Les forgerons du Kasaï et leurs rites initiatiques

Abstract

63III. CONVERGENCES ET DIVERGENCES IDENTITAIRESLES FORGERONS DU KASAÏ ET LEURS RITES INITIATIQUESJean HIAMBA OVUNGUISP-Kananga, Université de [email protected]:THE BLACKSMITHS OF KASAÏ AND THEIR RITES OF INITIATIONInitiation is a phenomenon that touches upon the essential question of the human condition. It is therefore not surprising that it occupies a prominent place among blacksmiths. As regards the blacksmiths of Central Africa and particularly the Ankutshu Membele of Kasaï, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, integration into these social class requires, in any case, an initiation. Thus, by initiation, this social class generally designates a set of rites and oral teachings or practices which aim at radically changing the status of the subject to be initiated. Philosophically speaking, initiation is regarded as an ontological mutation of the existential regime, because, at the end of the teaching-learning process, the initiate or the neophyte enjoys a completely different existence than before the initiation.

Keywords

• initiation
• blacksmiths
• central africa
• rites of oral teachings
• ontological mutation