figures. Contrary to this observation that will be made, within works on Sukuma – and additionally more broadly across ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa – there has been a male-biased assumption that the singular figurehead who was foundational to exercising medicinal rule within the chiefdoms studied, is the male chief. This assumption was based on decades of colonialism and (mis)understanding of chieftaincy power systems. The article counters this male-biased assumption by placing the gendered nature of medicinal rule in the chiefdom centre-stage and by radically questioning the lack of writing present on female figureheads. A case study of the Busiya chiefdom in Shinyanga region of Northern Tanzania will illustrate the intrinsic connection between the ntemi (chief) and the ngole (queen) in facilitating the continuing functioning of the chiefdom throughout ever-changing circumstances.