Songs by female diviner initiates from Zwelibomvu in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa : a response to patriarchal abuse in their society

Abstract

Indigenous societies that are steeped in patriarchy have various avenues through which they deal with the abuse characteristic of relations in some of these communities. One such route is songs which allow women to voice that which, bound by societal expectations, they would not normally be able to say. This article presents the cases of several young female diviner initiates in Zwelibomvu, KwaZulu-Natal who have experienced different forms of abuse. These initiates, under the guise of being possessed and through songs that are supported by personal-experience narratives, open up about the ordeals they suffer under patriarchal power in their families.