Rethinking Female Rites of Passage: The Chinamwali, Male Power, and African Feminisms

Engaging the African Feminist ideological framework, this paper explores the intersection between African female initiation rites and male power and privilege. The paper engages the chinamwali, a female initiation rite practised by the Chikunda of Zambia. The initiation rite involves the seclusion of the ‘namwali’, the initiate, in an informal learning process during which older and more experienced women, aphungu, pass on messages to her on what it means to be a woman in society. The data for the article were generated from a study undertaken in 2018 in Chief Mphuka’s area of Luangwa District, in the Eastern part of Zambia, using narratives from 30 participants, including 15 women who have undergone chinamwali, who constituted the main research participants; 5 ritual instructors, aphungu; 5 men; and five uninitiated women. A thematic analysis of the findings led to the development of the ‘Chikunda masculinity’, which gives impetus to feminist scholarship regarding a new focus on women’s sexuality as a source of legitimising men’s dominant position over women. The article recommends the integration of transformative messages in the chinamwali curriculum that could empower the initiate to confront cultural practices that reinforce patriarchal hegemony.