Last week a Fipa fisherman tried to sell his albino wife for 3.6 million shillings (about US $3,000) to traders from the DR Congo in the Kalungu, Tanzania, marketplace. An informer tipped off the police that the sale was about to take place, so they set up a trap for… Continue reading…
Fipa girls between the years 1894 and 1920 gained good educations, as well as a Catholic upbringing, at the Karema Mission Station in what was then called Tanganyika. While the Karema Mission Station was located along the shore of Lake Tanganyika just to the north of traditional Fipa territory, many… Continue reading…
Recent publications have described both the strength of Roman Catholicism among the Fipa of southwestern Tanzania and the ways the church has adapted to their traditional practices. Kathleen R. Smythe, an historian at Xavier University in Cincinnati, considered these issues in a 2006 book that reviewed both the history of… Continue reading…
Recent publications have described both the strength of Roman Catholicism among the Fipa of southwestern Tanzania and the ways the church has adapted to their traditional practices. Kathleen R. Smythe, an historian at Xavier University in Cincinnati, considered these issues in a 2006 book that reviewed both the history of… Continue reading…
Nyasio Alfonsi, a 40 year old Fipa medicine man, caused a stir last Saturday when he threw himself into the Ifuma River, promising to return after three days of visiting the “gates of hell.” Accompanied by the drumming, chants, and dancing of dozens of people from the village of Masigo… Continue reading…
In traditional Fipa society, infants slept with their mothers until they were weaned, which, for younger children, may have been delayed until the age of five or so. In a recent article, Kathleen R. Smythe, a professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, describes the traditional Fipa pattern of raising a… Continue reading…
In traditional Fipa society, infants slept with their mothers until they were weaned, which, for younger children, may have been delayed until the age of five or so. In a recent article, Kathleen R. Smythe, a professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, describes the traditional Fipa pattern of raising a… Continue reading…
The Tanzania Standard News – Daily News reported on Monday that traditional cultural practices among the Fipa people are responsible for a rapid increase in the rate of HIV/AIDS. “The fast spread of the pandemic has been attributed to strong cultural beliefs including sorcery and outdated traditional practices such as… Continue reading…
The Catholic Church in the Tanzanian village of Chala is healthy and prosperous—but so are many traditional Fipa beliefs and practices that the church dislikes. Kathleen R. Smythe, an Associate Professor of history at Xavier University in Cincinnati, did field work in Chala between 1994 and 1996. She observed a… Continue reading…
The myths and rituals of Fipa society associated with smelting iron can enrich our understanding of ancient Greek cultural patterns related to metallurgy, according to a recent book. Sandra Blakely, an associate professor of classics at Emory University, focuses her book primarily on the daimones, the metallurgy gods of ancient… Continue reading…
