Shangaan

Note 34: The word for ancestor in Shangaan is a squaring of the word for grandparent: kokwana-wa-kokwana.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

Again, the mementos or reminders they offered laid bare the artfulness of history in Shangaan culture.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

I do not know of a noun in Shangaan equivalent to the English noun "taboo."

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

Although I hoped to become reasonably fluent in Shangaan, I assumed that a local woman's knowledge of idiomatic speech and local language history would enrich my understanding of both the interviews and women's culture, however well I might eventually be able to communicate on my own.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

It mattered that I worked constantly to improve my ability in Shangaan and that I adapted to the local diet and lifestyle as far as I couldefforts that were remarked on consistently more by women than by men.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

For examples of xivongo narratives in Shangaan, see Jaques, Swivongo swa Machangana.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

But when Juliana (who knew little Portuguese) realized what we were discussing, she spoke up suddenly in Shangaan Tinhlanga [tattoos]?

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

Finally, the latter two verbs in Shangaan are harsh, almost violent, and it is significant that people have chosen to use them rather than kupambulela or some other gentler verb meaning to divide or share among many people.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

In these circumstances, part of the larger reality captured in Shangaan by the verb kuhangalakiwa (to be scattered), women typically had several places they thought of as home.

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005

There is no direct way to translate the concept of "life history" in Shangaan and, as the following table illustrates, all approximate translations alter the conventional meaning of this term in rather fundamental ways: 20

Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005