Totem

In Africa, a totem (mitupo in the Shona language of Zimbabwe) is any animal or object that is considered a guardian, protector, or assistant to an ethnic group, clan, or family. An African totem is identified with a kinship or descent lineage. When the apical ancestor of a kinship group is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Many African ethnic groups or clans claim their descent from animals such as antelopes, monkeys, lions, horses, dogs, eagles, or leopards.

When a group presents itself to the world, it normally represents itself through a totemic narrative that explains how the particular people emerged from the kindness, fortune, tenderness, wisdom, or courage of a particular nonhuman animal.

Although the term totem originates in the language of the Ojibwa ethnic group of Native Americans, because there is a similar response to the environment and descent narratives among Africans and other people, the word totem has been applied to the same cultural practice in other cultures. The Ojibwa use the word odoodem, “his totem,” to refer to a belief associated with the apical ancestors. It is from this usage that we get the meaning that the totem is usually an animal that represents spiritually a group of connected and related people.

It appears that in Africa the totem incorporated the idea that the particular people shared intrinsically in the totemic narrative in a spiritual way. When the apical ancestor appeared, it gave to all of the descendants the same protection and guidance. It was not a one-generational gift, but an eternal, everlasting linking of the people with that particular animal.

Some scholars believe that African totems reflect a way to deal with the physical environment in relationship to classificatory systems; this is useful, according to these scholars, for explaining phenomena. Others have seen the idea of totems in Africa as metaphorical, but Africans tend to see the totem in strictly spiritual terms as the ancestor to the clan or ethnic group. Nothing is more rational than the fact that the totem in being protector is also protected, and therefore an ecological purpose is served as well. Some people do not eat a particular animal because it is totemic. You cannot eat your own totem, although you may eat the totem of another group. These ancient representations of the apical ancestor seem to follow the same patterns as among the Native Americans, ancient Nile Valley Africans, and some original Australians. Among the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest one finds totem poles of lizards, frogs, birds, and bears. In China, there is the Sanxingdul culture of southern China, often considered related to African cultures, that dates to 5,000 years ago, where bronze- and gold-headed animals were used as totems. Totems are essentially ideas that derived from the Africans' interaction with nature, animals, and each other, and out of this reality the people were able to establish a connection to a nonhuman apical figure. It has been suggested that totemic culture spread from ancient Central Africa throughout the rest of the continent. This is dated to the Ishango bone culture period of 28,000 years ago. One of the more recent great examples of totemic use was the hongwe bird found on the Great Zimbabwe to indicate the people's affection for, loyalty to, and respect and reverence for the apical animal of their culture. In a contemporary sense, the totemic culture is still alive in Zimbabwe, where there are 25 identifiable totems among the Shona in addition to the 60 praise names (zvidawo) of the society. Every clan among the Shona can be identified by its mutopo and major praise name (cbidawo).

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