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Abstract

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa (1921–2020) was one the most famous and controversial sangomas – sages, clairvoyants, healers and diviners – in South Africa. He was also the first sangoma who published books revealing sangomas’ esoteric calling, vocation and cooperation with spirits. He wrote extensively about Zulu mythology. A part of his version of mythology is the ‘history’ of the Bantu languages speaking peoples, their divine origins and the conquest of the lands in the South of Africa. Mutwa also wrote about relationships between Zulus and other ethnic groups, focusing on their mythological beginnings. The aim of this article is to analyse Mutwa’s myths and stories about the history of Bantu languages speaking peoples, relationships between Zulus and other peoples, and place it all within historical facts and religious beliefs known to academics. The article is part of the project ‘Esoteric landscape of Southern Africa’ financed by the Polish National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), Poland, project no. 2017/25/N/HS1/02500.
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Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Podolecka
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. University of South Africa, University of Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract

UNkulunkulu is a very important figure within Zulu pantheon but his nature is not really defined. Should he be considered God, a god or the first ancestor? The problem comes from Western (Christian) need to find and define a supreme deity within Zulu religious beliefs. In 2013, 2018 and 2019 I conducted thorough field-studies among South African sangomas and asked them about uNkulunkulu. This article aims to organise knowledge about uNkulunkulu and tries to place him within the deity stratum. Also, my research allows to show if searching for answers about uNkulunkulu is a Zulu problem or maybe just Western scholars’. Field studies that enabled writing this paper were sponsored by Polish National Science Centre, Poland (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), project no.: 2017/25/N/HS1/02500.

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Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Podolecka
ORCID: ORCID

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